For the Musical Experts

[quadibloc]

A long time ago, I remember seeing a TV commercial for a set of records of classical music which presented it as enjoyable to listen to by noting the use of classical melodies in popular songs. The example they gave was "Stranger in Paradise", which came from Borodin's Polovtsian Dances.

I remembered the "Polovtsian Dances" part, but I had to Google it to find the "Borodin" part. Doing so, I found that Stranger in Paradise was from the Broadway musical Kismet, and the whole musical was based on the Polovtsian Dances.

I also found that Artie Shaw had beaten Kismet to the punch:

I had this one from a Lennon Sisters recording, and it was probably due to the movie Electric Dreams that I tracked it down, finding that it came from Anna Magdalena's little notebook:

but it's only now that I found out that it was the Toys who made it an original hit.

Also, just recently, I came across "Passion Flower", and learned from a YouTube comment that it was based on Beethoven's Für Elise:

And it was also just by accident from a YouTube comment that I learned that Shostakovich wrote something called "Tahiti Trot"...

on which the famous Tea for Two was based.

Of course, there are less obscure classical pieces in pop music, like the Beatles' "A Song of Joy", from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and various groups like Bond, which bring the classics to the masses openly - with things like Viva!, from "Winter" among Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

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But it was not for experts in classical music that I seek, to whom pieces like this:

are instantly recognizable.

Rather, the mystery which is currently tantalizing me has to do with the clarinet melody of which Benny Goodman plays a few bars before starting a rendition of "Why Don't You Do Right" with Peggy Lee as vocalist:

A YouTube comment solved the main part of the mystery: it is from "Georgia Jubilee", an early hit for Benny Goodman back in 1934:

but I remember hearing it elsewhere, where a vibraphone (presumably played by Lionel Hampton) figured more prominently - and, indeed, where that theme figured more prominently, rather than mainly being in the background, as it seems to be here.

[msiegel]

a liberal dash of pop has turned that piece into "the four seasonings" XD

edits:
i always think "summer" is fall or winter... we get most of our rain then

that's funny, i'm working on the weather fx for a game at this very moment! lightning, etc

[quadibloc]

In any event, since another thing I was curious about was more examples of the classics finding their way into popular music, I found this link:

http://wikibin.org/articles/list-of-popular-songs-based-on-classical-music.html

which just goes to show that I must trust in Google.

It would never have occurred to me to look for this piece

in order to find the melody from this popular hit:

which here is made part of a comedy routine...

And here is that famous movie scene which tipped me off about "A Lover's Concerto":

[nathanscribe]

There's also the famous Procul Harum track, influenced by Bach:

and Pachelbel's Canon has found its way into all sorts...

[quadibloc]

I prefer people who aren't dead.... yet.  No autotune here.

But you left out this part...

And, yes, this is the performer who played the blue alien in the movie!

However, the performer in your video apparently isn't exactly an amateur:

and more information about her is on this page.

And apparently there are other human beings on this planet who aren't afraid of a challenge:

[keyb_gr]

And, yes, this is the performer who played the blue alien in the movie!

Wikipedia disagrees.

However, the performer in your video apparently isn't exactly an amateur:

Not at all. But it sure is fascinating that she got it right live when originally in the film they apparently had to use keyboard back-up and editing. That's the "almost" in "almost impossible", the far end of the bell curve.

Too bad my musical talent is, err, rather limited. Guess I'll stick to the technical side of things then. At least I have a reasonably good ear for recording quality these days.

[quadibloc]

Wikipedia disagrees.

Ah. I read the YouTube comments that noted that she did the voice of the blue alien, and didn't realize that this didn't mean she was also the one who put the blue makeup on...

[keyb_gr]

Believing YouTube comments is worse than believing Wikipedia.

You've got a point there... nothing is suited for spreading false rumors like the modern interwebs. Healthy dose of correlation and averaging recommended.

To divert from the classical topic for a minute (this is GH, right? ), I got a good laugh out of this video yesterday:

It's the official one made for one of my fav songs of 2009 by St. Vincent (Annie Clark), and quirky as usual.

Another entry in thunderAnt's Feminist Bookstore series, Annie does an instore performance at Women and Women First, the most feminist of all feminist bookstores.

thunderAnt is Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen

(the former you might still know from indie rock band Sleater-Kinney, and the latter from his impressions on Saturday Night Live)

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Well, my real pursuit wasn't something classical, that was just by way of introduction. Instead, I was wondering if "Georgia Jubilee" rang a bell with anyone, since that clarinet figure was very engaging.

Here, with its original Portuguese title, so it won't be immediately recognizable

is perhaps the melody that is so catchy that it represents the most EXTREME EARWORM HAZARD known to humanity! Click on the video if you dare!

Or, choose your poison, and click on this one instead:

or this other nice one:

Here's another song, "La Felicidad",

which illustrates the difficulties in tracking down the same song across the language barrier: it's also known in the Dutch language as the Kabouter Wesley Liedje:

And here's a performance of the Antonio Carlos Jobim hit "Wave"

which certainly illustrates Ripster's point about the quality of YouTube comments. Just because the nice lady singing the song happens to be singing the English lyrics instead of the original Portuguese ones, the comment that appears for that video calls her a "****" - I understand that much Spanish, and apparently the word is also present in Portuguese.

This version

has better sound quality, as well as nicer comments.

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I have just run across some songs from a musical genre which, while it is not my favorite among genres, still yields some performances which I enjoyed:

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I've already posted that one.

On the topic of feminine pulchritude being associated with music, the womanly figure of Emma Bunton (the artist formerly known as Baby Spice) appears to good effect in a little green dress pressed against her by the wind in this music video:

Although this song was sung in Portuguese as Os Grillos, originally it was sung in English under this title by Astrud Gilberto; unlike many of her other songs, though, it was largely forgotten.

Os Grillos had come to my attention because it was composed by the same composer as the one who gave us the song Samba De Verão, for which I had shown some previous videos. That song, if you have listened to those videos, is also known as "Summer Samba", or "So Nice" (the latter being one of Astrud Gilberto's successful hits), and here are three famous versions of it which make use of the unique sound of the Hammond Organ (well, maybe the third is done on a Wersi or something), and which demonstrate its ultimate raw EARWORM potential!

You have been WARNED.

Now, though, that I have revealed the song's English title, I can share with you another vocal version that is obscure and little-known:

The singer is Wanda de Sá, here singing with Sergio Mendes and Brasil '65!

Yes, there was a Brasil '65 before Lani Hall and Janis Hansen. As we know, Lani Hall became the wife of trumpet and music in general legend Herb Alpert. Janis Hansen, in her subsequent career, is currently writing stories and songs for such Bible Adventure Club books as "Creation: God's Wonderful Gift" and "Noah and the Incredible Flood".

There is a different woman named Janis Hansen who played Gloria, Felix Unger's ex-wife, on the television show The Odd Couple. The two should definitely not be confused, as there are serious incompatibilities between their biographical details. (At least Wikipedia lists them as two distinct individuals, although some web sites confound them.)

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Rather than disturb the other threads, I thought I would take the cute TV performer from Finland as an example again...

It is because she had her own TV show and performed the popular hits of the day that she sang so many American songs in Finnish. She also sang some in English as well, and she certainly also did some songs from Finland.

Here, to show that Finland listened to music from other places besides the United States, is Laila Kinnunen singing a Finnish-language version of Ο Καημός (O Kaimos)- this song was translated from Greek into other languages as well: in German as "Ich Hab die Liebe Gesehn", in French as "L'Amour Brillait Dans Tes Yeux", and in English as "The Love in Your Eyes".

[quadibloc]

I just found out that another popular hit was based on a famous classical melody:

which makes use of the music from the classical composition

Beethoven's Bagatelle in A minor, better known as Für Elise.