28 Songs That Are Based On Classical Music

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Inerestingly, Billy Joel actually credits Beethoven on the original album notes. Great show of respect.

That's why The Beatles wrote Get Bach.

Also the song "All by myself" by Eric Carmen is based on Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto no. 2 in C minor, opus 18

Amazing that you did not mention Emerson, Lake and Palmer who based so many of their songs on Classics, Sometimes note-for-note, "Barbarian' (Bartok's "Allegro Barbarro"), "Knife-Edge" (Janáček's "Sinfonietta" and Bach), "The Only Way" (Bach), "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Mussorgsky), "Nut-rocker" (Tchaikovsky), "Hoedown" (Copland), "Toccata" (Ginastera's 1st piano concerto), "Fanfare for the Common Man" (Copland),...

As a Disney historian, I was reminded of the quote by a Disney composer from the 1950s: "We've been stealing from Tchaikovsky for years."

"These songs aren't protected from copyright" Youtube: I'll fix it don't worry

It's hard to believe that this set doesn't include probably the bigest copy of classical music I know: "All by myself" - this whole song (whole!) is based on the leitmotif from the 2nd part of the 2nd piano concerto by Rachmaninov.

I really like it when modern songwriters / composers borrow form classical pieces . In many case people become curious about the source and start to appreciate classical music more

Bach, the real rock star

What I've learnt from this is that Gustav Holst is directly responsible for the invention of heavy metal...

5:45 "consciously or not, he might've been inspired by Bach" I think that's really important to remember, that people get subconsciously inspiration too. I feel like many people that often say "oh they just completely stole it from this and that," especially when 'stealing' from classical music but also in pop songs, don't realize this. It's so easy to get a tune or melody stuck in your head, and to write a song with it. It's very easy to pick this up from anywhere really, even subconsciously.

As for Procol Harum the Hammond organ line of “A Whiter Shade of Pale (1967)” was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's “Sleepers, Wake!” and “Air on the G String” 🙂

I love it when people say they don't like classical music. I tell them you do, you just don't know it.

When I was in college, a friend borrowed my STYX music book cz she was a music major and said that she was sick of playing Bach. She gave me the book back and annoyingly said ‘It’s Bach’

Makes sense now why a lot of rock music fans like listening to classical music. A lot of it is influenced from it. I really appreciate such great musicianship. Its really a testament to their craft.

One composer/artist you neglected to mention led me years ago into a much greater understanding of both classical and jazz and that is Frank Zappa who used short clips of excerpts of Holst's "The Planets" woven directly into his compositions. That is only one example among many. He also on the Mothers of Invention's first album listed names of the people who had influenced him, stating "Please don't hold it against them". As I was a fan of his, I followed his advice, and looked them up. I've been grateful to him ever since.

best part of lifting inspiration from classical songs is you don’t get sued by marvin gaye’s family

Watching your videos feels like I'm failing a class but enjoy attending

Hats off to you, Master Bennett, for identifying so many borrowed melodies and demonstrating them in both written and audio formats.