Apr 11
All Your Favourite Songs were Written in the 17th Century
I’ve just stumbled across a page that confirms something I’ve suspected for a long time - many of the best songs of the past century were actually written over 200 years ago. You know when you hear a new song that feels strangely touching and familiar? When you can guess how the next chord will sound before you’ve ever heard it? Well, chances are that song is based on a classical piece that has been subconciously drummed into your head without you even realising. And chances are, that song is Pachelbel’s Canon.
SO many modern songs are based on the chord progression that this piece develops from, many of them abosutely shameless. Have a listen to the following tracks to see what I mean;
“All together now” by The Farm
“Basket Case” by Green Day
“I should be so lucky” by Kylie Minogue
“Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space” by Spritiualized
“Let it be” by The Beatles
“No woman, No cry” by Bob Marley
“Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia
“With or without you” by U2
There’s a fuller list (which I took these examples from) here; though I’m pretty sure that even this isn’t 100% comprehensive, as Coolio’s “C U When U Get There” isn’t included, though it actually uses the exact melody for it’s middle eight. I’m also pretty sure “Fools Rush In” by Elvis (and famously covered by brummy cod-reggae stars UB40) is at least partially based on Canon… Spirtualised segued quite nicely into it to finish “Ladie’s and Gentlemen…” at last year’s Summer Sundae.
I’ve been aware of this for a while now (I think I first picked up on it while listening to “Basket Case”), and it’s obviously not a new phenomenon, but I was surprised to see just how many songs, many of which are now considered ‘classics’ in their own right, are based upon the same tune. I’d be interested in finding out how many other popular songs are really adaptations of popular classical music - Air On The G String would seem suitably melodic, for example.
Rob Paravonians sums it all up in the popular YouTube vid below, and gets a few good laughs at the same time.
Can you think of any other examples on songs based on Canon?
3 Comments so far
Leave a comment
I’ve been wanting to go off on this subject for a long time, so let me be a music geek here for 1 moment.
Looking at the chordal progression we have D/A/bm/f#m/G/D/G/A in the key of D. Most Western pop music is based around a chordal progression involving what’s known as the I/IV/V (the 1st, 4th, & 5th chords of the scale). Many blues progressions employ the I/IV/V or I/IV/I/IV/I/V/IV/I pattern, which is similar to what we see here (I/V/vi/iii/IV/I/IV/V) - except that ol’ Pach used a few mediant chords…
So, did Pachelbel create Western music? Not really, but it could be argued that he created one of the most basic and boring classical pieces ever…at the same time it could be argued that Green Day did the same thing for pop music
Thanks for the comment Syzlak… I see what you mean, it is obviously a very basic chord structure, one that I imagine you could probably stumble across without even realising it had been “done before”.
That said, it must be well tempting for any artist to do at least one song that is deliberately based on Canon. Looking at that list there, it seems they tend to sell pretty well!
Yeah, I’ll fully admit to having a song modeled after Canon.