This is a list of examples of popular songs that are arrangements of, or otherwise make use of, works of classical music. The practice of adapting classical compositions is associated with both Tin Pan Alley and progressive rock.

Contents

1 1910s 2 1920s 3 1930s 4 1940s 5 1950s 6 1960s 7 1970s 8 1980s 9 1990s 10 2000s 11 See also 12 External link

1910s

• Hungarian Rag
• Peter Gink
• I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (1918), by Joseph McCarthy and Harry Carroll, based on the Fantasie Impromptu in C Sharp Minor by Frederic Chopin.
• The Marine Hymn, L. Z. Philips, (1919) - based on an air from Jacques Offenbach's Genevieve de Brabant

1920s

• Goin' Home, (1922), popularized by Paul Robeson - based on the Largo from Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"

1930s

• In an Eighteenth-Century Drawing Room (Raymond Scott) (1930) - based on Mozart's Piano Sonata, K. 545
• Song of India, arr. Tommy Dorsey, ca. (1937) - based on a theme from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
• The Lamp is Low - Peter DeRose and Bert Shefter (1939) - based on a Maurice Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess

1940s

• Full Moon and Empty Arms, by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman (1945) - based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.
• Summer Moon by Klenner, sung by Lauritz Melchior (1946) - based on Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird (Berceuse)

1950s

• Stranger in Paradise (1953), by George Forrest and Robert Wright, in the Broadway musical Kismet; based on a theme from Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances
• The Song Tschaikovsky Wrote - based on the opening theme from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1
• My Reverie - based on Debussy's Reverie
• Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom), by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning , (1956), based on a theme from Chabrier España, Rhapsody for Orchestra

1960s

• Catch a Falling Star, by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance , (1958), based on a theme from Brahms' Academic Festival Overture
• Asia Minor, James Wisner (1960) - based on Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor
• Because, by John Lennon - based on Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano sonata No. 14, "Moonlight", (it is the first movement of the Sonata played backwards)
• Rap City, The Ventures (1964) - based on a theme from Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Rhapsody
• Past, Present and Future The Shangri-Las (1966) - based on Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano sonata No. 14, "Moonlight"
• A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procul Harum (1967) - (loosely) based on J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3, Air (commonly known as Air on a G String).
• Jane B by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (1969) - based on Frederic Chopin's Prelude No. 4

1970s

• A Song of Joy, Miguel Rios (1970) – written by Waldo De Los Rios based on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
• Horizons by Steve Hackett from Genesis's Foxtrot album (1972) - (loosely) based on Suite For Cello, by J.S. Bach
• Joybringer by Manfred Mann's Earth Band (1973) - based on Jupiter - bringer of joy from Gustav Holst's The Planets suite
• All By Myself by Eric Carmen (1974) - based on Sergei Rachmaninoff piano concerto No. 2
• Fanfare for the Common Man by Emerson, Lake and Palmer (1975), based on Aaron Copland's work of the same name.
• I Believe in Father Christmas by Greg Lake (1975) - based on Lieutenant Kije Suite, Opus 60, by Sergei Prokofiev
• A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy (1976) - disco version of Beethoven's Fifth symphony, featured in Saturday Night Fever
• If I Had Words by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley (1977) - based on Saint Saens' 3rd symphony (The Organ Symphony)
• Lady Linda by The Beach Boys (1978) - based on J.S. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

1980s

• Toccata by Sky (1980) - based on Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
• This Night by Billy Joel (1983) - adapted from Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata
• Madame Butterfly by Malcolm McLaren and the World Famous Supreme Team (1984) - based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly.
• Russians by Sting (1986) - based on "Romance" theme from Lieutenant Kije Suite, Opus 60, by Sergei Prokofiev
• Arpeggios From Hell by Yngwie J. Malmsteen, based on Beethoven's Piano sonata No. 14, "Moonlight", 3rd movement

1990s

• Operaa House! by Malcolm McLaren and the World Famous Supreme Team (1990) - based on the Flower Duet from Leo Delibes' opera Lakmé
• Everything's Gonna Be Alright by Sweetbox (1998), based on Johann Sebastian Bach, Air from Orchestra Suite No. 4 in D-Major BWV 1069

2000s

• Piano & I, by Alicia Keys (2001), based on Beethoven's Piano sonata No. 14, "Moonlight",, 1st movement

See also

• Pachelbel's Canon

External link

• The Marines' Hymn 1919 manuscript