The video above is Episode 10 of the Victory At Sea documentary. It totally captured the wistfulness of a sailor in a vast ocean longing for home. The music for the show was written by Richard Rogers. Never one to waste a good idea, Rogers took the theme song from this episode and with Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics reused it for the musical Me and Juliet with the title, No Other Love which again captured desire when separated.
Above, Richard Rogers stole from himself to get a great song. As described in a previous article about the musical Kismet, composers stealing from other composers is a well known action. Kismet borrowed so completely from Alexander Borodin that he won a Tony Award 87 years after his death.
There are so many examples of classical works becoming popular songs, that it might be called “The Dead Composers Hit Parade”. Below are just a few examples.
*Debussy’s Claire de Lune → “Moonlight Love”, Perry Como
*Chopin’s Polonaise in A Flat → “Till The End of Time”,
*Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto → “Tonight We Love” *Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 → “All By Myself” Eric Carmen
*J.S. Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring → “Lady Linda”, Beach Boys
*Beethoven’s Sonata #8 → “This Night”, Billy Joel
*Chopin’s Op. 28 → “Could It Be Magic”, Manilow
*Martini’s Plaisir d’amour → “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, Elvis
*J. S. Bach’s Air on the G String → “A Whiter Shade of Pale” Procol Harem
*de Lisle’s Marseillaise → “All You Need is Love”, The Beatles
This above list is only a small sample and I didn’t include the several songs based on “O Sole Mio” and “Torna A Surriento”. Here are just a few more examples. Note to future composers: If you need a melody, avoid the legal troubles and just steal from someone long dead. You all can hit YouTube on the above, but I’ll end with one of my favorites from the list.
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