I was listening to 90.9 WGUC, our local classical radio station, this morning, and they played a well-known guitar piece, made famous at least partly due to its inclusion in a hot for a well-known classic rock band. The way the announcer described this was subtle but struck me as humorous all the same. The guitar work is Isaac Albeniz’s “Leyenda” and the announcer mentioned it is featured prominently in “Spanish Caravan” by “a group called The Doors”.
Now I realize that if you charted classical music listeners and classic rock listeners on a Venn diagram, the overlap would more than likely be small. However, it is my opinion that The Doors were and still are a popular enough band that one could easily refer to them as The Doors. Saying “a group called The Doors” implies they are (relatively) unknown. I found it humorous.
I’ve enjoyed in the past the hunt for identifying classical music used in other works. Here is a list some past secular and sacred pursuits:
- “Spanish Caravan” (The Doors) uses “Leyenda” by Isaac Albeniz
- “All You Need Is Love” (The Beatles) uses “Two-part Invention #8 in F major” by J. S. Bach, “Greensleeves” (by that über-famous composer Anonymous), and France’s national anthem “La Marseillaise”, among many other songs
- “Clubbed to Death (Kurayamino Remix)” (Rob Dougan – The Matrix Soundtrack) uses “Enigma Variations” by Sir Edward Elgar
- “Sing Your Praise to the Lord” (Rich Mullins) uses “Fugue No. 2 in C minor” from The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach
- “Variations on a Theme by Tallis” (Ralph Vaughn Williams) uses “Why Fum’th In Fight” by Thomas Tallis
Ok, so this last one is classical music using older classical music, but I had to search quite a while to find out what that older song was.
So what about you? What songs do you like that are quoted in other songs or that quote other songs? Have you had a funny experience where someone explained something you thought was really obvious?
