When I was a kid about 6, my mother’s favorite pop song was Connee Boswell singing Ah So Pure with Bob Crosby and the Bobcats. Several years later, my grandfather, who lived with us, was listening to the Metropolitan Opera one Saturday. The opera was Martha by Frederich von Flotow. The tenor was singing the aria M’appari in Italian, and I recognized the melody Ah So Pure. The song wasn’t stolen by Boswell. It was the actual aria, translated into English with s swing accompaniment.
Later on, beginning in the 1940’s mass theft begun. The first one I heard was the song Tonight We Love, which was stolen from the main theme of Tschaikowsky’s 1st piano concerto. Then came Full Moon and Empty Arms from Rachmaninoff’s 2nd piano concerto. Chopin’s 2nd piano etude generated the hit No Other Love.
In the 50’s, there was an Italian craze. Dean Martin, Toni Arden had their Italian hits. Vic Damone became a big star with Just Say I Love Her, a reworked version of Rodolfo Falvo’s Dicitencello Vuie, Ernesto deCurtis’ Come Back to Sorrento, and Forbidden Love from Stanislao Gastaldon’s Musica Proibita, the original of which is on my swimming headphones sung by Enrico Caruso.
In 1975, Eric Carmen stole the theme from Rachmaninoff for his big hit, All By Myself. Unfortunately, the music wasn’t public domain and he was sued by the Rachmaninoff estate, to which he had to pay a royalty. We can’t forget Paul Simon’s American Tune using the theme from a J.S. Bach chorale. I could go on – the list is huge.
Every so often, I hear a smidgen of music which was lifted from a classic. Most of the time I recognize where it came from but sometimes I spend hours researching a theme I recognize but don’t remember the source. A time waste? Nah! It’s a hobby.