Songs Inspired By Bach

when you ask musicians and composers who inspires you one of the names that comes up time and time again is bark barks extensive and varied collection of works have served as the inspiration for countless new pieces of music for example part of the melody from bridge over troubled water by Paul Simon was actually based on a bark chorale as Simon explains in this clip what would become the iconic bridge over troubled water started with a melodic segment lifted from this bark melody so I'd started out with that me singing a song beginning of the song I had [Music] now this part [Applause] that comes from a Bach piece that comes from about chorale [Music] so that was in my mind so that's how that part slipped in the bark piece that Simon was inspired by was a tune known as Oh sacred head now wounded [Music] even though we know that Paul Simon started with the segment of melody to write his tune it's very hard to find anything that resembles barks original melody when looking at bridge over troubled water the only similarity really that I could find is that the contour here on this part of bridge over troubled waters melody is similar to the contour in barks original melody here [Music] but really this just goes to show that even if you use an existing piece of music as the kicking off point of your new song your resulting song doesn't have to sound anything like the original piece of music Paul Simon actually used this very same bark melody again when he wrote his song American tune and this time the similarities the Bark's melody are far far clearer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] on this occasion Paul Simon has actually directly lifted the melody in courts from the original bark chorale and has set his our lyrics to it of course Paul Simon is fully within his rights to do this because the bark melody along with all of barks works are in the public domain and therefore anybody is free to use them however they please interestingly just like Paul Simon bark him South uses June on more than one occasion featuring it in a variety of his works but the similarities between Paul Simon and barks relationship of this tune don't just stop there both didn't just use the tune of multiple occasions both actually borrowed the tune from a previous composition bark didn't actually write this melody instead he borrowed it from an earlier him by Paul Gerhardt but the story doesn't stop there Gerhardt also didn't write the tune he too borrowed it from an earlier work this time by Hans Hassler [Music] there's a clever irony involved here that a tune that Paul Simon has called American tune is actually a 400 year old German tune but this actually plays really well into the themes of American tune one of the lyrical themes of American tune is the story and struggle of the original settlers who came to America and in the same way that they were Europeans who became Americans this piece of music which describes their story was a German tune that came to America and became an American June another legendary songwriter to be inspired by bark is Paul McCartney the inspiration for the Beatles legendary blackbird actually came from a guitar arrangement of barks booray in E minor that Paul and George used to play as a party piece but we had a little piece which was like a party piece to show people that you know we weren't as stupid as we looked and it was it was by Bach and it went like that [Music] so what we liked was it as the melody and then the sir [Music] for whatever you know the bass line going at the same time that was kind of hard harder to do than anything we did so that was how we did it but we got it wrong it should go to the donor that and it goes on and on but we just truncated it and did it like short like that and that bit I kind of always like so then I ended up adapting that years later remembering this little thing we should have into some I'm just looking for all those little shapes so it had a melody on the top and little bass line or describes how he and George liked how the bark piece featured a melody on top and a bass line underneath this technique is actually called counterpoint and is something that bark is well known for counterpoint is a musical texture where two or more melodies move independently from each other however while simultaneously creating a sense of harmony between them so for example embarked B or a in E minor which is the piece that McCartney was inspired by we have a top line and a baseline both work has independent melodies with their own contour and rhythm however when the two are played together they create a sense of harmony between them despite the lack of any other a compliment [Music] the same is true of Blackbird Blackbird features this top line [Music] and the space line both perfectly nice melodies on their own but once you put them together it creates an elegant sense of harmony [Music] poor describes the process of writing Blackbird in his biography many years from now I developed the melody on guitar based on the bark piece and took it somewhere else took it to another level then I just fitted the words to it looking at the music for Blackbird you can see how McCartney has taken his inspiration from bark but then has continued in his own direction for example whereas barks piece features only two voices a top-line and a bass line McCartney has used four voices three on the guitar and the fourth sang by McCartney himself on the guitar much like the bark piece we have a bass line and we have a top line but unlike the bark piece McCartney has also included a middle voice which just pedals on the root note G helping to glue all four voices together harmonically singing in the dead of night take these broken wings and burn [Music] you only wait for this moment to arise [Music] lady Linda by the Beach Boys isn't just inspired by bark but actually completely repurposes one of barks melodies as Carl Wilson explains in this clip Beach Boys guitarist Alan Jardine based his song lady Linda on the bark melody Jesu joy of man's desiring you didn't write this next song no Alan did this is a song by Alan Jardine later than alert has he written a lot of songs oh yes several songs many songs in this song started off musically with JC joy of man's desiring by bog musically and then Alan changed the melody and wrote the song about his wife Linda lady Linda begins with a baroque inspired harpsichord part as a nod to the bark influence [Music] as you can hear the intro is an unmodified rendition of the original bark melody [Music] but after this the song enters a more typical Beach Boys style and we get an adapted version of barks melody [Music] the Beach Boys have modified the timing of barks original melody spreading it out into 4/4 time rather than the compound nine eight time we had before ouch our Dean co-wrote lady Linda with Beach Boys keyboard player Ronald Park listen to all bark explain here the writing process behind the lady Linda why was that but Big Sur with Alan and I was playing some behind his piano there and I started playing one of the the chorale preludes ooh pride of man's desire joy of man's desiring by everybody knows it [Music] I'm sure everybody's heard that and uh anyway I had the idea to start playing I started playing a little different a little different rhythm you know he started humming he started saying any running around the room he said let's make a song so I said fine let's make a song so then he came up with something he came up with some really nice words ago about his wife was about lady Linda he called in it was very pretty Sam not so much inspiration but an outright tribute to Carter by the band Skye is basically a prog rock reimagining of Bart's famous Toccata and Fugue in d-minor [Music] Skai weren't even the first prog rock band to adapt to Carta though Dutch prog band exception released versions of Takata in 1973 seven years before Sky's version went to number five in the UK single charts and whilst we're discussing Toccata and Fugue it's also fairly clear that muses plugin baby took at least some inspiration from this classic bark piece [Music] a more recent example of a song inspired by a bark piece is this song they buy gem they is based on a sample of Bart's Prelude in F minor from the well-tempered clavier book - but listening to the sample you may be thinking that doesn't really sound like bark and that's because gem didn't sample the original version of barks Prelude an F minor but instead sampled the Swingle Singers 1963 jazz arrangement of Prelude an F minor so the pop song they released in 2004 is based on a 1963 swing version of a bark piece released in the 1700s my final example today I've actually talked about in another video but I've got to mention it here as well it's a whiter shade of pale by prog harem [Music] a wife a shade of pale by procam harem is based on orchestral suite number three in d-major by bark better known by the name air on a g-string [Music] [Applause] I do remember having this musical idea which I worked out on the piano air or g-string which was about composition and it came out but I think when I got after about the first two bars I think I got it wrong anything or didn't remember where it went but I just carried on in my own way if I move whiter shade of pale into the same key as air on the g string it's quite clear that both pieces begin with the exact same descending chord progression and the same long suspended notes held over the top [Music] but after two bars just like gary brooker said in the interview why the shade of pale diverges from air on a g-string what Shakespeare is to Western literature is what Barker's to Western music his extensive set of works offer a masterclass in melody harmony and texture and I'm sure his works will continue to influence composers and songwriters for centuries to come if you can think of any other pop songs that were inspired by bark then do put them in the comments below and after lots of people have pointed out that I don't actually play very much piano on my channel called David Bennett piano I thought I would take this opportunity to play this piece to you that I wrote inspired by barks Prelude in C and as always a massive thank you goes to my patrons including Adam Ranger and resize the archer Andrew Andrew Brown and Deacon Boston Barrett on the constrain Brittany Parker Bruce Mount Cameron all availa Chris Cobell Kieran Benin Darren Harvey D David Lee fish David defender fur dr. Darren wicks Ellen let's go chenko s Ben Hansen Eugene Leroy eyes FD Hodor Gulf house Gilliam alert owner James ko jae-hak inspire Joe Watson joined the Soderstrom justin bigger lavender Monroe's make fellows melody composer squared Michael Vivian Nancy Gillard Pablo Campo Paul Miller who pays Peter Dunphy Roger clay schnitzel craft C Jian Kang Steve daily Thomas Armstrong Tim Peake Tim Payne toot without flowers and Vladimir Kononov you

Channel: David Bennett Piano

Views: 381,793

Rating: 4.9446273 out of 5

Keywords: bach, prelude, toccato, air on a g string, jesu joy of man, wounded head now, music theory, sheet music, explained, inspired, rip off, plagarism, lawsuit, public domain

Id: 4E8HUjxroFA

Length: 17min 12sec (1032 seconds)

Published: Sun May 10 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/sW1mKiller]

Love your channel, I’ve been watching for a while! Keep up the awesome content!!

[u/Suicideman2k]

Love your channel!

[u/sri7san]

Even " all you need is love" is also based on bach composition