Three Dog Night's "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine and Dandelion Wine)"

I just listened to Three Dog Night's Seven Separate Fools.  I knew that part of "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine and Dandelion Wine)" sounded familiar (the line "oh, the sun shines bright on our old Kentucky home"), but I couldn't place it.  I looked it up on the internet and discovered that "My Old Kentucky Home" (which contains a similar line - "the sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home") is a song by Stephen Foster.  I found this interesting, but that's not how I knew that line.

Eventually though, I realized that it's also in the song "Here Comes Summer," which I have by both Cliff Richard and the Dave Clark Five.  It's slightly altered though, so there's no mention of Kentucky; it's just "oh, let the sun shine bright on my happy summer home."

Listening to the two lines of both songs back-to-back, they sounded similar, not only in the words, but also in the melodies.  I found the notation for Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home," and I'm fairly confident that both "My Old Kentucky Home (Turpentine and Dandelion Wine)," written by Randy Newman, and "Here Comes Summer," written by Jerry Keller, took Foster's melody (modifying it slightly) and at least some of his words.

Rachmaninov's Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3

I've discovered that Rachmaninov must have really liked "Dies Irae."  I've found it in three of his works now.  Back in May, I found it in his Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, although I never looked it up in the notation.  Last night, I found it in his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43.  And then I found it in his Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3 (it took me awhile to find it in the notation though).  In the second movement (Prélude in C sharp), it's in the 7th to 9th measures:

(notation found here)

He plays around with it more here than in the other two instances I've found, but it's still recognizable.

I'm sort of painfully out of my depth here, but it seems like he's taken "Dies Irae" and sort of inverted the notes and - after shortening the note values from the original - expanded his new note values in order to come up with the rhythmic motif that (with the exception of the Agitato section) he uses almost throughout the movement.

Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

I listened to a lot of Rachmaninov to-day, including his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43.  I noticed that he includes "Dies Irae" in Variation X and Variation XXIV.

(notation found here)

If my counting is correct, this is measure 26 of Variation X.  This phrase also appears an octave higher two measures earlier, but this one was easier to take a screen clipping of.

In Variation XXIV, it appears at measure 39, again, if my counting is correct.  (I had to take two screen clippings to show the whole phrase.)  Here, he also slows it down in note values and changes the E to an Eb.

Buffalo Springfield's "Special Care"

I just listened to Buffalo Springfield's Last Time Around for the first time.  At the very end of "Special Care," there are some spoken parts.  I can't make out all of them, but at the end there's "only some, they [are] more equal than others."

I'm not sure if it's intentional on Stephen Stills' part (although the similarities in phrasing suggest that it was a conscious quotation), but this is the same sentiment expressed in George Orwell's Animal Farm:  "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Johnny Rivers' "Memphis" and "Help Me, Rhonda"

Between yester-day and to-day, I listened to the two discs of a Johnny Rivers compilation titled Secret Agent Man: The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology.  I found some interesting things about two of his covers.

The liner notes mention Rivers' "flair for interpreting and rearranging other people's material" and explain that he took the riff for his version of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" from "Tommy Tucker's recent R&B hit 'Hi Heel Sneakers.'"  Aside from Berry's original and Rivers' cover, the only other version of "Memphis" I'm really familiar with is a live version by the Searchers (slightly re-titled to "Memphis, Tennessee") that appears on the 40th Anniversary Collection.  (I have two versions by the Beatles, but I haven't listened to them that much.  They're both closer to Berry's original, so are irrelevant to my point here anyway.)  Until reading the liner notes for the Rivers anthology, I hadn't fully realized that his version and the Searchers' version have the same riff.  The liner notes for the Searchers album don't give an exact date for their version; they mention only that it's from a live appearance on Swedish radio from 1964, although based on the track listing - which is more or less chronological - it seems that it's from December 1964.  So Rivers' version, released in May 1964, is older, and the Searchers probably modeled their version after his.  (It seems unlikely that they would use the same riff - and in the same way - that Rivers did.)

It's hard for me to wrap my head around that because not only am I more familiar with the Searchers' version, but I've always thought that the Searchers were older than Johnny Rivers.  I knew that both had long careers, but I'd always placed the Searchers' pinnacle of success in the early '60s and Johnny Rivers' in the mid- to late-'60s.  The Searchers' taking inspiration from Johnny Rivers certainly illustrates that I was wrong and that they overlap more than I'd thought.

Secondly, I think Rivers' cover of the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" is particularly interesting because it adheres more closely to the album version ("Help Me, Ronda," from Today!) rather than the single version (which was also released on the Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) album).

Rivers' cover re-instates the harmonica that appears on the Today! version (it doesn't appear on the Beach Boys' single version), and he replaces shattered with ruined in the line "but she let another guy come between us and it shattered our plan," which - again - is what the Today! version has.  The Beach Boys changed it to "shattered our plan" for the single version.

According to the liner notes, Rivers' version of "Help Me, Rhonda" was released in 1975, which is well after the Beach Boys' versions and well after their single version became a hit.  The liner notes also mention that Brian Wilson contributed backing vocals to Rivers' version.  Rivers' basing his version on the older, album version and Wilson's appearance on the track both seem to suggest that Rivers recorded the song because he genuinely liked it and not because he was just trying to get a hit song (although it apparently did well in the charts anyway).

Schubert's Octet in F major, D. 803

I listened to a fair amount of Schubert to-day.  First was an album of some excerpts of symphonies and such, and then (after an album of some Schumann piano pieces) an album of two octets (D. 803 and D. 72, both in F major).  This is only the second time I've listened to both octets in their entirety, although I'm rather familiar with the fifth movement of D. 803 because it also appears on that album of excerpts, which I've had for about a decade.

In any case, while listening to the fourth movement of D. 803, I thought the clarinet part sounded familiar.  At first I thought it was a re-working a phrase that appears elsewhere in the piece, but I later expanded my search, and I found that a very similar phrase starts off the fourth movement of his symphony no. 5.

(notation found here and here)

According to the sources for the notation, Symphony No. 5 was written in 1816, and the octet in 1824.  So, if this is Schubert's reusing past material, he's taking the phrase from his symphony for his octet.

The phrases are pretty simple though, just a rising and then falling diatonic phrase with a steady rhythm, so I'm not sure if this really is an instance of Schubert's reusing material; it might just be a coincidence.  If the phrase were more complex, I'd be more confident in saying that he is borrowing from himself.  Still, it's a similarity I felt worth noting.

The Animals' "Baby Let Me Take You Home"

I'm currently listening to a compilation album of the Animals.  It includes "Baby Let Me Take You Home."  I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier, but the first six notes or so are the same as those in the theme from "Peter Gunn" (except the Animals play them much faster than they are in the "Peter Gunn" theme).  I've never actually seen the show, but the tune is a pretty popular one; I have four different versions in my collection.

Bobby Darin's "Rock Island Line" and "Silly Willy"

To-day, I listened to a compilation album of Bobby Darin titled Purely... Bobby Darin.  In the continuing theme of train-sounds-in-songs, I've noticed that in his version of "Rock Island Line," he sings some "ooh"s, ostensibly to mimic the train's whistle.

Also, I think I've found a connection to Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" in "Silly Willy," which is also included in this collection.  In "Silly Willy" there are the lines:

Willy was a-dreamin' 'bout an automobile
With a pair of diamond headlights and a gold steering wheel

They're not exactly the same, but they do bear some resemblance to lines in "Minnie the Moocher":

He gave her a home built of gold and steel
A diamond car with the platinum wheels

Both mention cars, diamond, and gold.

Jim Croce's "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)"

Earlier this week I listened to a compilation album of Jim Croce titled Photographs and Memories: His Greatest Hits.  I'd noticed before that there are some purposely absent lyrics in one of the verses of "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)," but thinking about that now I realized - to a greater degree - just how well it works in furthering the despondency of the song.

Here's the first verse:

Operator, oh, could you help me place this call
See, the number on the match book is old and faded
She's living in LA
With my best, old ex-friend Ray
Guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated

And the second verse:

Operator, oh, could you help me place this call
‘Cause I can’t read the number that you just gave me
There’s something in my eyes
You know it happens every time
I think about the love that I thought would save me

In the first two verses, the last line rhymes with the second line ("faded"/"hated" and "gave me"/"save me"), but in the third verse, the lyrics that would rhyme aren't there:

Operator, well let's forget about this call
There's no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time
Oh, you've been so much more than kind
You can keep the dime [*absent lyrics*]

If you're just reading the lyrics, you might be struck with the fact that this last verse doesn't hold to the format instituted by the first and followed by the second (that is, that there's nothing to rhyme with "talk to") and then just keep reading.  But if you're listening to it, you're forced to confront the absence of those lyrics because there are a few seconds devoid of vocals.  Unlike reading, the recording of the song plays out in a fixed duration, which makes that absence blatantly obvious.  Additionally, the articulation of "you can keep the dime" is different from that of the other two verses' corresponding lines.

In typing out the lyrics, I've noticed another way in which this is a great omission.  The caller eventually decides that he doesn't want to complete his call, and that's reflected in the lyrics - there's no rhyme for "talk to."  His initiation of a conversation isn't completed, and neither are the lyrics pertaining to it.

Sam Cooke's "Little Red Rooster"

I'm listening to a compilation album of Sam Cooke titled Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964.  I'm fairly familiar with most of these songs, yet - until now - I'd failed to noticed the program music aspects in "Little Red Rooster."  The various organ parts in the song illustrate the animals that are mentioned in the lyrics.  For example, the song starts out with (what I think is) an octave jump in the organ part (it's also present in the first and final verses), which represents the crowing of the rooster.  Later, there are swipes up the keyboard to represent the lyric "dogs begin to bark," and there's an-other organ sound I don't even know how to describe to reflect the line "the hounds begin to howl."