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This famous ballad from the popular musical "Les Miserables" actually borrows a great deal of material from the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly by Puccini. The chord progressions are extremely similar and are almost identical. if you listen to Humming Chorus first, you can really hear the chords from that in the portion of Bring Him Home with the lyrics "If I die, let me die." The overall gentle feelings of the Humming Chorus also carry over to the prayer by Jean Valjean.

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Colm Wilkinson - Bring Him Home (Les Misérables) [720p]

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Blurred Lines- Robin Thicke(featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams) 

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Blurred Lines- Robin Thicke(featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams) 

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This song sparks a lot of controversy for a plethora of reasons. The most recent is the sexual assault allegations against Robin Thicke by a model who performed in the music video Emily Ratajkowski, as she has come out to say Thicke inappropriately groped her while drunk on set. The song also has received much criticism over its lyrics regarding a lack of consent, as the lyrics say "I know you want it. You're a good girl. Can't let it get past me."

Outside of those allegations, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were sued by the family of Marvin Gaye, because their song uses a lot of material from Gaye's song "Got to Give it Up" Upon listening to both of these songs, the most noticeable feature is that the drum patterns sound nearly identical in rhythm and style, as well as a great similarity in certain vocalization styles (falsetto) by Robin Thicke that sounds almost too similar to Marvin Gaye in his song. Pharell Williams responded to these claims by saying "a feeling can't be copyrighted", which I think really relates to our analysis of Charles Ives and his emphasis on music conveying feeling. Ultimately, Thicke and Williams lost the suit, and it is even being looked into further because Pharrell Williams has been accused of perjury. This song just seems extremely problematic in many ways and drew too much material from a preexisting work.

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Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft. T.I., Pharrell (Official Music Video)

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Robert W. Smith has composed many pieces that can be heard played by high schools all around during LGPE and seasonal concerts. I performed "The Ascension" my junior year in high school and it was one of my favorite pieces at the time to play. The solemn introduction plays a minor part in the total story told during the Divine Comedy. Recently I took the Wind Band & Lit class and we had to do a Listening Log on Morton Gould's "Ballad for Band" and around the 2:07 mark it sounds very familiar to the Ascension with some additional music by Robert W. Smith to continue the piece. I thought this was interesting because can you saying someone "borrowed" someone else's harmony?

https://youtu.be/nDDjN8sJofw "Ballad for Band"

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The Ascension, by Robert W. Smith -- Score & Sound

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My second song, is "Young Forever" by Jay-Z. Jay-Z sampled and reworked the song "Forever Young" by Alphaville (1984). The original melody is kept and the chorus is sung however, Jay-Z raps where the verses would've been on the original song. Jay-Z maintains the original message that the sample had. He uses references of his life. The sound of drums and a beat associated with rap is utilized in Jay-Z's song. I think that this song was cleverly written and used.

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The first song that came to mine that uses borrowed music and was a huge commercial success was, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. This particular song sampled from the band's Chic's "Good Times". The track of "Good Times" was interpolated throughout the entirety of the song while a few emcees rapped over the beat. This was the first song of its kind. This song assisted in pushing the movement of hip-hop into the mainstream.

The sample, gives the rap song a sense of a party feeling.

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The Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper's Delight ( HQ, Full Version )

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Aurora Awakes is one of my favorite works for band. Mackey uses incredible musical imagery to paint a picture of the awakening of the goddess of dawn. The piece ends with a remarkably bright E-flat major chord, nearly identical in instrumentation to the chord that ends the Chaconne in Holst's First Suite. In a piece of music that is all about the sun rising and shining brightly in the sky, there is no brighter chord to reference than that from Holst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiLHgWEJfk0

My second example is "my strange addiction" by Billie Eilish where the she uses audio clips from the show "The Office" throughout. While the lyrics of the song are about her addiction to a person, the borrowed clips are a nod to her addiction to binge-watching the television show. The spoken-word clips are very cleverly intertwined, as they actually set some of the rhythmic groove of the song.

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My second link about borrowed music will be "Of Our New Day Begun" composed by Omar Thomas. This was one of the first pieces that popped to the front of my mind as we were talking about Charles Ives this week. Omar Thomas uses "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and transforms it using mode mixture, divergent melodies and rhythmic figures, as well as augmentation and diminution of the original piece to create a symphonic work all of his own. This piece is an amazing work of taking vernacular music and transforming it into art music in order to create emotional moments and/or reactions. This piece was written for and dedicated to the nine people who lost their lives in the Charleston, SC church shooting on June 17, 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h72pyC_5EyY - "Of Our New Day Begun"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONgOH_tq7-Q - "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

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My second link about borrowed music will be "Of Our New Day Begun" composed by Omar Thomas. This was one of the first pieces that popped to the front of my mind as we were talking about Charles Ives this week. Omar Thomas uses "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and transforms it using mode mixture, divergent melodies and rhythmic figures, as well as augmentation and diminution of the original piece to create a symphonic work all of his own. This piece is an amazing work of taking vernacular music and transforming it into art music in order to create emotional moments and/or reactions. This piece was written for and dedicated to the nine people who lost their lives in the Charleston, SC church shooting on June 17, 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h72pyC_5EyY - "Of Our New Day Begun"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONgOH_tq7-Q - "Lift Every Voice and Sing"

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My second song is Rush’s “2112” which obviously warps Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” into something completely new, and is the most “Ivesian” out of my two examples. While “2112” is absolutely inspired by Tchaikovsky, it is difficult to pick out in the 20 minute prague rock opera. Rush utilizes the famous ending motif from “1812” as well as cannon shots in the end of the first part of “2112,” and doesn’t look back to Tchaikovsky too much afterwards. I think this is one of the coolest uses of orchestral inspiration in any rock tune, and it speaks to Rush’s compositional style as a whole, being very orchestral and complex in their music.

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My first song is “For the Damaged Coda” by Blonde Redhead which utilizes “Nocturne No. 1 in F Minor” by Chopin. I am particularly fond of pop music that samples or adapts quotations from Romantic or Classical pieces such as this. It takes the Chopin so out of context while keeping the general emotional context of the Nocturne. Turning the opening piano melody into a unison vocal line while adapting the lower piano accompaniment and adding the standard rock beat gives “The Damaged Coda” such a raw and dark feeling. While there are no lyrics, I really love the interpretation of a relatively lesser known Chopin work into an indie rock band style. The sampling in this example spans 168 years from Chopin’s writing between 1831-1832 to Blonde Redhead’s song in 2000, and I love it. You see similar things with the use of the Dies Irae quote, “Canon in D”, and Beethoven’s Fifth, but this one is one of my particular favorites.

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One of the first songs that came to mind was "Hate Me Now" by Nas. This track was produced by D-Moet, Pretty Boy, and Trackmasters. This was Nas' second single and used as the sample track is Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana." During this time Nas was signed with Columbia Records and Puff Daddy was a heavy influence on his career. During that time Puffy put out a record with another symphonic sample called "Victory." The sample for that record came from Bill Conti's "Rocky Picture Score" called "Going the Distance." Therefore, the idea for "Hate Me Now" came two years later for Nas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HQ3AdE4jDw - "Hate Me Now"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzvZFnI7Vw8 - "Carmina Burana"

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Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap 2005 with Jason Derulo “Whatcha Say” 2009 and “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen 1975 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, the 2nd Movement 1901.

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Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap 2005 with Jason Derulo “Whatcha Say” 2009 and “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen 1975 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, the 2nd Movement 1901.

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https://youtu.be/ckfPMZfWXqU?t=98 Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap 2005 and Jason Derulo “Whatcha Say” 2009 Both use the “ooh Whatcha say” lyrics and chord progression. I looked it up and apparently, Derulo had permission to use the quoted material in his own way.  The songs are both sad and angry in different ways.

My second example is from this link: https://youtu.be/yknBXOSlFQs?t=840
It is “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen 1975 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, the 2nd Movement 1901. The chord progressions are identical because Carmen took them directly. He thought it was public domain in the USA but that was not true all over the world. He ended up having to give a percentage of his earnings because of the copyright violation at the time.
I think it is ok to borrow music from other artists, but only if you have permission and use it in a whole new way. I know it is difficult to compose original music, especially now because music has been around for many years.

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Imogen Heap vs. Jason Derulo - Hide And Seek vs. Whatcha Say (Mashup)

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Little Brother ft. Joe Scudda "Lovin It" https://youtu.be/vLReIhRgVS8

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Little Brother ft. Joe Scudda "Lovin It" https://youtu.be/vLReIhRgVS8

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Little Brother is easily one of my favorite hip hop groups and they followed up their 2003 debut album "The Listening" with "The Minstrel Show" in 2005. What makes this group unique is don't "sound" like most southern (From North Carolina) rap/hip hop groups and they used rhymes and lyrics that make you think and in some instances have to pull out a dictionary to look up some words. Because of this their hit single "Lovin It" wasn't played on BET because it was deemed "Too Intelligent" for the demographic that tuned in. 9th Wonder was the third member of this group at the time and he is known for his sampling prowess. He has made tracks for artists from Mary J. Blige to Jay-Z. In this song he uses "One Night Affair" by the Stylistics. In his genius he takes the track and slows it down while including excerpts of the bass line and other small nuances found throughout the original song.

https://youtu.be/5wjzsAXsS30 "One Night Affair"

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Little Brother - Lovin' It (feat. Joe Scudda) [Official Video]

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Father I Stretch My Hands - YouTube

To go along with my ideals of Christian and Gospel sampling, I want to switch the pathways around. In 2016, Kanye West released the album “The Life of Pablo.” This album features a song called Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1. This was one of two of my favorite songs in 2016. It was all over the radio, played at many basketball games, and performed at several awards shows. Father Stretch My Hands Pt.1 was then followed up by Pt. 2, that sampled more songs as well. Father Stretch My Hands was recorded by Pastor T. L. Barrett in 1976. Under the same title, Pastor Barrett uses Father Stretch My Hands to discuss the hand that the Lord has on their lives and their dependency on His Word. Kanye West switches it up and used his song to discuss the positive and negative aspects of a relationship. West speaks of wanting to be free, but also wanted to be loved by the person or thing that he wakes up for every morning.

West uses the Pastor Barrett and the choir’s vocals as an introduction to the song and as backing throughout the track. He has chopped and sliced the phrases “you’re the only power” and “father I stretch my hands” as the main vocal background lines of the song. Unlike the other song I chose, this one uses the actual audio, but it is not the main melodic line of the piece. It is the original audio, in the original key, but sped up a tad bit. Kanye neglects the rest of the song, only using its opening lines for his rendition. It is hard to believe that Kanye and Pastor Barrett used the same song. If you were to start Barrett’s song in the middle, West sampling would not be easily identifiable. The text and melody of the two lines he took from the piece are what make it recognizable. As I said in my previous post, it is interesting how Christian and Gospel music are treated when it comes to sampling and covering. You are less likely to see a religious singer in the news about copyright issues. Is it because of the context of the music or are there different laws for religious music?
-J. Hunt

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Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Official Video) - YouTube

In 2006, Gnarls Barkley released a song that reflects on a toxic relationship between what is right and what feels right. This song is called Crazy. CeeLo Green has conducted several interviews to explain the meaning behind the song. He was in a dark place, torn between personal and professional life. A conversation between he and Danger Mouse reflected the idea that the only way to produce a successful album was to become crazy. Who knew that Crazy would have such an impact on the world, even still in 2021?

About a week ago, my mother and I were travelling home from church when I heard a slow rendition of Crazy come across the Gospel Radio Station. As confused as I was, when the song began, immediately I did not hear CeeLo Green’s voice, but the voice of another man. I began to sing along, but suddenly the words changed. I looked at the car stereo and say this song, Amazing by Pastor Mike, Junior. I was very confused. I tried explaining my confusion to my mother, who was not making the connection. This song, Amazing, not only uses the melody of Barkley’s Crazy, but also several textual lines. They both open with “I remember when I lost my…” Here in Pastor Mike, Jr.’s song, he changes a secular song into a sacred song. Amazing changes the BPM and the key of the original song; however, it still remains the same piece throughout. Pastor Mike, Jr. uses the iconic melody of the verse and chorus of Crazy throughout his song, Amazing. This song praises the Lord for being “so amazing” and changes Pastor Mike’s life from being a sinner to being saved. It is very interesting to see how Christian and Gospel music often sample secular melodies. I feel like Gospel and Christian music have less of a restraint in the music industry when it come to copyright disenfranchisement. It is quite interesting to see how Christian and Gospel artists create, share, sample, and cover each other.
-J. Hunt

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The second song I chose was by Kanye West (both had albums come out in the last couple weeks…so I guess it’s fresh on my mind lol). Kanye did a song called “Gold Digger,” that incorporates a song by Ray Charles called “I Got a Woman.” Jamie Foxx had just finished portraying Ray Charles in the movie Ray, so he did the vocals in this tune covering Ray Charles part. This mix of gospely-blues and hip hop was not too uncommon and was very successful in this case.

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The first song I chose was from Drake’s new album, Certified Lover Boy, with the song Way 2 Sexy. This song borrows melodic content from “Too Sexy,” from the group Right Said Fred. The original was released in 1991 and was a hit all over the world, and Drake’s utilization of the song in his new album boosted his song to top the Billboard Charts. The borrowing is obvious, but the utilization is unique in many ways. The taking of this British pop hit from the 90’s and mixing it into a current day pop/hip hop chart was definitely a recipe for success in this case.

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Drake - Way 2 Sexy (Audio) ft. Future, Young Thug

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My second example includes one of the all-time greatest composers for wind band, Gustav Holst.  In this case, Francis Poulenc seems to have borrowed from Holst to write his single act ballet, Les biches Suite.  The excerpt that appears to be borrowed can be found in the first movement of the work, Rondeau.  Elements of the work are quite similar to those of Holst’s Second Suite in F.  The march quality, in addition to the rhythm and melodic statements begin almost identical, with the most noticeable difference being the rapid tempo of Poulenc’s Les biches.

While the extent of Poulenc’s borrowing appears to be only a short snippet of the melodic approach into the march like aspect of the work, it is interesting to note that Les biches premiered in 1924, less than two years after Holst published his Second Suite in F. Second Suite in F was written eleven years prior to the publication (1922).  The melodic statement in question appears in Les biches immediately after the first three bars sustained chords and ending with a fermata.  The first five notes match the melody and rhythm of the first movement of Holst’s Second Suite in F, March, one of the most recognizable introductions in wind band literature.  What makes it more interesting is that Poulenc seems to intend to present elements of a march within the introduction.  There is no need to skip to hear the similarities, as both occur at the beginning of the works.

Les Biches Suite - Francis Poulenc

Second Suite in F - Gustav Holst

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Francis Poulenc - Les Biches Suite, FP 36b

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For my first example, I immediately referenced the memories of pop and rap music from my high school years, specifically the late 1990s and early 2000s.  One of the most specific examples of borrowed music from this era was Dilemma by Nelly and featuring Kelly Rowland.  The chorus from the song is sampled directly from Patti Labelle’s Love, Need and Want You, which happened to be released the year of my birth, 1983.  Dilemma was one of my favorite songs at the time and what makes this example so unique is Labelle’s appearance in the music video.

The borrowed melody is sung by Kelly Rowland in the song and uses some of the same lyrics.  The introduction, including the opening chords of Labelle’s work, are also used to create the chordal elements with the added rhythmic elements throughout Dilemma.  With Labelle’s cameo within the video, one would assume permission was granted for this direct sample and borrowing of early 80’s R&B for the 2002 hit pop/rap song.  To hear the borrowed elements, listen to the instrumental introduction of Labelle’s work and her singing of the main melody.  The video provided of Dilemma has a short introduction referencing the 2002 album title, but you can simply skip to 0:20 to hear the borrowed aspects of Labelle’s work.

Dilemma - Nelly, feat. Kelly Rowland

Love, Need and Want You - Patti Labelle

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Nelly - Dilemma (Official Music Video) ft. Kelly Rowland

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Mika’s Grace Kelly & the Barber of Seville “Largo al factotum”

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Mika’s Grace Kelly & the Barber of Seville “Largo al factotum”

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Grace Kelly topped the charts back in 2007 but it’s made a comeback recently because of….you guessed it- Tik Tok. Creators are layering several lines of harmony and creating videos that feature themselves on every vocal line. One thing I doubt a lot of these kids know is that Mika borrowed musical material from Rossini’s Barber of Seville.

Grace Kelly was written when Mika was frustrated with the pop industry demanding he conforms to sound like someone else. Particularly, he was asked to sound more like Queen when singing, and you can definitely hear that when he goes into his falsetto in the chorus.

Mika has been quoted as saying he borrowed the melody from Figaro’s aria “Largo al factotum” in The Barber of Seville. Though both melodies are definitely bouncy and resemble each other, I mostly hear the resemblance in the accompaniment in the verses.

Mika’s Grace Kelly- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHisFtYwf1Y

Rossini’s Largo al factotum- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIYB6uWpG_I

Tik tok cover- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-DuZvLUYDQ

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Canon in D+Graduation (Friends Forever)+ Memories

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Canon in D+Graduation (Friends Forever)+ Memories

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Pachelbel’s Canon in D- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgh68Swuak0

Vitamin C’s Graduation (Friends Forever)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_NxOF7RB4

Maroon 5’s Memories- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2DXt11SMNI

All 3 combined- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjiZ56UZ5Go

My mind first went to Canon in D while thinking about musical borrowing & quoting. There are so many pop songs that quote the ostinato bass line in Canon in D but Graduation (Friends Forever) is one of the most obvious. While the ostinato is used throughout the whole song, the beginning also mirrors it a little with her vocals layering on top. The only thing that would make this musical borrowing even better would be if this song was used for graduation ceremonies, but alas, it’s mostly used for wedding processions.

While listening to the two pieces and comparing them, I came across a Youtube video mashing up Canon in D+Graduation+Memories (Maroon 5), a song that was wildly popular about two years ago. Memories even has more Canon in D located in the melody line. Canon in D has been quoted a LOT and it’s a great example that I always show my students in Music Appreciation. They enjoy mashups and quoting and it’s cool to see them realize that some music they enjoy was inspired partly by classical music.

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I Think I'm In Love With You (Jessica Simpson)

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I Think I'm In Love With You (Jessica Simpson)

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My second song choice was Jessica Simpson’s “I Think I’m In Love With You”. “I Think I’m In Love With You” uses the intro from John Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane” throughout the whole song. “Jack & Diane” was created in 1982, 18 years before Jessica Simpson’s song came out in 2000. Mellencamp’s intro is iconic. The guitar and drum beats in the background are so specific to “Jack & Diane” that people couldn’t tell which song was playing until they heard Jessica Simpson’s voice or John Mellencamp’s voice. Simpson’s intro is the same key in Mellencamp’s song as it is in Mellencamp’s original. “I Think I’m In Love With You” was number 21 in the United States, but top 10 in Australia, Canada, and Japan (Wikipedia).

If you go on YouTube, you can find a cappella groups performing a mashup of “I Think I’m In Love With You” and “Jack & Diane”. The overlap of the two songs is easy to create a mashup arrangement.

“I Think I’m In Love With You” by Jessica Simpson - https://youtu.be/U7uxf8kBBlg

“Jack & Diane” by John Mellencamp - https://youtu.be/h04CH9YZcpI

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Jessica Simpson - I Think I'm in Love with You (Official Music Video)

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The first song I chose was Madonna’s “Hung Up”. Madonna uses a sample of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” throughout her song. The synthesizer and ticking clock, under Madonna's melody, is pulled from ABBA’s music. Until I did some research on songs with samples in it, I didn’t realize this musical segment was from ABBA. Madonna asked Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus personally for permission to use the section in her song, and luckily, they said yes. ABBA does not frequently approve of requests to use samples of their songs. The segment used in “Hung Up” does not include the voices of ABBA though; only the instrumental part is used.

“Hung Up” was Madonna’s 36th Top 10 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 list and was the most successful dance song of the decade. (Wikipedia)

“Hung Up” by Madonna - https://youtu.be/EDwb9jOVRtU

“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” by ABBA - https://youtu.be/XEjLoHdbVeE

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My second selection borrows material in a different, yet still not subtle way. John Williams’ scores from the original trilogy of Star Wars borrows material from Gustav Holst’s The Planets (1918). Williams really gets as close to quoting Holst as he can without doing it. Much of his borrowing is in terms of style and interpretation. One of these similarities can be found between the opening of Star Wars (Main Theme) and the opening of Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. Another comparison could be found in the style of the Imperial March and the style of Mars, the Bringer of War. In the video I have attached, two YouTubers go through a set of similarities between Williams and other composers’ works. Skip to 0:56 to hear the most convincing one! - Madison Graham

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The act of composers borrowing musical material to create new products is nothing new. The borrowing can be subtle, involving the use of a few elements or a motif, or it can be rather transparent, as in sampling. Borrowing musical material is a large part of the Jazz genre. In fact, this is often the way that many new players first learn to improvise – by listening to other players improvise and borrowing their material. Synthesizing that material with other material makes a new, unique product.

My first selection is Otis by Jay-Z and Kanye West, released in 2011. It heavily borrows material from Try A Little Tenderness, recorded in 1966 by Otis Redding, through sampling. In fact, the entire song from start to finish incorporates Redding’s original in some way. The intro uses a significant portion of one of Redding’s verses. Redding’s scats at 3:05 form a major portion of the new song’s rhythmic structure. West and Jay-Z even combine certain parts of the old song to create a form around their verses. This is an extremely straightforward use of borrowing. West and Jay-Z took Otis Redding’s song, chopped it up, and used it as the basis for a new song in an innovative way. This practice of sampling has become more common as electronic music technology progresses and develops in American popular music. - Madison Graham

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JAŸ-Z, Kanye West - Otis ft. Otis Redding