Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Some of those have been discussed here before, of course. As it seems, some acts that we known as classic, borrowed traditional (or sometimes known-as-traditional) tunes & made a hit out of them. Just a few examples:
Shirley Bassey "No regrets" - Edith Piaf "Non, je ne regrette rien"
Elvis Presley "It's now or never" - "O sole mio", G. Capurro & E. Di Capua, 1898, known (by some thickheads as me) as "traditional Italian tune"
"Those were the days" - "Dorogoy dlinnoyu" (B. Fomin - music, circa 1800, discussed here before; also known as traditional Gipsy/Russian tune)
Seekers "Carnival is over" - "Iz-za ostrova na strezhen'..." (if only i knew how to translate it from Russian into English, i would, but i have no idea...)
I think there were many more - as far as Russian tunes go, there was an instrumental version of "Polyushko-pole" entitled "Samovar", IIRC (wonder why? the original title, translated into English, would rather sound as "Daley-dale" - the closest variant i've managed to find... hey, i must stop here!)
Any others of the kind?

For you Sheena:

B. Bumble And The Stingers "Bumble Boogie" (1961) based loosely on "Flight Of The Bumble Bee" by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov.

Besame mucho - The Beatles. I believe also made popular by Xavier Cugat.

Becks Bolero by The Jeff Beck Group (1968) based on Ravell's Bolero, which was loosely based on the Spanish Bolero decent.

The Beatles' "Because" inspired by Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."

The Byrd's "She Don't Care About Time" using Bach's "Jesu Man OF Joy's Desiring" for the 12 string solo.

Lennons "Come Together" based on Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me." In fact, he got sued by Berry on this.

Here comes old flattop, he's moving up slowly (or something like that)

: http://www.sendspace.com/file/kzw4gk


Here are three classics

For Sheena - the second record I ever bought The Rocket Man( Samovar) by The Spotnicks

Saturday Night at The Duckpond (Swan Lake)- The Cougars even after 43 years still love this

Besame Mucho - Jet Harris the best version for you guitarists played on a Fender V1 Six String Bass for those of you who bother to download enjoy.

Comments as always welcome

I can't get it Roy.

Just tried that link Bob and working, can send direct if you wish

Same thing here too, Roy. It reads "There are no free download slots available."

Here is the link for the file you uploaded:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=5481906D56F534DB

Alternative link

It works well, Roy! Thanks!

Duckpond? Priceless! Nice version, BTW.
As for "Besame..." - honestly speaking, those repetitive "besame" vocals are a bit tiresome, IMHO, maybe it'd work better for me with no vocals at all. Love the song (Spanish version), BTW - great music & nice lyrics.
"Rocket man" - just cool, a bit "accelerated" compared to the original (or, more precisely, the "a cappella party version"), but the "spirit" is here.
Any other traditional / pop songs which found their way to charts in English (kind of a "cross-cultural reference", perhaps)? I mean, back in 70s-80s there were lots of songs which found their way to our pop scene as sang in Ru - "Greenfields", "Yellow river", to name just a few, and i wonder if it was a world phenomenon?
Cheers,
SC.

Roy: Each of these tracks has its own unique offering to the instrumental world and I very much appreciate you making them available to us.

Without a doubt, they would certainly have captured the imagination of the budding adolescent guitarist during the days of the instrumental craze in the 1960s.

The distinctive bass and rhythm of "Besame Mucho" makes this song most memorable for me in that it sets the track apart from the typical "Shadows" tonality. The song could also have been inserted easily in any James Bond soundtrack without so much as raising an eye-brow.

Rocketman and Saturday Night at the Duckpond are two peas in a pod and have all the requisite instrumental earmarks including plate reverb, vibrato and rolls and rimshorts on the snare.

These songs are classics in their own right and are a reminder that a fair number of successful tunes from the 1960s were taken from classical compositions.