Sergei Rachmaninoff is one of my favorite composer. His work sounds very romantic for me. Vocalise, his piano concertos and preludes, I like it so much.
That day on an art community activity held in my friend's place, a senior artist from Netherland brought his CD of Carmen McRae. He played the record while we were doing our sketchs. Ooh......., I like Carmen's voice, very deep and powerful. When "All by My Self" tune was on its turn, I was freeze for a moment, thinking of the melody, and hardly remembered if I have heard that song before.
Seeing my expression, the old Dutch man explained, the song "All by Myself" written by Eric Carmen (http://www.ericcarmen.com/eric/biography.htm) is similar to Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 - 2nd Movement (adagio sostenuto).
Is it a plagiarism? Nobody knows except Eric Carmen who is able to answer.
Despite of the issue, the lyric of All by Myself is touchy! It describes very true the reality of many people's life. A true contrast of glamorous and 'up to me' kind of life style during teens and 20 to 30's, compared to elderly period.
I attached a link to Celine Dion's version of All By Myself below.
If you are interested to know the Rachmaninoff Concerto's click on the play button of the video attached here too.
When I was young
I never needed anyone
And making love was just for fun
Those days are gone
Living alone
I think of all the friends I’ve known
But when I dial the telephone
Nobody’s home
All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live
All by myself anymore
Hard to be sure
Some times I feel so insecure
And love so distant and obscure
Remains the cure
All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live
All by myself anymore
When I was young
I never needed anyone
And making love was just for fun
Those days are gone
All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself anymore
All by myself
Don't wanna live
All by myself anymore
From EricCarmen.com
ReplyDelete'When I was writing that album, I was listening to my favorite music which was Rachmaninoff. "All By Myself" incorporated a melody from his 2nd piano concerto as the verse.
I thought that it's a crime that there are some spectacular melodies in classical music that the general public doesn't get exposed to. I thought this was a way for me to bring some of the classical music that I love, incorporate it into a pop song for a new decade of kids, and introduce them to those beautiful melodies that they might not otherwise hear.'
I think he's also said he thought they were in the public domain when he used them, but ended up paying the Rachmaninoff estate.
Thank you for the comment. I feel honored to have that. Now I know, there is a wonderful thought behind "All By Myself" and its similarity to Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto.
ReplyDeleteAll songs that I picked as a subject of my posts are all meaning a lot to me.
Thank you again.
All by Myself is, in my opinion, a very cheap imitation of Rachmaninov's piece. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_by_Myself
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It was admitted that All by myself" was an adaptation from Rachmaninoff's piano concerto and credit was later given to the estate of the composer. And there is more popular songs where motives were taken from Rachmaninoff's music.
ReplyDeletehttp://chopinandmysaucepan.com/rachmaninoff-piano-concerto-no-2-in-c-minor-part-1
http://chopinandmysaucepan.com/lang-lang-plays-rachmaninoff-in-sydney-australia
Another one is Alone Again, Gilbert O'sullivan , oh.....how I love those song too
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