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I once listened on this forum to a song played by a french girl which covered Chopin's valse op 64 nr 2. The lyrics were something like 'chopin joue la melodie [?]'. Of course, if you guys know of other songs 'inspired' by classical pieces, I'd like to hear them

Cheers,
Alex

There are literally dozens of "pop" tunes whose melodies have been taken - stolen? - directly from melodies of "classical" composers.

Chopin : Fantasie Impromptu = "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"
Chopin : Polonaise in Ab major, Op 53 = "Til the End of Time"
Chopin : Etude in E major, Op 10, no 3 = "No Other Love"
Tchaikovsky : theme from the first movement of the Symphony No 6 in B minor = "This is the Story of a Starry Night"
Tchaikovsky : theme from the first movement of the Symphony No 5 in e minor = "Moon Love"
Rachmaninoff : theme from the first movement of the Second Piano Concerto = "Full Moon and Empty Arms"
Martini : Plaisir d'amour = "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You"
Leoncavallo : Mattinata = "You're Breaking my Heart"
All the music from Wright/Forrest's "Kismet" is based on themes by Borodin : "Stranger in Paradise," "And This is my Beloved,"
"Sands of Time," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "Night of my Nights,"
etc., etc., etc.

... and this is without even thinking about the question!

Regards,

Eric Carmen used the second movement for "All By Myself," and got in some trouble with the Rachmaninoff estate for it because it wasn't public domain yet.

I only know this because a friend saw him (Carmen, not Rach) in a bar recently, and I had to look him up on wikipedia to find out why this was so exciting. Turns out it wasn't really that exciting.

Eric Carmen also used the 3rd movement theme from Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony in his immortal classic "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again."

It actually isn't immortal, but I knew it before I ever heard the Rachmaninoff Symphony. So there I was, listening to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra live, wondering why they were playing an Eric Carmen song.

How can anyone forget Dance of the Hours - redone as "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda."

Saint-Saens "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" from Samson et Dalilah = Night (as in :
"Night, here comes the night
Another night to dream about you.
Night, each lonely night
The only time I'm not without you ... etc.)

Clementi - Sonatina op. 36 #5 was adapted as
"Groovy Kind of Love" by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer Sager, was on the pop charts in the 60's covered by the Mindbenders
edit - wrong opus #

Lets not forget the Pathetique second movement melody used for the melody of Billy Joel's This Night.

could it be magic - barry manilow - chopin prelude c minor

Plagiarism has been common in the music world and has increased exponentially since the advent of the web and computer generated music.

Its one thing to use a composers work as a source of inspiration but to blatantly rip off somebodys tune is contemptible.

Unfortunately due to widespread musical ignorance ,particularly with teenagers, the plagiarists are having an uninterrupted field day with the rip off direct copy of classical tunes.

Perhaps this link may amuse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM