List of variations on Pachelbel's Canon

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Pachelbel's Canon
Arrangement for violins, harps and bass by Kevin MacLeod, 2006

Johann Pachelbel wrote his Canon in D major in the mid-Baroque period, a piece that has been credited with inspiring a significant number of pop songs since the 1960s. After the piece was revived from obscurity in the 1960s, its chord progression, bassline, and melodic structure were reproduced in a number of contemporary pop songs, a phenomenon attributed to the memorability and simplicity of the work as well as renewed interest in it. While Pachelbel's Canon itself is not a staple of pop music, it shares common roots with other, more significant chord progressions that lay the foundations of modern pop music. Its perceived ubiquity is itself an object of cultural discussion.

History and analysis[edit]

<< \override Score.MetronomeMark.direction = #DOWN { s2^\markup { I } | s^\markup { V } | s^\markup { vi } | s^\markup { iii } | s^\markup { IV } | s^\markup { I } | s^\markup { IV } | s^\markup { V } | } { \clef bass \tempo 2=50 \key d \major d2 a, b, fis, g, d, g, a, } >>
The bassline and harmonic analysis of Pachelbel's Canon

Pachelbel's Canon was written sometime in the late 17th or early 18th century by Johann Pachelbel. It was not widely appreciated by his contemporaries; in fact, it was largely forgotten by history for hundreds of years. Interest in Pachelbel's work increased a small amount in the early 20th century with the revival of Baroque-era compositions, but the Canon remained relatively obscure throughout the first half of the 20th century. Alexandra S. Levine, writing for The New York Times, cited a recording from the late 1960s by French conductor Jean-François Paillard as the catalyst for Pachelbel's Canon later becoming ubiquitous in pop music and at events such as weddings and funerals.[1] Ilario Colli, writing for Limelight, traces Pachelbel's influence on modern pop back to the Bee Gees' 1966 single "Spicks and Specks", which has a bass line and sequence of chords nearly identical to Pachelbel's Canon.[2]

Suzannah Clark, a music professor at Harvard, connected the piece's resurgence in popularity to the harmonic structure, a common pattern similar to the romanesca. The harmonies are complex, but combine into a pattern that is easily understood by the listener with the help of the canon format, a style in which the melody is staggered across multiple voices (such as in "Three Blind Mice").[1] Ilario Colli focuses on the bassline and its repetition as the main factor in the Canon's popularity. The repeated use of perfect fourths in the bass line, as well as its repetition, helps the listener understand and latch onto the music, and makes it easily reproducible in a variety of genres.[2] The harmonic structure is also similar to the I–V–vi–IV progression, which is much more common in pop music.[1][3]

Chorus of "Memories", by Maroon 5
Snippet of Pachelbel's Canon
Maroon 5's "Memories" takes part of its melody, as well as its harmonic structure, from Pachelbel's Canon

Actual adoption of the chords of Pachelbel's Canon in pop music is not widespread, but there are many notable cases of it happening.[3] A few songs that reference Pachelbel's piece, such as Vitamin C's "Graduation (Friends Forever)", copy the Canon's sequences of chords exactly. Others, such as Green Day's "Basket Case", omit a chord or otherwise modify the structure of the harmony.[3] Maroon 5's "Memories", in addition to taking its harmonic structure from the Canon, takes the beginning of its hook from a snippet of the Canon's violin melody, additionally transposing the piece from D major to B major.[4] Acts like Maroon 5 were able to interpolate the piece because it is in the public domain, no longer covered by copyright protection.[5]

The perceived ubiquity of Pachelbel's Canon is itself an object of notoriety.[2] It has inspired songs such as Rob Paravonian's "Pachelbel Rant" and the Axis of Awesome's "Four Chords", each highlighting and satirizing a significant number of popular songs borrowing the same tune or harmonic structure.[1][2] "Four Chords" does not directly focus on the chords from Pachelbel's Canon, instead focusing on the I–V–vi–IV progression.[3] Producer Pete Waterman of Stock Aitken Waterman, which used the Canon in many of their hits, referred to Pachelbel as "almost the godfather of pop".[6]

List of songs[edit]

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Levine, Alexandra S. (May 9, 2019). "How 'Canon in D' became the wedding song". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Colli, Ilario (September 1, 2013). "Canon fodder". Limelight.
  3. ^ a b c d e Stone, Stephen C. (2018). Music Theory and Composition: A Practical Approach. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 431. ISBN 978-1-5381-0124-7.
  4. ^ a b c Macdonald, Kyle (January 14, 2020). "Maroon 5's 'Memories' is a brazen reworking of Pachelbel's Canon". Classic FM. Archived from the original on June 3, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  5. ^ Goldman, Matthew B. (2022). "Fragmented music copyright protection: A better arrangement". Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. 40 (1): 732.
  6. ^ "Pop mogul 'inspired by classics'". BBC News. October 7, 2002. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Denisch, Beth (2017). Contemporary Counterpoint: Theory & Application. Berklee Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-5400-1223-4.
  8. ^ a b c Kim, Kristen Yonsoo (September 27, 2012). "One-Hit Wondering - Johann Pachelbel". Vice. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e Morley, Paul (2021). A Sound Mind: How I Fell in Love with Classical Music (and Decided to Rewrite Its Entire History). Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 306–307. ISBN 978-1-5266-4455-8.
  10. ^ Dome, Malcolm (August 8, 2016). "The top 10 best Moody Blues songs". Louder. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Rentoul, John (January 19, 2019). "The Top 10: Pop songs based on classical music". The Independent. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  12. ^ Heritage, Gareth (2016). "'It's Like a Mach Piece, Really': Critiquing the Neo-Classical Aesthetic of '80s Heavy Metal Music". In Brown, Andy R.; Spracklen, Karl; Kahn-Harris, Keith; Scott, Niall W.R. (eds.). Global Metal Music and Culture: Current Directions in Metal Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-82238-2.
  13. ^ a b Guendelsberger, Emily (August 7, 2012). "Why "Hook" by Blues Traveler is actually a pretty genius work of metafiction". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  14. ^ Chan, Lorne (December 18, 2014). "Trans-Siberian Orchestra dusts off The Christmas Attic". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  15. ^ Copsey, Robert (May 24, 2010). "N-Dubz ft. Bodyrox: 'We Dance On'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  16. ^ Hogan, Marc (January 2, 2014). "Hear Danny Brown defend his girl on Vampire Weekend's 'Step (Remix)'". Spin. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  17. ^ Warne, Jude (April 18, 2017). "Prog rock icons return with their 50th anniversary album". Observer. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  18. ^ Hà Thu (July 6, 2018). "'Beautiful in White' có MV sau 8 năm" ["Beautiful in White"'s music video released eight years after the song's debut]. VnExpress (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  19. ^ "John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme - Series 6, Episode 3". British Comedy Guide. January 10, 2017. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  20. ^ "NPR Music's 40 favorite albums of 2018 (so far)". NPR. June 26, 2018. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
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