The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

18 May 2006

Don't wanna be all by myself

They used to say (you remember Them, don't you?) that you could always tell the musical highbrow in the crowd: he was the one that heard Rossini's overture to William Tell and didn't think first of the Lone Ranger.

It may be time to modify this slightly:

I used to be a huge fan of Barry Manilow and even now I still don't hate his songs. There's really just one problem with Manilow: Chopin's Prelude in C Minor. Every time I hear it I still hear "Could It Be Magic?" I don't have that problem with anything else. I no longer think of the Lone Ranger when I listen to the William Tell Overture; I can hear Liszt without thinking of Bugs Bunny; I can even listen to the Dance of the Hours without picturing dancing hippos or singing "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda." (Well, most of the time.) But when I listen to the Prelude in C Minor, one of Chopin's loveliest works, it's just about impossible for me to hear only Chopin.

For me it's Rachmaninoff and Eric Carmen. I suspect there are plenty of other folks in similar straits.

Posted at 11:00 AM to Tongue and Groove


I have a hard time listening to Raymond Scott & not thinking about huge factories with robots that smash everything.

My wife has a hard time listening to Buck Owens and not thinking about the doofus she married that insists on playing it.

Posted by: Dwayne "the canoe guy" at 4:04 PM on 18 May 2006

"Ride of the Valkyries" - I hear choppers and Robert Duvall.

Posted by: Jeffro at 9:41 PM on 18 May 2006

Anytime I play anything by the Kronos Quartet, I get visions of my wife screaming and running out of the house with her hands over her ears.

Oh, wait, that really happens. Never mind.

Posted by: Joe Goodwin at 10:25 PM on 18 May 2006

Well, at least you can see her.

Posted by: CGHill at 12:21 PM on 19 May 2006

For me, it's Laura Branigan's "Gloria" and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. As I recall, "Gloria" is an adaptation of some Italian song, whose author(s) must have borrowed it from LvB.

Posted by: Saint Russell at 8:36 AM on 20 May 2006

That would be Umberto Tozzi, who is also responsible for "Ti Amo," a hit for Branigan outside the US.

Posted by: CGHill at 11:11 AM on 20 May 2006

Oh, Yeah. Eric Carmen is a THIEF!!!!! That's been bothering me for some 25 years now!

Posted by: Jan at 1:39 PM on 20 May 2006