Continuing on with the theme I’ve stumbled on the past few days (writing about the band UB40, then another about this phrase in one of their songs), I sort of went down a short rabbit hole with one of the best love songs of all time. Of course, I’m talking about “Can’t Help Falling In Love” as performed by Elvis Presley (and probably your favorite artist, whoever that may be). To backtrack a little, I knew one song by Elvis was based on a melody from an Italian song called “O Sole Mio.” His take on it is called “It’s Now Or Never.” Check out the homage (if we can call it that?) below.
Well, as I laid in bed last night wanting to listening to UB40s just one more time, I fell down the rabbit hole. It turns out this song originally by Elvis is kind of not original at all. It’s taken from a French song, as listed on Wikipedia: “The melody is based on ‘Plaisir d’amour’, a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-Égide Martini.” My mind was trying to comprehend this new, profound information. Here are those two songs…
Crazy, huh? As I’ve explored more of my own tastes in music, mostly because I really, really want to keep posting every day (which I’ve done since January 1, 2020), I’ve realized melody is paramount for me. You can change the lyrics, change the tempo, but for the love of all that is Holy, don’t change the melody of a song! It’s one of my pet peeves in church music of the past decade or two. For example, was “Amazing Grace” really in need of fixing!? No. No, it wasn’t. I digress.
Finding out there’s a true OG version of “Can’t Help Falling In Love” with that same melody is pretty cool, even if I have no idea how to speak French. There are quite a few “foreign” songs that have been covered, or used, in English speaking songs. Another pair I discovered recently is a song I liked in high school called “Sukiyaki” by 4pm. I had no idea it was originally a Japanese song called… wait for it… “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto. I can be a little slow sometimes. 😵💫 Check out both below and have a great weekend!
-Out of the Wilderness
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