u/SongsFromTheDead

I'm curious what songs people know that are based on, borrowed from, compared with, or inspired by Bach's Bourree.

The obvious one is Jethro Tull's Bouree, but I'm interested in others too. Folk-rock, prog, jazz, metal, acoustic versions, anything where you can hear some connection to that old Bach tune.

A few examples I've come across are:

1. Blackbird by The Beatles
2. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin
3. Rock Your Socks by Tenacious D
4. Jenny Wren by Paul McCartney
5. Wayward One by Alter Bridge

Some of these are direct, some are looser, and some are more "you can hear the family resemblance" than straight borrowing.

What are your favorites?

• Are there versions more people should hear?
• And did you first come to the tune through Bach, Jethro Tull, or something else?

I wrote up some thoughts and collected examples of the songs above and a few more here, if anyone wants more. I'll add the songs mentioned here as well, so please suggest more (including you own):

https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/bourree-the-old-tune-that-went-electric

I only recently realized how many completely different songs are called Over the Hills and Far Away.

There’s the old traditional one, the Led Zeppelin one, the Gary Moore one, and many versions of each of these. Most of them have some folk vibe. So I’m curious which one people here like most?

I collected a few of them here, if anyone wants more:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/over-the-hills-and-far-away-a-song

I mean songs that explain why some real place, object, ritual, landmark, or feature exists. Not just songs from a place, but songs that give the place a real or imaginary backstory.

I wrote about one recently: the Swedish murder ballad Per Tyrsson’s Daughters in Vänge. It explains Kärna Church and three nearby springs through a story of murder, miracle, and memory. Basically: “why is this place here?” Answer: because something terrible happened.

https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-28-per-tyrssons-daughters-the

What are your favorite songs like this? Bonus points if the explanation is strange, violent, funny, clearly invented, or somehow more memorable than whatever actually happened.

There are some songs with tons of great versions, but most people still know them through one recording.

House of the Rising Sun is probably the clearest example. There are so hundreds or thousands of great versions, but for most people it is just "that Animals song." Many even assume The Animals wrote it. I'm not criticizing their version, this is one of my all time favorite recordings, but it is curious that all the other versions are kind of forgotten.

I’m curious why people think this happens?

Also, what are other songs like this? Old songs where one later recording basically swallowed the whole history.

I collected a bunch of House of the Rising Sun versions here, and I’d love to know if there are others I should add:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-27-house-of-the-rising-sun-the

I’m curious how many people here know Kâtibim, also called Üsküdar’a Gider İken.

It’s a Turkish song, but the melody seems to have travelled all over the place. Balkan versions, Arabic versions, Greek versions, klezmer, Eartha Kitt’s Uska Dara, and even songs where the connection is debated, like Rasputin.

That is the part I find interesting. Sometimes you learn a melody in one form, and only later realize it has been living several other lives at the same time.

Have you heard this tune before?
Where did you first come across it?
And do you know any versions or related songs worth hearing?

I wrote up some thoughts and collected a few versions here, if anyone wants more:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-26-katibim-the-melody-you-learned

I’m curious what songs people here hear as belonging to the same family as La Bamba.

Not necessarily covers. More like songs that seem to have picked up something from it, or from the same musical world. The rhythm, the three-chord movement, the shout-and-dance feeling, that bright circular energy.

The obvious ones to me are things like Twist and Shout, Louie Louie, and maybe Sweets for My Sweet. Different songs, but somehow the same body.

What else would you put in that family?

I wrote up the La Bamba story and collected some examples here if anyone wants more:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-23-la-bamba-the-story-behind-the

The Hurrian Hymn is supposedly the oldest surviving song with notation, around 3,400 years old.

I find it hard to know how to listen to it. On one hand, it is incredible that anything like this survived at all. On the other hand, every version we hear now is partly a reconstruction, so it is not quite the same as listening to an “old song” in the usual sense. But I guess this is true for all folk songs.

Some recordings sound like early music. Some sound more like ambient or experimental music. Some feel more like archaeology than performance.

Have you heard versions you like?
Do you treat it as music, history, or both?
And do you know any modern songs or pieces that use it or are inspired by it?

I wrote a piece about it and collected some versions here, if anyone wants more:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-21-hurrian-hymn-what-does-a-3400

I’m curious how many people here know Oi u luzi chervona kalyna, or Red Kalyna.

A lot of people outside Ukraine probably only came across it recently, but the song itself is much older. What strikes me is how direct it feels. It does not sound distant or preserved. It still sounds like something meant to be sung when people actually need it.

I’ve heard versions that feel intimate and fragile, and others that sound like a whole crowd singing with a purpose.

Have you heard it before?
Which version do you like best?
And do you hear it mainly as a folk song, a protest song, or both?

I wrote up some thoughts and collected versions here, if anyone wants more:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-20-red-kalyna-the-song-that-would

I’ve been thinking about Scarborough Fair lately, and Simon and Garfunkel are obviously the version most people know. Fair enough. But once you put that one aside, there’s still a huge range of very different takes on the song.

So I’m curious what people here would pick if that version is off the table.

Which version do you like most?
Which one did you hear first?
And do you prefer it sung very simply, or arranged more heavily?

I collected some thoughts and versions here, if anyone’s interested:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-19-scarborough-fair-a-love-song

I’ve been thinking about songs of leaving lately. Not travel songs, but songs about emigration, exile, selling up, or leaving home because staying has stopped being possible.

The song that sent me down this rabbit hole was an old Swedish emigrant song called Vi sålde våra hemman. I wrote up some thoughts and collected versions here, if anyone’s interested:
https://songsfromthedead.substack.com/p/ep-18-we-sold-our-land-when-leaving

I’m curious what other songs I should listen to.

1. Are there emigrant or immigrant songs you really love?
2. Are there ones that feel especially true?
3. And are there any versions you would point people to first?