Re: R.I.P. Neil Sedaka

A very popular singer among my parents, used to listen to him all the time as a kid...as an adult, I still listen to him on occasion, and he's still stayed in the consciousness of the music world, even though his songwriting heyday was in the 60's and 70's. Strangely enough, it was his tv infomercials on late night 80's public programming that introduced me to the famous 50's and 60's artists with which he was a brethren of.

Sad to see another talented artist go, this year sounds like it could be terrible for R.I.P.'s

Ty for the music, Neil.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2026 08:54PM by Fleeingbandit.

I always thought the melody on the verses of "Laughter in the Rain" borrowed a bit too freely from "Waterloo Sunset," but I see on Wikipedia that Sedaka claimed inspiration from Aaron Copland on that melody. I can't claim any expertise on Copland beyond the greatest hits, so who knows, maybe Ray Davies listened to a lot of Copland, too.

I have a friend who's 15 or so years older than me, and every year when all of us on this board are shaking our fists to the heavens over the outrage that the RRHOF has once again inexplicably and unforgivably neglected to nominate the Mo-Dettes or Elton Motello for induction, she'll be on Facebook raging over Neil Sedaka's continued exclusion from that establishment. She's in a powerful fury on FB right now, over the fact that Neil now won't be around to enjoy what she's certain will be his inevitable induction. Can't say I'm too worked up over the topic one way or the other, though I will allow that I find Neil's bonafides to be more persuasive than inductee Chubby Checkers'.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2026 10:03PM by breno.

No surprise there, as Ritchie Blackmore confessed that "Smoke on The Water" was basically Beethoven's Fifth symphony played backwards (supposedly). The Progressive Rock sphere borrowed heavily from classical composers and even more contemporary artists like Lana Del Ray blatantly ripped off classical composers, e.g. Nino Rota's "Romeo and Juliet."

Back during the Renaissance, when painters were returning to classical Roman and Greek motifs, the artists not only "ripped off" some of the great paintings by classical artists, they were expected to do that, since it was a return to the great civilization once lost during the Middle Ages (hardly a "dark time" in western history, many advancements came about from the fall of Rome till the writings of Dante). In this vein, I expect modern artists to borrow from Classical musicians, I support it, as long as they do it creatively and sensibly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2026 05:13AM by Fleeingbandit.

“I Go Ape” is a swell little bit o’ proto-Ramones stoopid rock.

"The Tra-La Days are Over" album has some classic Yacht rock on it.