Rachmaninov composed his Piano Concerto No. 2 between 1900 and 1901 and 75 years later a hit song from Eric Carmen "All By Myself" was based on a melody from that concerto. In fact, Eric Carmen had written the piano solo first (which is part of the full version of the hit song) and then after listening to his favourite composer, Rachmaninov, he decided to incorporate the beautiful melody, we all now know, into the song. Not quite finished yet, he went back to the first few notes of the chorus of "Let's Pretend" from his previous band 'The Raspberries' for the chorus of "All By Myself" but that is much more subtle than the borrowed Rachmaninov melody. He even used a Rachmaninov melody for his follow up solo hit "Never Gonna To Fall In Love Again." If you have ever heard the full version of "All By Myself" other than the edited single, you would've guessed that he was classically trained. That is why I respected him more than his AM radio/power ballad peers. This connection also got me to seek out some Rachmaninov music years later.
"All By Myself" - Eric Carmen
"Let's Pretend" - The Raspberries
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