Harpsichord in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The harpsichord has a highly distinctive sound that often finds use in popular music. The archaic character of the harpsichord (it was for many decades obsolete and unplayed, and had to be revived in the twentieth century) also makes it appropriate for conveying a sense of history or archaicness, and thus has made the harpsichord a useful atmospheric device for other forms of popular culture.

For information about the instrument itself, see harpsichord.

It should be noted that many instances of harpsichord sound in popular culture are not from actual harpsichords, but rather are generated electronically by synthesizers. The examples below have not in general been assessed for what was the actual sound source employed.

In addition, the sound of the harpsichord is often confused with that of the fortepiano, which was the early version (ca. 1700-1820) of the piano. See Fortepiano in popular culture.

Contents 1 The harpsichord in popular music 2 The harpsichord in other forms of popular culture

[edit] The harpsichord in popular music

Editors are requested to date their contributions and add them in chronological order.

• The Beach Boys used harpsichords on "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" (1965), Pet Sounds (1965), "Heroes and Villains" and on Good Vibrations (1966).
• The Beatles used the harpsichord on "Fixing a Hole" (1967), "All You Need Is Love" (1967), "Piggies" (1968), and Because" (1969) (electric harpsichord).
• Simon and Garfunkle's hit song "Scarborough Fair" features a harpsichord.
• The Kinks used the harpsicord substantially on the track Two Sisters (1967).
• Donovan used the harpsichord on the song Sunshine Superman (1966).
• Eric Burdon and the Animals' song "Help me Girl" which was on Eric is Here used a harpsichord in the beginning of the song.
• The Left Banke used the harpsichord on their hit song "Walk Away Renee" (1966).
• The Rolling Stones used the harpsichord on "Lady Jane" and "In Another Land" (1967).
• The Doors' "Love Me Two Times" (1967) contains a harpsichord solo.
• Judy Collins' 1967 recording of "Both Sides Now" featured harpsichord accompaniment prominently throughout the song.
• Harpsichord is used throughout Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies' 1967 hit "Different Drum"
• The New Vaudeville Band's version of "There's a kind of Hush" contains a harpsichord.
• "Monday, Monday" by The Mamas and the Papas has a harpsichord in it.
• The Association (band)'s #1 hit "Windy" has the harpsichord play the bass lines.
• Spanky and Our Gang uses a harpsichord on their song "Sunday will never be the Same".
• The Bee Gees song "I Can't See Nobody" has a part for the harpsichord.
• Lalo Schifrin sometimes featured harpsichords in his jazz recordings during the 1960s.
• The Yardbirds used a harpsichord in their popular song "For Your Love." This was a particular bone of contention to guitarist Eric Clapton, and it was partly what pushed him to leave the group in 1965.
• Jimi Hendrix featured a harpsichord in his hit "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" from the Electric Ladyland album. It is easily heard playing the same main riff as Jimi on the guitar.
• The Moody Blues used the harpsichord on the song "Cities" the B-side of "Nights In White Satin" and on the album "In Search of the Lost Chord."
• Strawberry Alarm Clock used the harpsichord in some of their songs.
• Rick Wakeman often used the harpsichord in his works with Yes, as well as his solo works in the 1970s.
• Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer plays the harpsichord on "Still, You Turn Me On".
• Kate Bush featured a harpsichord in her 1978 song "Oh England My Lionheart".
• Procol Harum used the Harpsichord in "Look To Your Soul" in the epic "In Held 'Twas In I"
• Traffic (band)'s "Cryin' to be heard" uses the harpsichord on the verses.
• MacArthur Park (song), which was written by Jimmy Webb and sung by Richard Harris used a harpsichord throughout the 1968 version of the song.
• A harpsichord was part of the ensemble for the Linda Ronstadt song "Long, Long Time".
• Harry Nilsson's "One (song)" features a harpsichord as well as the ending of "Cowboy".
• Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way (song)" uses a Harpsichord.
• Four Tops features the harpsichord on "Bernadette (song)"
• Mannheim Steamroller uses a harpsichord with four rows of jacks, beginning with Fresh Aire (album) in 1975.
• Diana Ross and the Supremes hit song "Love is here and now you're gone" uses a harpsichord.
• Smokey Robinson's #1 hit song "Tears of a Clown" Uses a harpsichord for an effect of a Calliope.
• "I'll Be There" and "Got to Be There" by the Jackson 5 has a harpsichord playing through the song.
• Barry White's "Never Never Gonna Give You Up" and "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little Bit More" use a Harpsichord.
• British group The Stranglers used the harpsichord to lead their 1982 hit "Golden Brown".
• French Musician Yann Tiersen features a harpsichord in many of his songs.
• Another French Musician Paul Mauriathas a part for the harpsichord in his rendition of "Love is Blue"
• Janis Ian's hit, "Societys Child" Uses the harpsichord at the beginning of the song.
• Tori Amos featured the harpsichord on several of her songs on her album Boys for Pele released in 1996: "Caught a Lite Sneeze", "Blood Roses", "Professional Widow", "Talula", and "In the Springtime of His Voodoo". She has performed the songs live on Saturday Night Live, playing both a harpsichord and a piano in turn. In addition, she played the song "Bells for Her", originally not featuring the harpsichord, as well as her cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" on said instrument on the Dew Drop Inn Tour in 1996. The harpsichord is also featured in the song "Glory of the 80s" from her 1999 album To Venus and Back, although it's not as obvious as it is in the songs previously mentioned. The harpsichord is also featured on one of the previously unreleased songs on Tori's 2006 box set: A Piano. The song - called "Walk to Dublin" - was recorded in 1996 for Boys For Pele and was supposed to be the first single. After some dispute with the record company over the song - they wanted to Tori not to use the harpsichord on it - Tori decided not to include it on the album at all. The harpsichord has also been confirmed as a collaborator on her upcoming album American Doll Posse.
• A harpsichord is used to provide the accompaniment to singer-songwriter Dory Previn's song "Michael Michael".
• Bread (band)'s hit song, "Everything I Own" has a harpsichord in it.
• David Bowie uses an electric harpsichord on the album Space Oddity (album)
• Todd Rundgren plays the electric harpsichord as well on some of his albums.
• Elton John's early albums has a harpsichord on his songs.
• Jim Croce's hit song "Time in a Bottle" uses a harpsichord.
• Seals and Crofts "Castles made of Sand" uses the harpsichord.
• Cat Stevens "Where are You" has a harpsichord in the ending of the song.
• The Japanese psychedelic band Ghost has used the harpsichord.
• Supposedly, Aerosmith's hit song Dream On (song) has a harpsichord in it.
• Queen used a harpsichord on their song "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke" from their album Queen II.
• The Buggles used harpsichords on Video Killed the Radio Star (1980)
• The Paula Abdul Top 10 hit "Blowing Kisses In The Wind" features the harpsichord.
• New Kids On The Block's "Tonight" has a Harpsichord part during an Instrumental Break.
• Billy Joel's song "Shameless (song)" supposedly has a harpsichord in that song.
• Blur used a harpsichord in "Clover over dover" in 1994's Parklife album.
• Björk uses the harpsichord in her songs "Cover Me" (1995), "All Is Full of Love" (1997), "Scary" (1997), "Human Behavior (unplugged)" (1999), and "Ambergris March" (2005).
• Many Power Metal bands such as Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Children of Bodom, Warmen, and Imperanon use their keyboard synthesizers to emulate the sounds of harpsichords.
• Joanna Newsom used the harpsichord for the track "Peach, Plum, Pear" on her Milk-Eyed Mender album.
• Jazz/Folk artist J.T. Ridenour uses harpsichords extensively throughout his earlier works.
• In Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, the instrument is used several times for interesting effect.
• Massive Attack used a harpsichord backing track on their song "Teardrop" (1998)
• The Japanese rock/metal/gothic bands Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois often use a harpsichord in their songs.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic plays the harpsichord on the Brian Wilson-style parody named "Pancreas" on Straight Outta Lynwood
• No Doubt used harpsichords on Tragic Kingdom
• Brian Wilson plays Harpsichord on the album Smile (Brian Wilson album)
• Ben Sidran plays harpsichord on the Boz Scaggs-penned song "Baby's Calling Me Home" on the Steve Miller Band's first album Children of the Future.
• The Divine Comedy uses a harpsichord in many of his Neil Hannon songs.
• The band Saint Etienne frequently used a harpsichord.
• There is a brief harpsichord solo in "Drilling Holes" by Marillion .
• Ratatat used the harpsichord and harpsichord samples on Seventeen Years. (2003)
• Emilie Autumn uses the harpischord in many of her songs, including "Marry Me", "God Help Me", and "Shalott"
• The 1960s band The Litter used a harpsichord for the eponymous song "Harpsichord Sonata #1"
• Silverchair used the harpsichord in "Across the Night" and B-side "Asylum" for the album Diorama.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers used a harpsichord on "Eskimo", a B-side from the "Fortune Faded" single. (2003)
• Belle & Sebastian utilize the harpsichord in "The Model", a track off their 2000 album, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant.
• Norwegian black metal band Emperor uses a harpsichord in the beginning of their song, "The Eruption" from their Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise album.

[edit] The harpsichord in other forms of popular culture

Editors are requested to date their contributions and add them in chronological order.

• Holiday Inn (film) has a scene where they use a harpsichord.
• The Lawrence Welk Show and some songs that Lawrence Welk conducted such as the song Calcutta (song) has harpsichords.
• The jazz theme tunes to the Avengers and Danger Man television programs from the 1960s both feature harpsichords.
• The harpsichord was often used in the 1960s sitcom The Addams Family.
• Lieutenant Uhura plays a harpsichord in the Star Trek episode "The Squire of Gothos".
• The Theme to Casino Royale (1967 film) which was performed by Herb Alpert had a harpsichord in it.
• Michel Legrand improvised on the harpsichord throughout his soundtrack for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968).
• The theme to The Odd Couple movie has a part for the harpsichord.
• The harpsichord was a key component of the "sound" of recordings created for the popular 1970s TV show and albums of The Partridge Family, featuring David Cassidy.
• A harpsichord is heard in the Oompa-Loompa segments of the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
• Rocky Horror Picture Show used the harpsichord in some of the songs on the soundtrack.
• William F. Buckley once played the Harpsichord on an episode of the late night talk show Late Night With Conan O'Brian.
• Danny Elfman often uses (and reputably plays himself) the harpsichord in his soundtrack compositions; one recent example is Tim Burton's Corpse Bride where the harpsichord was used in nearly all tracks and filler music for gothic effect, and also in a few accompanying jazz pieces.
• The computer game Heroes of Might and Magic III featured the harpsichord in some, if not many, of the in-game music tracks.
• The video game Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 2 uses a harpsichord as a key object for a quest. (Details cannot be revealed due to spoilers.)
• Garfield and Friends would use a Harpsichord-like sound on the TV series.
• The early-90's animated series The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog's main antagonist, Doctor Robotnik, had his own theme music, in which the harpsichord was used.
• Toward the end of the 1995 Linklater film Before Sunrise, a harpsichord is heard by characters Jesse and Celine through a window from a street in Vienna, setting a warm, memorable mood.
• Hans Zimmer used the harpsichord for Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Trading Company theme in the score for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. There is no singular track on the score where those themes are the most prominent, but you can hear them in parts of "Tia Dalma" and "Hello Beastie".
• A harpsichord has been made out of Lego toy bricks ([1]).
• Harpsichord music is used in Lili's full-motion video ending in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. As she is described as a wealthy girl, the music seems to fit the description.
• A harpsichord is used for the theme of Queen Valentina in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, known as "Margarie Margarita".
• In the cartoon Cyberchase, a harpsichord can be heard when the Hacker enters the scene.
• The harpsichord is used at several parts throughout Avenue Q.
• In the Anne Rice novel Interview with the Vampire, Lestat plays the harpsichord. However, he plays a piano in the film adaptation.