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Pancho and Lefty
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For the album of the same name on which this song is featured, see Pancho & Lefty (album).
"Pancho and Lefty"
Song by Townes Van Zandt
from the album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Released
1972
Genre
Country
Length
3:40
Label
Tomato
Songwriter(s)
Townes Van Zandt
Producer(s)
Kevin Eggers
Jack Clement
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt track listing
"Fraulein"
(7) "Pancho and Lefty"
(8) "If I Needed You"
(9)
"Pancho and Lefty"
Single by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
from the album Pancho & Lefty
B-side
"Opportunity to Cry"
Released
April 30, 1983
Genre
Country
Length
4:44
Label
Epic
Songwriter(s)
Townes Van Zandt
Producer(s)
Chips Moman
Willie Nelson
Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard singles chronology
"You Take Me for Granted"
(1983) "Pancho and Lefty"
(1983) "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)"
(1983)
"You Take Me for Granted"
(1983) "Pancho and Lefty"
(1983) "What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)"
(1983)
Willie Nelson singles chronology
"Little Old Fashioned Karma"
(1983) Little Old Fashioned Karma1983 "Pancho and Lefty"
(1983) Pancho and Lefty1983 "Why Do I Have to Choose"
(1983) Why Do I Have to Choose1983
"Pancho and Lefty" is a song written by country music artist Townes Van Zandt. Often considered his "most enduring and well-known song," Van Zandt first recorded it for his 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt.[1]
Contents
[hide]
1 Cover versions
2 Content and composition
3 Music video
4 Chart performance
4.1 Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard
5 Notes and sources
6 External links
Cover versions[edit]
Emmylou Harris then covered the song for her 1977 album, Luxury Liner.
Also in 1977, Hoyt Axton recorded it on his album Snowblind Friend.
In 1983, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson adopted it as the title track of their duet album Pancho & Lefty, and was a number one country hit .[2]
Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan sang a duet of the song for Nelson's birthday TV special, The Big Six-O in 1993.
Dick Gaughan performs the song on his 1998 album Redwood Cathedral.
The Poozies version of the song is on the 2000 album Come Raise Your Head (A Retrospective).
Steve Earle performs the song on his 2009 album Townes, which consists of songs written by van Zandt, Earle's friend and mentor.
Frank Turner performs the song on his 2014 album The Third Three Years.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as the 17th greatest Western song of all time.[3]
Content and composition[edit]
The song tells the story of a Mexican bandit named Pancho and a more enigmatic character, Lefty. The song tells of Pancho's death and implies that he was betrayed by his associate Lefty who was paid off by the Mexican federales.
Although the lyrics are not exactly reconcilable with the historic details of the life and death of the famous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, Van Zandt does not rule out the idea. In an interview, he recalled, "I realize that I wrote it, but it's hard to take credit for the writing, because it came from out of the blue. It came through me and it's a real nice song, and I think, I've finally found out what it's about. I've always wondered what it's about. I kinda always knew it wasn't about Pancho Villa, and then somebody told me that Pancho Villa had a buddy whose name in Spanish meant 'Lefty.' But in the song, my song, Pancho gets hung. 'They only let him hang around out of kindness I suppose' and the real Pancho Villa was assassinated."[4]
In the same interview, Van Zandt recalled, "We got stopped by these two policeman and...they said 'What do you do for a living?', and I said, 'Well, I'm a songwriter', and they both kind of looked around like 'pitiful, pitiful', and so on to that I added, 'I wrote that song Pancho and Lefty. You ever heard that song Pancho and Lefty? I wrote that', and they looked back around and they looked at each other and started grinning, and it turns out that their squad car, you know their partnership, it was two guys, it was an Anglo and a Hispanic, and it turns out, they're called Pancho and Lefty ... so I think maybe that's what it's about, those two guys ... I hope I never see them again."[4]
Music video[edit]
A music video was released for the song in 1983, depicting Willie Nelson as Pancho, and Merle Haggard as Lefty.
Chart performance[edit]
Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard[edit]
Chart (1983)
Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 21
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 1
Notes and sources[edit]
Jump up ^ Beviglia, Jim (30 April 2012). "Townes van Zandt, "Pancho and Lefty"". American Songwriter. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 148.
Jump up ^ Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b 1984 PBS series, "Austin Pickers". Ed Heffelfinger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZrAy6iXj7o
External links[edit]
Chords and lyrics from the Townes Van Zandt Blue Sky Homepage
Song review at Allmusic
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Preceded by
"The Closer You Get"
by Alabama Billboard Hot Country Singles
number-one single
July 23, 1983 Succeeded by
"I Always Get Lucky with You"
by George Jones
RPM Country Tracks
number-one single
August 6, 1983 Succeeded by
"He's a Heartache (Looking for a Place to Happen)"
by Janie Fricke
[show]
v
t
e
Townes Van Zandt
Studio albums
For the Sake of the Song
Our Mother the Mountain
Townes Van Zandt
Delta Momma Blues
High, Low and In Between
The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Flyin' Shoes
At My Window
No Deeper Blue
Songs
"Pancho and Lefty"
"To Live Is to Fly"
Live albums
Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas
Live and Obscure
Roadsongs
Together at the Bluebird Café (with Guy Clark and Steve Earle)
Live at McCabe's
Related articles
Heartworn Highways
Be Here to Love Me
Townes
[show]
v
t
e
Merle Haggard
The Strangers
Roy Nichols
Norman Hamlet
Biff Adam
Dennis Hromek
Bobby Wayne
Marcia Nichols
Eddie Burris
George French
Jerry Ward
Studio albums
Strangers
Swinging Doors
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive
Branded Man
Sing Me Back Home
The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde
Mama Tried
Pride in What I Am
Same Train, A Different Time
A Portrait of Merle Haggard
A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills)
Hag
Someday We'll Look Back
Let Me Tell You About a Song
It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)
If We Make It Through December
Merle Haggard Presents His 30th Album
Keep Movin' On
It's All in the Movies
My Love Affair with Trains
The Roots of My Raising
Ramblin' Fever
A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today
My Farewell to Elvis
I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall
Serving 190 Proof
The Way I Am
Back to the Barrooms
Big City
Going Where the Lonely Go
That's the Way Love Goes
It's All in the Game
Kern River
Out Among the Stars
A Friend In California
Chill Factor
5:01 Blues
Blue Jungle
1994
1996
If I Could Only Fly
Roots, Volume 1
The Peer Sessions
Haggard Like Never Before
Unforgettable
Chicago Wind
The Bluegrass Sessions
I Am What I Am
Working in Tennessee
Live albums
Okie from Muskogee
The Fightin' Side of Me
I Love Dixie Blues
Rainbow Stew Live at Anaheim Stadium
The Epic Collection (Recorded Live)
Amber Waves of Grain
Motorcycle Cowboy: Live at Billy Bob's Texas
Ol' Country Singer
Live from Austin, TX
Live from Austin, TX '78
Gospel albums
The Land of Many Churches
Songs for the Mama That Tried
Cabin in the Hills
Two Old Friends (with Albert E. Brumley, Jr.)
Holiday albums
Merle Haggard's Christmas Present
Goin' Home for Christmas
Pancho, Lefty and Rudolph (with Willie Nelson)
I Wish I Was Santa Claus
The Strangers albums
Instrumental Sounds of Merle Haggard's Strangers
Introducing My Friends The Strangers
Getting to Know Merle Haggard's Strangers
Honky Tonkin'
Totally Instrumental (With One Exception...)
Singles
1960s
"Sing a Sad Song"
"Sam Hill"
"(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers"
"I'm Gonna Break Every Heart I Can"
"Swinging Doors"
"The Bottle Let Me Down"
"The Fugitive"
"I Threw Away the Rose"
"Branded Man"
"Sing Me Back Home"
"The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde"
"Mama Tried"
"I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am"
"Hungry Eyes"
"Workin' Man Blues"
"Okie from Muskogee"
1970s
"The Fightin' Side of Me"
"Street Singer"
"Jesus, Take a Hold"
"I Can't Be Myself"
"Soldier's Last Letter"
"Someday We'll Look Back"
"Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)"
"Carolyn"
"Grandma Harp"
"It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)"
"I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me"
"The Emptiest Arms in the World"
"Everybody's Had the Blues"
"If We Make It Through December"
"Things Aren't Funny Anymore"
"Old Man from the Mountain"
"Kentucky Gambler"
"Always Wanting You"
"Movin' On"
"It's All in the Movies"
"The Roots of My Raising"
"Here Comes the Freedom Train"
"Cherokee Maiden"
"If We're Not Back in Love by Monday"
"Ramblin' Fever"
"A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today"
"From Graceland to the Promised Land"
"Running Kind"
"I'm Always on a Mountain When I Fall"
"It's Been a Great Afternoon"
"The Way It Was in '51"
"Red Bandana"
"My Own Kind of Hat"
1980s – 1990s
"The Way I Am"
"Misery and Gin"
"I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink"
"Leonard"
"Rainbow Stew"
"My Favorite Memory"
"Big City"
"Dealing with the Devil"
"Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)"
"Going Where the Lonely Go"
"You Take Me for Granted"
"What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)"
"It's All in the Game"
"That's the Way Love Goes"
"Someday When Things Are Good"
"Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room"
"A Place to Fall Apart"
"Make-Up and Faded Blue Jeans"
"Kern River"
"Amber Waves of Grain"
"American Waltz"
"I Had a Beautiful Time"
"A Friend in California"
"Out Among the Stars"
"Almost Persuaded"
"Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star"
"Chill Factor"
"We Never Touch at All"
"You Babe"
"5:01 Blues"
"A Better Love Next Time"
"If You Want to Be My Woman"
"Broken Friend"
"When It Rains It Pours"
"In My Next Life"
Collaborations
Albums
Just Between the Two of Us (with Bonnie Owens)
A Taste of Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones)
Pancho & Lefty (with Willie Nelson)
Heart to Heart (with Leona Williams)
Walking the Line (with George Jones and Willie Nelson)
Seashores of Old Mexico (with Willie Nelson)
Kickin' Out the Footlights...Again (with George Jones)
Last of the Breed (with Willie Nelson and Ray Price)
Django & Jimmie (with Willie Nelson)
Singles
"Just Between the Two of Us" (with Bonnie Owens)
"The Bull and the Beaver" with Leona Williams
"Bar Room Buddies" (with Clint Eastwood)
"Yesterday's Wine" (with George Jones)
"C.C. Waterback" (with George Jones)
"Reasons to Quit" (with Willie Nelson)
"Pancho and Lefty" (with Willie Nelson)
"We're Strangers Again" (with Leona Williams)
"If I Could Only Fly" (with Willie Nelson)
"That's the Way Love Goes" with (Jewel)
"Wreck on the Highway" (with Chester Smith)
Guest appearances
"Street Singer" (by The Strangers)
"Willie" (by Hank Cochran)
"Walking the Floor Over You" (by Ernest Tubb)
"I Can't Hold Myself in Line" (by Johnny Paycheck)
"Lefty" (by David Frizzell)
"Same Old Train" (from Tribute to Tradition)
"Politically Uncorrect" (by Gretchen Wilson)
"I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" (by Hank Williams, Jr.)
Compilations
The Best of Merle Haggard
Close-Up
The Best of the Best of Merle Haggard
Songs I'll Always Sing
Eleven Winners
The Way It Was in '51
Merle Haggard's Greatest Hits
His Epic Hits: The First 11 (To Be Continued...)
His Best
His Greatest and His Best
The Lonesome Fugitive
Untamed Hawk
Vintage Collections
Down Every Road 1962–1994
Yesterday's Wine 1981-1988
A&E Biography
16 Biggest Hits
For the Record: 43 Legendary Hits
Merle Haggard's Train Whistle Blues
20 Greatest Hits
David Allan Coe Presents
40 #1 Hits
The Essential Merle Haggard: The Epic Years
Hag: The Best of Merle Haggard
Related articles
Discography
Capitol Records
MCA Records
Epic Records
Marty Haggard
Noel Haggard
Bonnie Owens
Leona Williams
Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard
"Untanglin' My Mind"
[show]
v
t
e
Willie Nelson singles discography
1950s
and
1960s
1957
"No Place For Me" / "Lumberjack"
1959
"Man With the Blues" / "The Storm Has Just Begun"
1960
"What a Way to Live" / "Misery Mansion"
"Nite Life" / "Rainy Day Blues"
1961
"The Part Where I Cry" / "Mr. Record Man"
1962
"Willingly" / "Chain of Love"
"Touch Me" / "Where My House Lives"
"Wake Me When It's Over" / "There's Gonna Be Love In My House"
"You Dream About Me" / "Is This My Destiny"
1963
"Half a Man" / "The Last Letter"
"Take My Word" / "Feed it a Memory"
1964
"How Long is Forever" / "You Took My Happy Away"
"Am I Blue" / "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight"
"River Boy" / "Opportunity to Cry"
"I Never Cared For You" / "You Left Me (A Long Time Ago)"
"Pretty Paper" / "What A Merry Christmas This Could Be"
1965
"She's Not For You" / "Permanently Lonely"
"Healing Hands of Time" / "One Day at the Time"
"I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye" / "And So Will You, My Love"
1966
"One In A Row" / "San Antonio Rose"
"Colombus Stockade Blues" / "He Sits at my Table"
"I'm Still Not Over You"/ "I Love You Because"
1967
"The Party's Over" / "Make Way for a Better Man"
"Blackjack County Chain" / "Some Other World"
"San Antonio" / "To Make a Long Story Short"
1968
"Little Things" / " Sweet Memories"
"Good Times" / "Where Do You Stand"
"Johnny One Time" / "She's Still Gone"
1969
"Bring Me Sunshine" / "Don't Say Love or Nothing"
"I Hope So" / "Right or Wrong"
1970s
1970
"Once More With Feeling" / "Who Do I Know in Dallas"
"Laying My Burdens Down" / "Truth Number One"
1971
"I'm a Memory" / "Fire and Rain"
"Yesterday's Wine" / "Me and Paul"
1972
"Words Don't Fit the Picture" / "A Moment"
1973
"Shotgun Willie" (mono) / "Sad Songs and Waltzes"
"Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)" / "Devil in a Sleepin' Bag"
1974
"I Still Can't Believe You're Gone" / "Heaven and Hell"
"Bloody Mary Morning" / "After the Fire is Gone"(with Tracy Nelson)
"Sister's Comin' Home" (mono) / "Pick Up The Tempo"
1975
"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" / "Bandera"
1976
"Remember Me (When the Candle Lights Are Gleaming)" / "Time of the Preacher"
"I'd Have to Be Crazy" (mono) / "Amazing Grace"
"If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" / "The Sound in Your Mind"
1977
"Uncloudy Day" / "Precious Memories"
"I Love You A Thousand Ways" / "Mom and Dad's Waltz"
1978
"Georgia on My Mind" / "On The Sunny Side Of The Street"
"Blue Skies" / "Moonlight in Vermont"
"All of Me" / "Unchained Melody"
1979
"Whiskey River" / "Under the Double Eagle"
"September Song" / "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"
"White Christmas" / "Blue Christmas"
1980s
1980
"Help Me Make It Through the Night" / "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33"
"My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" / "Rising Stars"
"Midnight Rider" / "So You Think You're A Cowboy"
"On the Road Again"/ "Jumpin' Cotton Eyed Joe"(performed by Johnny Gimble)
1981
"Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" / "I Guess I've Come to Live Here in Your Eyes"
"Mona Lisa" / "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" / "Over the Rainbow"
"Heartaches of a Fool" / "Uncloudy Day"
1982
"Always on My Mind" / "The Party's Over"
"Let It Be Me" / "Permanently Lonely"
"Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning" / "Old Fords and a Natural Stone"
1983
"Little Old Fashioned Karma" / "Beer Barrel Polka"
"Why Do I Have to Choose" / "Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)"
"Take It to the Limit" / "Till I Gain Control Again"
"Without a Song"
1984
"City of New Orleans (Unedited version)" / "Why Are You Pickin' On Me"
1985
"Forgiving You Was Easy" / "You Wouldn't Cross the Street"
"Me and Paul" / "I Let My Mind Wander"
1986
"Living in the Promiseland" / "Bach Minuet in G"
"I'm Not Trying to Forget You" / "I've Got the Craziest Feeling"
1987
"Partners After All" / "Home Away From Home"
"Heart of Gold" / "So Much Like My Dad"
"Island in the Sea" / "There Is No Easy Way"
1988
"Nobody There But Me" / "Wake Me When It's Over"
"Spanish Eyes" (with Julio Iglesias) / "Ole Buttermilk Sky"
"Twilight Time" / "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive"
1989
"Nothing I Can Do About It Now" / "If I Were a Painting"
"There You Are" / "Spirit"
"Is The Better Part Over" / "Mr. Record Man"
1990s
1990
"The Highway" / "Spirit"
"Ain't Necessarily So" / "I Never Cared For You" ("Ain't Necessarily So" also on CD Single)
1991
"The Piper Came Today" / "(I Don't Have a Reason) To Go To California Anymore" ("The Piper Came Today" also on CD Single)
"Ten With a Two" / "You Decide"
1993
"Graceland"
"Still is Still Moving to Me" / "Valentine"
1995
"Turn Me Loose and Let Me Swing"
1998
"I Never Cared for You"
2000s
and
2010s
2002
"Mendocino County Line" (with Lee Ann Womack) / "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)" (Both single tracks released on CD and 7" record)
2003
"Wurlitzer Prize" (with Norah Jones)
"Beer for My Horses" (with Toby Keith)
2005
"I'm a Worried Man" (with Toots Hibbert)
"The Harder They Come"
2006
"You Don't Know Me"
"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other"
2008
"Gravedigger"
"You Don't Think I'm Funny Anymore"
2011
"The Scientist"
2012
"Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die"
"Just Breathe"
"Come On Back Jesus"
2013
"From Here to the Moon and Back" (with Dolly Parton)
"Grandma's Hands" (with Mavis Staples)
"It Won't Be Long" (with The Secret Sisters)
"Somewhere Between" (with Loretta Lynn)
2014
"The Wall"
"Bring It On"
"Laws of Nature"
"Who'll Buy My Memories"
2015
"It's All Going to Pot"
Book:Willie Nelson
Category:Willie Nelson
[show]
v
t
e
George Canyon
Studio albums
Ironwolf
George Canyon
One Good Friend
Somebody Wrote Love
Classics
What I Do
Better Be Home Soon
Classics II
I Got This
Compilation albums
Decade of Hits
Holiday albums
Home for Christmas
Singles
"Ring of Fire"
"Seven Spanish Angels"
"Better Be Home Soon"
"Rhinestone Cowboy"
"Pancho and Lefty"
Related articles
Discography
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pancho_and_Lefty&oldid=792908456"
Categories:
1972 songs
1983 singles
2013 singles
Townes Van Zandt songs
Merle Haggard songs
Willie Nelson songs
George Canyon songs
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Song recordings produced by Chips Moman
Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles
RPM Country Tracks number-one singles
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Old Time Rock and Roll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Old Time Rock and Roll"
Single by Bob Seger
from the album Stranger in Town
B-side
"Sunspot Baby"
Released
March 1979
Format
7" vinyl
Genre
Rock and roll
Length
3:12
Label
Capitol
Songwriter(s)
George Jackson, Thomas E. Jones III, and Bob Seger (uncredited)
Producer(s)
Bob Seger
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Bob Seger singles chronology
"We've Got Tonight"
(1978) "Old Time Rock and Roll"
(1979) "Fire Lake"
(1980)
"We've Got Tonight"
(1978) "Old Time Rock and Roll"
(1979) "Fire Lake"
(1980)
"Old Time Rock And Roll"
Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock And Roll" from Stranger in Town
Problems playing this file? See media help.
"Old Time Rock and Roll" is a song written by George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III, and recorded by Bob Seger on his 1978 album Stranger in Town. It was also released as a single in 1979. It is a sentimentalized look back at the music of the original rock 'n' roll era. The song gained substantial popularity after being featured in the 1983 film Risky Business. It has since become a standard in popular music and was ranked number two on the Amusement & Music Operators Association's survey of the Top 40 Jukebox Singles of All Time in 1996.[1] It was also listed as one of the Songs of the Century in 2001 and ranked #100 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs poll in 2004 of the top songs in American cinema. The song was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama and Sound Suite Studios[2] in Detroit, Michigan.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 In popular culture
3 Reception
4 Chart performance
5 Status Quo Version
6 References
7 External links
History[edit]
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who often backed Seger in his studio recordings, sent Seger a demo of the song during the recording of Stranger in Town.[3] He said in 2006 (and also on the "Stranger in Town" episode of the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard a few years earlier):
All I kept from the original was: "Old time rock and roll, that kind of music just soothes the soul, I reminisce about the days of old with that old time rock and roll". I rewrote the verses and I never took credit. That was the dumbest thing I ever did. And Tom Jones (Thomas E. Jones) and George Jackson know it, too. But I just wanted to finish the record [Stranger in Town]. I rewrote every verse you hear except for the choruses. I didn't ask for credit. My manager said: "You should ask for a third of the credit." And I said: "Nah. Nobody's gonna like it." I'm not credited on it so I couldn't control the copyright either. Meanwhile it got into a Hardee's commercial because I couldn't control it. Oh my God, it was awful!"[4]
However, George Stephenson of Malaco Records claimed:
"Old Time Rock and Roll" is truly [George] Jackson's song, and he has the tapes to prove it, despite Seger's claims that he altered it. Bob had pretty much finished his recording at Muscle Shoals and he asked them if they had any other songs he could listen to for the future.."[5]
Originally, the Silver Bullet Band was displeased with its inclusion on Stranger in Town, claiming, according to Seger, that the song was not "Silver Bullety". However, upon hearing audience reactions to it during their tour in Europe, the band grew to like the song.[6]
In 1990, Seger joined Billy Joel on one occasion and Don Henley on another to play the song during their concerts in Auburn Hills, Michigan.[7] He also performed the song at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
In popular culture[edit]
The song was featured in the 1983 film Risky Business, starring Tom Cruise. Cruise's character, Joel Goodson, famously lip-syncs and dances in his underwear as this song plays after his parents leave him home alone. Activision created a series of Guitar Hero: World Tour television commercials directed by Brett Ratner based on the scene, each featuring a different set of celebrities lip-sync to the lyrics while using the new instrument controllers. The first ad included athletes Kobe Bryant, Tony Hawk, Alex Rodriguez, and Michael Phelps.[8]
Reception[edit]
"Old Time Rock and Roll" achieved substantial album-oriented rock radio airplay and as the fourth single from Stranger in Town, it reached number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. It was re-released in 1983 after its inclusion in the film Risky Business and reached number 48 on the Billboard chart.[9] The song remains a staple on classic rock radio.
In Australia, the song was released twice and charted for a total of 55 weeks. The first run was in 1983 after its use in the film Risky Business, reaching number 53 on the charts. The second run saw it reach #3 in late 1987.
Chart performance[edit]
Chart (1979)
Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top 100 31
New Zealand Singles Chart 38
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 28
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 34
Chart (1983)
Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 48
U.S. Cash Box [10] 38
Chart (1987)
Peak
position
Australian KMR[11] 3
Status Quo Version[edit]
In 2000 the british rock band Status Quo recorded a version of this song on their album Famous in the Last Century. They played it at Top of the Pops and published it as a single which charted in UK and Norway.
Chart (2000)
Peak
position
Norway VG-lista 4
UK Singles chart 83
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Kreck, Dick. "Jukebox goes modern, but play list stands the test of time" Denver Post December 16, 1996: A-02
Jump up ^ Seger's Stranger in Town album credits
Jump up ^ Seger's Greatest Hits album liner notes
Jump up ^ Sharp, K.: Classic Rock, Issue 102, page 59. Future Publishing, 2007.
Jump up ^ "George Jackson: Songwriter who penned hundreds of soul, rock and r'n'b tunes". The Independent. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
Jump up ^ Graff, Gary (October 1994). "Bob Seger Tells The Stories Behind The Hits". Detroit Free Press.
Jump up ^ Weschler, Tom, and Gary Graff. Travelin Man: on the road and behind the scenes with Bob Seger. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Activision Publishing Unveils Star-Studded Television Ads Promoting The Highly Anticipated Guitar Hero(R) World Tour Launch". Activision. 2008-10-24. Archived from the original on 2009-07-16. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Pop Songs: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 218.
Jump up ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
Jump up ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
External links[edit]
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
[hide]
v
t
e
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
Bob Seger
Craig Frost
Chris Campbell
Alto Reed
Drew Abbott
Charlie Allen Martin
Dave Teegarden
Rick Manasa
Robyn Robbins
Dawayne Bailey
The Bob Seger System albums
Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1969)
Noah (1969)
Mongrel (1970)
Bob Seger solo albums
Brand New Morning (1971)
Smokin' O.P.'s (1972)
Back in '72 (1973)
Seven (1974)
Beautiful Loser (1975)
Face the Promise (2006)
Ride Out (2014)
I Knew You When (2017)
Bob Seger & the
Silver Bullet Band albums
Night Moves (1976)
Stranger in Town (1978)
Against the Wind (1980)
The Distance (1982)
Like a Rock (1986)
The Fire Inside (1991)
It's a Mystery (1995)
Live albums
Live Bullet (1976)
Nine Tonight (1981)
Compilations
The Bob Seger Collection (1979)
Greatest Hits (1994)
Greatest Hits 2 (2003)
Early Seger Vol. 1 (2009)
Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets (2011)
Singles
"The Lonely One" (1961)
"TGIF" (1965)
"Ballad of the Yellow Beret" (1966)
"East Side Story" (1966)
"Sock It to Me Santa" (1966)
"Persecution Smith" (1966)
"Vagrant Winter" (1967)
"Heavy Music" (1967)
"2 + 2 = ?" (1968)
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (1969)
"Ivory" (1969)
"Noah" (1969)
"Innervenus Eyes" (1969)
"Lucifer" (1970)
"Lookin' Back" (1971)
"If I Were a Carpenter" (1972)
"Who Do You Love" (1972)
"Midnight Rider" (1973)
"Turn the Page" (1973)
"Back in '72" / "Rosalie" (1973)
Need Ya / Seen Alot of Floors (1973)
"UMC (Upper Middle Class)" (1974)
"Get Out of Denver" (1974)
"Beautiful Loser" (1975)
"Katmandu" (1975)
"Nutbush City Limits" (live) (1976)
"Travelin' Man" (1976)
"Night Moves" (1976)
"Mainstreet" (1976)
"Rock and Roll Never Forgets" (1976)
"The Fire Down Below" (1977)
"Sunspot Baby" (1977)
"Hollywood Nights" (1978)
"We've Got Tonite" (1978)
"Still the Same" (1978)
"Old Time Rock and Roll" (1979)
"Fire Lake" (1980)
"Against the Wind" (1980)
"You'll Accomp'ny Me" (1980)
"The Horizontal Bop" (1980)
"Her Strut" (1980)
"Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" (live) (1981)
"Feel Like a Number" (live) (1981)
"Hollywood Nights" (live) (1981)
"We've Got Tonite" (live) (1982)
"Shame on the Moon" (1982)
"Even Now" (1983)
"Roll Me Away" (1983)
"Understanding" (1984)
"American Storm" / "Fortunate Son" (1986)
"Like a Rock" (1986)
"It's You" (1986)
"Miami" (1986)
"Shakedown" (1987)
"Blue Monday" (1989)
"Take a Chance" (1991)
"The Real Love" (1991)
"The Fire Inside" (radio edit) (1991)
"In Your Time" (1994)
"C'est La Vie" / "Night Moves" (1994)
"Lock and Load" (rock mix) (1995)
"Manhattan" (1995)
"Hands in the Air" (1996)
"Chances Are" (with Martina McBride) (1998)
"Landing in London" (with 3 Doors Down) (2005)
"Wait for Me" (2006)
"Wreck This Heart" (2006)
"Downtown Train" (2011)
"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Going Back to Birmingham)" (2011)
"Detroit Made" (2014)
"You Take Me In" (2014)
"Glenn Song" (2017)
"Busload of Faith" (2017)
Related articles
Discography
Gibson/Miller Band
Book:Bob Seger
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Old_Time_Rock_and_Roll&oldid=802576519"
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Pachelbel's Canon
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First page of Mus.MS 16481-8 from Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – the oldest surviving copy of Johann Pachelbel's "Canon and Gigue in D major" (first movement popularly known as "Pachelbel's Canon"). Shows the first bars of the canon.
Canon and Gigue in D
Performed and realized on synthesizers by Jeffrey Hall.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Pachelbel's Canon is the common name for a canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel in his Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo (German: Kanon und Gigue für 3 Violinen mit Generalbaß) (PWC 37, T. 337, PC 358), sometimes referred to as Canon and Gigue in D or simply Canon in D. Neither the date nor the circumstances of its composition are known (suggested dates range from 1680 to 1706), and the oldest surviving manuscript copy of the piece dates from the 19th century.
Pachelbel's Canon, like his other works, although popular during his lifetime, soon went out of style, and remained in obscurity for centuries. A 1968 arrangement and recording of it by the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra gained popularity over the next decade, and in the 1970s the piece began to be recorded by many ensembles; by the early 1980s its presence as background music was deemed inescapable.[1] From the 1970s to the early 2000s, elements of the piece, especially its chord progression, were used in a variety of pop songs. Since the 1980s, it has also been used frequently in weddings and funeral ceremonies in the Western world.
The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue. Both movements are in the key of D major. Although a true canon at the unison in three parts, it also has elements of a chaconne.
Contents
[hide]
1 Creation
2 Rediscovery and rise to fame
3 Analysis
4 Influence on popular music
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Creation[edit]
In his lifetime, Johann Pachelbel was renowned for his organ and other keyboard music, whereas today he is also recognized as an important composer of church and chamber music.[2] Little of his chamber music survives, however. Only Musikalische Ergötzung—a collection of partitas published during Pachelbel's lifetime—is known, apart from a few isolated pieces in manuscripts. The Canon and Gigue in D major is one such piece. A single 19th-century manuscript copy of them survives, Mus.MS 16481/8 in the Berlin State Library. It contains two more chamber suites. Another copy, previously in Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, is now lost.[3]
The circumstances of the piece's composition are wholly unknown. Hans-Joachim Schulze, writing in 1985, suggested that the piece may have been composed for Johann Christoph Bach's wedding, on 23 October 1694, which Pachelbel attended. Johann Ambrosius Bach, Pachelbel, and other friends and family provided music for the occasion.[4] Johann Christoph Bach, the oldest brother of Johann Sebastian Bach, was a pupil of Pachelbel. Another scholar, Charles E Brewer, investigated a variety of possible connections between Pachelbel's and Heinrich Biber's published chamber music. His research indicated that the Canon may have been composed as a kind of "answer" to a chaconne with canonic elements which Biber published as part of Partia III of Harmonia artificioso-ariosa. That would indicate that Pachelbel's piece can't be dated earlier than 1696 – the year of publication of Biber's collection.[5] Other versions are occasionally put forward, for example, suggesting the date of canon's composition as early as 1680.[6]
Rediscovery and rise to fame[edit]
The Canon (without the accompanying gigue) was first published in 1919 by scholar Gustav Beckmann, who included the score in his article on Pachelbel's chamber music.[7] His research was inspired and supported by early music scholar and editor Max Seiffert, who in 1929 published his arrangement of the Canon and Gigue in his Organum series.[8] However, that edition contained numerous articulation marks and dynamics not in the original score. Furthermore, Seiffert provided tempi he considered right for the piece, but that were not supported by later research.[9] The Canon was first recorded in 1940 by Arthur Fiedler.[10]
In 1968, the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra made a recording of the piece that would change its fortunes significantly.[1] This rendition was done in a more Romantic style, at a significantly slower tempo than it had been played at before, and contained obligato parts, written by Paillard, that are now closely associated with the piece.[1] The Paillard recording was released in June in France by Erato Records as part of an LP that also included the Trumpet Concerto by Johann Friedrich Fasch and other works by Pachelbel and Fasch, all played by the Jean-François Paillard chamber orchestra. The canon was also included on a widely distributed album by the mail-order label Musical Heritage Society in 1968.
In July 1968, Greek band Aphrodite's Child released the single "Rain and Tears", which was a baroque-rock adaptation of Pachelbel's Canon.[11] The band was based in France at the time, although it is unknown whether they had heard the Paillard recording, or were inspired by it. "Rain and Tears" was a success, reaching number 1 on the pop charts of various European countries. Several months later, in October 1968, Spanish band Pop-Tops released the single "Oh Lord, Why Lord", which again was based on Pachelbel's Canon.[12] Again, it is unknown whether they were aware of or had been inspired by the releases from earlier that year. "Oh Lord, Why Lord" was covered by American band Parliament on their 1970 album Osmium.
In 1970, a classical radio station in San Francisco played the Paillard recording and became inundated by listener requests. The piece gained growing fame, particularly in California.[13] In 1974, London Records, aware of the interest in the piece, reissued a 1961 album of the Corelli Christmas Concerto performed by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, which happened to contain the piece, now re-titled to Pachelbel Kanon: the Record That Made it Famous and other Baroque Favorites.[13] The album was the highest-selling classical album of 1976.[14] Its success led to many other record labels issuing their own recordings of the work, many of which also sold well.[13]
In 1977, the RCA Red Seal label reissued the original Erato album in the United States and elsewhere. In the U.S. it was the 6th-highest-selling classical album of 1977. (Two other albums containing Pachelbel's Canon charted for the year: the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra album at #17, and another album featuring the Paillard recording, Go For Baroque!, at #13.)[15] The Paillard recording was then featured prominently in the soundtrack of the 1980 film Ordinary People.[1] The Erato/RCA album kept climbing the Billboard Classical Albums chart, and in January 1982 it reached the #1 position,[1] where it remained until May 1982, when it was knocked out of first place by an album featuring Pachelbel's Canon played by the Academy of Ancient Music directed by Christopher Hogwood.[16]
In 1982 pianist George Winston included his "Variations on the Kanon by Johann Pachelbel" on his solo piano album December, which has sold over three million copies. That same year, the magazine The New Yorker published a cartoon titled "Prisoner of Pachelbel" in which a prisoner hears over the loudspeaker, "For your listening pleasure, we once again present Pachelbel's Canon."[1]
The 1991 musical parody album WTWP Classical Talkity-Talk Radio by P. D. Q. Bach is set at a fictional radio station whose call letters stand for "Wall-To-Wall Pachelbel".[1]
Analysis[edit]
Pachelbel's Canon combines the techniques of canon and ground bass. Canon is a polyphonic device in which several voices play the same music, entering in sequence. In Pachelbel's piece, there are three voices engaged in canon (see Example 1), but there is also a fourth voice, the basso continuo, which plays an independent part.
Example 1. The first 9 bars of the Canon in D. The violins play a three-voice canon over the ground bass to provide the harmonic structure. Colors highlight the individual canonic entries.
The bass voice keeps repeating the same two-bar line throughout the piece.
The common musical term for this is ostinato, or ground bass (see the example below).
Example 2. Ground bass of Pachelbel's Canon made of two bars and eight notes being the ground of the eight chords of the canon.
The eight chords suggested by the bass are represented in the table below:
Chord progression of the Canon
No.
Chord
Scale degree
Roman
numeral
1
D major tonic I
2
A major dominant V
3
B minor submediant vi
4
F♯ minor/
D major mediant/
first inversion
of tonic iii/
I6
5
G major subdominant IV
6
D major tonic I
7
G major subdominant IV
8
A major dominant V
The first eight chords of this progression follow a sequential pattern known as the Romanesca. This progression has been identified as a common seventeenth- and eighteenth-century schema by Robert Gjerdingen.[17]
In Germany, Italy, and France of the 17th century, some pieces built on ground bass were called chaconnes or passacaglias; such ground-bass works sometimes incorporate some form of variation in the upper voices. While some writers consider each of the 28 statements of the ground bass a separate variation,[2] one scholar finds that Pachelbel's canon is constructed of just 12 variations, mostly four bars in length, and describes them as follows:[18]
(bars 03–06) quarter notes
(bars 07–10) eighth notes
(bars 11–14) sixteenth notes
(bars 15–18) leaping quarter notes, rest
(bars 19–22) 32nd-note pattern on scalar melody
(bars 23–26) staccato, eighth notes and rests
(bars 27–30) sixteenth note extensions of melody with upper neighbor notes
(bars 31–38) repetitive sixteenth note patterns
(bars 39–42) dotted rhythms
(bars 43–46) dotted rhythms and 16th-note patterns on upper neighbor notes
(bars 47–50) syncopated quarter and eighth notes rhythm
(bars 51–56) eighth-note octave leaps
Pachelbel's Canon thus merges a strict polyphonic form (the canon) and a variation form (the chaconne, which itself is a mixture of ground bass composition and variations). Pachelbel skillfully constructs the variations to make them both pleasing and subtly undetectable.[18]
Influence on popular music[edit]
Several months after the Paillard recording was released, two groups released successful singles with a backing track based on Pachelbel's Canon: Greek band Aphrodite's Child with "Rain and Tears"[11] and Spanish group Los Pop-Tops with "Oh Lord, Why Lord".[12]
In 2002, pop music producer Pete Waterman described Canon in D as "almost the godfather of pop music because we've all used that in our own ways for the past 30 years". He also said that Kylie Minogue's 1988 UK Number One hit single "I Should Be So Lucky", which Waterman co-wrote and co-produced, was based on Canon in D.[19] The Farm's 1990 single "All Together Now" has its chord sequence lifted directly from Pachelbel's Canon.[6] "Sunday Morning" on Procol Harum's 2017 album Novum is based on the canon.[20]
The Pet Shop Boys 1993 cover of "Go West" played up that song's resemblance to both Pachelbel's Canon and the Soviet Anthem. Coolio's 1997 "C U When U Get There" is built around a sample of the piece. Other songs that make use of the Pachelbel's Canon chord progression include "Streets of London" by Ralph McTell (1974), "Basket Case" by Green Day (1994), "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis (1996) (though with a variation at the end) and "Graduation (Friends Forever)" by Vitamin C (2000).[21]
In 2012, the UK–based Co-Operative Funeralcare compiled a list of the most popular, classical, contemporary and religious music across 30,000 funerals. Canon in D placed second on the Classical chart, behind Edward Elgar's "Nimrod".[22]
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra's 1998 song "Christmas Canon" is set to the tune of Pachelbel's Canon.[23]
See also[edit]
Classical music portal
Music portal
Category:Works based on Pachelbel's Canon

References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Fink, Robert (2010). "Prisoners of Pachelbel: An Essay in Post-Canonic Musicology". Hamburg Jahrbuch.
^ Jump up to: a b Ewald V. Nolte and John Butt, "Pachelbel: (1) Johann Pachelbel", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). ISBN 1-56159-239-0.
Jump up ^ Welter, Kathryn J. 1998. "Johann Pachelbel: Organist, Teacher, Composer: A Critical Reexamination of His Life, Works, and Historical Significance", PhD diss. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University): p. 363.
Jump up ^ Schulze, Hans-Joachim. Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721) Organist and Schul Collega in Ohrdruf, Johann Sebastian Bachs erster Lehrer, in Bach Jahrbuch 71 (1985): 70 and footnote 79.
Jump up ^ Brewer, Charles E. 2013. The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and their Contemporaries, p. 335. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 9781409494225
^ Jump up to: a b Green, Thomas H (27 May 2004). "Altogether Now with Pachelbel". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
Jump up ^ Gustav Beckmann, Johann Pachelbel als Kammerkomponist, Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 1 (1918–19): 267–74. The Canon is found on p. 271.
Jump up ^ Perreault, Jean M. 2004. The Thematic Catalogue of the Musical Works of Johann Pachelbel, p. 32. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md. ISBN 0-8108-4970-4.
Jump up ^ Dohr, Christoph (2006), "Preface", Canon und Gigue für drei Violinen und Basso continuo (Urtext). Partitur und Stimmen (in German), Dohr Verlag, ISMN M-2020-1230-7
Jump up ^ Daniel Guss, CD booklet to Pachelbel's Greatest Hit: The Ultimate Canon, BMG Classics (RCA Red Seal)
^ Jump up to: a b David Luhrssen with Michael Larson (2017). Encyclopedia of Classic Rock. Greenwood. p. 7. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
^ Jump up to: a b Kristen Yoonsoo Kim (September 27, 2012). "One-Hit Wondering – Johann Pachelbel". Noisey.
^ Jump up to: a b c Walton, Mary (January 17, 1979). "Move over Mick Jagger; here's Johann Pachelbel". Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
Jump up ^ Billboard Year-end Issue, December 25, 1976
Jump up ^ Billboard Year-end Double Issue, December 24, 1977
Jump up ^ Classical LPs Chart, Billboard, May 15, 1982
Jump up ^ Gjerdindan, Robert. 2007a. Music in the Galant Style: Being an Essay on Various Schemata Characteristic of Eighteenth-Century Music for Courtly Chambers, Chapel, and Theaters, Including Tasteful Passages of Music Drawn from Most Excellent Chapel Masters in the Employ of Noble and Noteworthy Personages, Said Music All Collected for the Reader’s Delectations on the World Wide Web. Oxford University Press.
^ Jump up to: a b Kathryn Welter, "Johann Pachelbel: Organist, Teacher, Composer: A Critical Reexamination of His Life, Works, and Historical Significance", PhD diss. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1998): pp. 207–208.
Jump up ^ "Pop mogul 'inspired by classics'". BBC News. 7 Oct 2002. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
Jump up ^ Warne, Jude (18 April 2017). "Prog Rock Icons Procol Harum Return With Their 50th Anniversary Album". Observer.
Jump up ^ Chamings, Andrew Wallace. 2013.Canon in the 1990s: From Spiritualized to Coolio, Regurgitating Pachelbel's Canon
Jump up ^ "Funeral survey charts the demise of popular hymns". Co-Operative Funeralcare. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
Jump up ^ Chan, Lorne (December 18, 2014). "Trans-Siberian Orchestra dusts off "The Christmas Attic"". San Antonio Express-News.
18. co-operativefuneralcare funeral music chartCo-Operative Funeralcare Retrieved 25 Nov 2015

External links[edit]
This section's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pachelbel's Canon.
Pachelbel's Canon: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
Free sheet music of Canon in D from Cantorion.org
Midi-files, videos, and sheet resources from Johann Pachelbel's Canon
Harmony and voice leading of the ›Pachelbelsequenz‹ (in German)
Pachelbel's Canon in D-major with sheet music, by TheGreatRepertoire on YouTube
Historical performance of the Canon on original instruments on YouTube by Voices of Music using baroque instruments, bows, and playing techniques.
Canon in D as played by the Apollo Symphony Orchestra on YouTube
Rock/neo-classical arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon in D-major on YouTube
This article needs additional or more specific categories. Please help out by adding categories to it so that it can be listed with similar articles. (April 2017)
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