Other allergy medicine thoughts: I cannot listen to the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 because Eric Carmen stole it to write his hit "All By Myself," also popularized by Celine Dion. But the music was only public domain in the US and he got sued.

Sometimes Spotify slips Concerto No. 2 into my shuffle, and things go fine at first--because the first movement is one of my favorite parts and has lots of Rachmaninoff drama--but then all I hear is the fucking flutes and Celine Dion and I get so mad.

I guess they're not flutes. They're clarinets. It's definitely a clarinet, now that I think about it.

This is also how I feel about Jacques Brel appropriating Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody no. 6 to make "Ne me quitte pas."

The Eric Carmen one is pretty egregious, lmfaooo. Like. He just. Took the whole melody.

Just helped himself to one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

Once you hear it, you cannot unhear it.

Imagine thinking, “Ah, yes, this obscure musician, Rachmaninoff, certainly must have an inactive estate.” LOL

I found this out because one day I was listening to Rach 2, and I thought “why does this sound so familiar?” And went around humming it for a week and then i was like wait, is this Celine Dion?! And Google said, “Pull up a seat, sweetie. I’ve got a tale for you.”

As will surprise no one, I like the parts of Rach 2 that go between thunderous calamity and the really dexterous trills that build and build.

Rachmaninoff writing the piano parts of the first movement Rach 2:

There's also a bit of Rach 2 that basically turns into Chopin, and not enough gets said about that, tbh.

Other Rachmaninoff allergy medicine thoughts: he was 6'6".