The INSANE True Story Behind This Song That's Blowing Up on TikTok

What do TikTok, Art Tatum, and Dmitri Shostakovich have in common?

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[CharlesCornellStudios]

You guys, I thought I was setting out to make a video about the incredible harmonic ideas of Art Tatum. I had NO IDEA it was going to get THIS crazy...

[groofay]

I would not be surprised if we keep finding Shostakovich pieces and arrangements like this. They seem to pop up every once in a while. But yeah, forty-five minutes for an orchestration like that is insane. Our boy Shosty was a creative machine.

[alobosk]

As someone that worked in the advertising industry making music for adverts, I can tell you that it is with all the intention. We trained ourselves to just get really close to plagiarism, knowing the actual rules that make a difference to make something sound like something without being it. They, in the advertising industry, call them "soundalikes". I specialized in them.

[sydc]

Me simple. Me see Shostakovich, me click.

[biltrex]

Shostakovich making an arrangement of Tea For Two is like bringing a tank to a BB gun fight. But clearly he was having a blast with it, and I'm glad it resurfaced.

[johnmaher]

Lots of Jazz just used the chord progressions from old standards, and then the musician wrote a new “head” tune over those chords. That way, say, Charlie Parker or Miles Davis could play with any rhythm section and just say “play Tea for Two” and the backing musicians would know those chords, and the horn player would play the new melody over that and then improvise. Much easier than having to teach the rhythm section a whole new progression.

[zorantaylor]

I have a theory that Shostakovich owned a copy of the sheet music to "The Rite Of Spring" and was cribbing from it, which sped up the process, especially when you're already working with such a rudimentary melody. If not, he was definitely referencing it from memory. All those swoops and crashes, even the very ORDER in which melodies are traded off by instrument and the resulting constant contrasts in timbre, is strictly pulled from Stravinsky. This is no coincidence or accident, and it is very funny.

[armaandesai]

Charles is throwing out videos like free candy

[DouglasJWilkening]

Tea For Two was written in 1924 and is in the public domain. You can imitate it as closely as you want and there will be no copyright infringement.

[EscapeOrdinary-TheWoodlands]

My understanding is that the Shostakovich arrangement was never lost given that it was included in The Golden Age ballet score. The ballet fell out of favor as "formalistic" and was largely forgotten for decades, but the Tahiti Trot score was never physically lost.

[dunstonlion]

Art Tatum over here playing "Tea for Two Giant Steps"

[leonpetrich]

4:09 this man is just casually playing tenths like it's nothing. I wish my hands were this huge.

[MFMegaZeroX]

The Tea for Two arrangement only entered the public domain 4 years ago (January 1st, 2020). But that recording doesn't enter the public domain for another 6 months (January 1st, 2025). Just a reminder that copyright lengths really should go back to the pre-1970s standard of 56 years.

[ganormand]

My father was pianist/bandleader, taught all 5 of us how to play real music with his band-to go along with the school band lessons. He was on contract at a resort hotel nearby for 40 years, and the Musicians' Union told him they knew of no one else who had a sit down gig so long. I started my band in 1972 and just retired in 2022, beating my Dad by 10 years. On some of his records were 3 of the songs you mentioned: Tea for Two, All the Things you are, and Autumn Leaves. I was 14 when he recorded the last song, and he took me to the recording session. I volunteered to play claves, and 63 years later, still get to hear my younger self on his rendition. You are fabulous, love your playing, keep going.

[oldgoat]

Tea For Two is a really fun piece of music as a piano solo, a band tune, and a crooner's song. I've played it so much and arranged it so many times, and I'm gonna say you, random person reading this, should learn it. Great changes at the end of the form to practice over, and a simple but charming melody.

[ОбуховВасилий]

"Soviet Russia in 1920-s was wild!"
Yeah, wait till you hear about the 30-s

[Lplayer]

Most people don't appreciate how "out there" Art Tatum really was, how unique his talents were. The players of his day, and anyone since, would just shrink back if Tatum was going to play, as he was going to begin where they left off and then go to the moon. No one could keep up with him.

[internetperson]

Also yes, Autumn Leaves is never talked about, but as someone who listens to Russian music, it always sounded similar to the song "Red Army Is The Strongest." However, that song is the original version of "Workers of Vienna", an Austrian socialist song that uses the same tune.The composer of Autumn Leaves lived in Vienna around the time that song may be popular and was used by socialist organizers, so it is possible he heard the melody and he either subconsciously remembered it or intended to use its melody for Autumn Leaves.

Edit: It has been made known to me that Red Army is the Strongest came before Workers of Vienna, I have edited my message accordingly.

[nathanielpeton]

Shostakovich, his Jazz Suite album is one of my all-time favorites. It's amazing!

[stephanecollange]

This song is used in one of the most famous french movie "La grande vadrouille" and each time we - french people - heard this song we remember the turkish bath scene...