Musical coincidences # 239

Today's coincidence may get a little messy (it involves at least four different artists), but I'll try to be as concise as I can.

A couple of weeks ago I heard Al Green's "I'm Still In Love With You" over at Popdose. At the 1:02 mark in the song there's a little riff played on the strings. This is it:

Al Green - "I'm Still In Love With You" (1972) (excerpt)

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The first half of that tiny, tiny riff reminds me of one of the riffs melodies* in Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture:

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (excerpt)
(Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sian Edwards)

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Incidentally, that Tchaikovsky riff melody features rather prominently in another pop song:

The Move - "Night Of Fear" (1966) (excerpt)

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Apparently that was deliberate, so it really shouldn't be here (i.e., it's not a coincidence), but what the hey (i.e., why not?). That Al Green violin riff on the other hand was coincidental. (Maybe.)

Here are the full versions:

Al Green - "I'm Still In Love With You" (1972)

Link

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (excerpt)
(Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sian Edwards)

Link

The Move - "Night Of Fear" (1966) (excerpt)

Link

Oh, and one more thing:

This is the cover of Al Green's album I'm Still In Love With You:

As soon as I saw that wicker chair I remembered this Al Di Meola album from 1978:

And then I remembered this:

That's the photo on the back cover of ABBA's 1975 self-titled album:

Here's the front:

Wicker chairs sure were popular in the Seventies.

(*Can you call melodies in classical music "riffs"?)