10 Hits You Didn't Realise Sampled Other Songs

For a few months, across late 2001 and early 2002, it seemed as if Norwegian duo Röyksopp's compelling brand of lush and melodic electronica was everywhere. The astonishing success of their debut album, Melody A.M., catapulted the group into the mainstream, not least thanks to their remarkably addictive single, So Easy.

So Easy unfurls on a blanket of smothered, beautifully melodies and gentle electronic beats, but not many will know that the repeated mantra-like vocal refrain is, in fact, taken from a rather obscure '60s single by Swedish easy listening group, Gals & Pals.

That song, Blue on Blue, was originally penned by none other than American song-writing wizards, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Singer Bobby Vinton first recorded the number, in 1963, and his version spent thirteen weeks on the Billboard charts, reaching as high as number two. Paul Anka also covered the song in that same year.

Gals & Pals recorded their own effort in 1967, singing in English, and it is from this version that Röyksopp's sample derives. In So Easy, the words are muddied enough to be indecipherable, but listen to Gals & Pals and you will clearly hear: “Blue on blue, heartache on heartache/blue on blue, Now that we are through,” over a melody later made famous by the Norwegian artists.