The Lloyd Webber brothers were always very close but their two different careers (a rock musicalcomposer and a classicalcellist) meant that a collaboration seemed unlikely. It was not until Julian beat his brother in a bet on a Leyton Orientfootball match that Andrew was forced to write his cello work.
The work was used in musical Song and Dance (1982) and David Cullen made an arrangement of the work for cello and orchestra. The opening and closing variations have been rewritten by Laurence Roman for cello and piano, the latter of which Julian often uses as an encore, due to its amusing glissando down to Bottom A (forcing a mid piece retune) to conclude.
The opening theme is used as the theme to The South Bank Show (1978–2010) and "Variation 5" became "Unexpected Song" with lyrics by Don Black. "Variation 18" is an instrumental version of the title song from the first Rice and Webber musical, The Likes of Us (1965, unperformed until 2005). Also, the UK's children's programme, The Book Tower (hosted by Doctor Who actor, Tom Baker) adopted a section of "Variation 19" for its theme tune.
In Lloyd Webber's West Endmusical adaptation of the film School of Rock (2003), Dewey Finn and Ned Schneebly play Guitar Hero to the audience on an imaginary TV screen, and the Variations album is played. In addition, the chorus of the song "Stick it to the Man" is based on a note sequence from Variation 14.
^Stanley, Bob (2022). "Epilogue". Let's Do It - The Birth of Pop Music: A History. New York. p. 586.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
