Did you know that A Whiter Shade Of Pale, by Procol Harum, can be sung quite satisfactorily, and with amusing and edifying results, to the tune of Deutschland Uber Alles? Got any others?
Lawrence Block avers that nearly all of Emily Dickinson’s poems can be sung to The Yellow Rose Of Texas, but since I lent my only copy of her works a number of years ago to a girl I was trying to impress with my sensitivity, I am no longer able to put this to the test. Any takers?
One of my favourites is the theme from Spiderman (cartoon), sung to the tune of TMBG’s Particle Man.
“Jesus Loves Me” to the tune of “Bo Diddley.”
I’m sure there’s overlap of The Doors HELLO, I LOVE YOU; and the Kinks PARANOIA and ALL OF THE NIGHT.
Also, I’ve sometimes been able to recount ordinary events to the tune of AQUALUNG.
Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” (I think that’s the title) can be sung to the tune of “Hernando’s Hideaway” from Pajama Game.
And it’s true about Emily Dickinson and “Yellow Rose of Texas!” I once wanted to do a one-woman musical show called The Cow-Belle of Amherst.
Deck the Halls to the tune of Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
And vice versa.
Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star andThe ABC Song.
America and God Save The King
Pretty much every single song you hear on Barney is an appropriated song with some made-up nicety-nice words.
Ah you want to listen to I’m Sorry I’m Haven’t A Clue’s One Song To The Tune Of Another.
Without You goes to the Cancan,Stand By Me to the William Tell.
And we’ve sung While Shepherds Watched to the Archers quite happily.
Amazing Grace can be sung to the tune of House of the Rising Sun.
We don’t need no education
Fa la la la la, la la la la!
We don’t need no thought control
Fa la la la la, la la la la!
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Fa la la, la la la la la la!
Teachers leave them kids alone
Fa la la la la, la la la la!
Brings a tear to my eye.
Daniel
Amazing Grace can also be sung to the tune of the Gilligan’s Island theme. You just have to repeat the last line of each verse, like they do in the Gilligan song.
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I’m found,
was blind but now I see.
was blind but now I see.
Happy Birthday To You fits well with The William Tell Overture, but you need two people to sing it.
Happy birthday to-o you!
Happy birthday to-o you!
Happy birthday to-o you!
Haaaaapy birthday to you!
Happy happy happy happy happy birthday to you!
Happy happy happy happy happy birthday to you! (To you! To you! To you!)
Happy happy birthday, birthday to you!
Happy happy birthday, birthday to you!
[and so on]
I do this too!
Amazing Grace can also be sung to the tune of The Mickey Mouse Club theme.
God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
So join us here each week my friend your sure to get a smile,
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day.
By seven stranded castaways, here on Gilligan’s Isle.
It’s great, but I like it better the other way around.
Cue Pink Floyd:
Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa la la la, la la la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa la la la, la la la
And with slight modifications, you can do the Brady Bunch theme to Ballad of the Green Berets.
It’s the story,
of a lovely lady,
who was bringing up,
three lovely girls.
All of them,
had hair of gold;
the youngest one,
in curls.
[slight hijack]
There is a club-dj-inspired phenomenon call “Mash-Ups” where two songs are played simultaneously (live) or blended and mixed to create an integrated version (recorded).
I have heard a few and some can sound really good. I heard one that blended “Push It” by Salt n’ Pepa with an Iggy and the Stooges song (can’t remember which one). Really good. And another which combined the rapper Cee-lo (“Wish I was a little bit taller, wish I was a baller…”), with The Breeder’s “Cannonball” and another song…
[/slight hijack]
“America the Beautiful” and “Aude Lang Syne” are perfectly interchangeable with one another.
Did this in uni in the radio studios(I did Media)
Did Prince’s 1999 with the bells of Big Ben in. Came out brilliant and now I can’t hear the original without thinking there’s something missing.
Sound effects tape do wonderful things. I loved the mix we made of Sound Effect:Children on the Beach mixed with ‘The Reaper Approaches’. Sounds freaky but cool :eek:
Then we did a really unpleasant one:
Dunblane’s Knocking On Heaven’s Door mixed with Iron Maiden’s Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter I doubt anyone would ever let you play it anywhere
Well, this isn’t quite the same thing, but there’s a PDQ Bach / Peter Schickele recording of “You Are My Sunshine” accompanied by the 1812 Overture:
"You are my Sun [tata-ta-ta] Shine [ta-ta-ta-TA-taaa-taaaaaaaaa].... "
Quite impressive, actually!
