Apparently Beasts of England is somewhere between My Darling Clementine and La Cucaracha …
And Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, too.
We talked about this in another thread a few weeks ago. I think I mentioned then that I like to sing Stairway to Heaven to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold,
And she’s buyin’ the stairway ta heaven.
When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed,
With a word she can get what she came for.
Works really well if you maintain the upper midwest pronunciation of Gordon Lightfoot.
The theme from Green Acres to the tune of Purple Haze, or
Gilligan’s Island to Stairway To Heaven (heard that on Dr. Demento once).
Not strictly on-topic, but when I read this, I had to share something. There is a tradition among my immediate family – I’m not sure who started it, but I suspect it was my grandfather – that upon being telephoned for any special occasion (birthday, anniversary, New Year’s, etc.), the callee will receive a Special Song to the tune of the William Tell overture.
For example, let’s say it’s my grandparents’ anniversary. My mom will dial their number while I stand close to the phone.
Grandpa: Hello?
Us (as loud as we can manage) : Happy anniversary! Happy anniversary! Happy anniversary! HAAAAAAAAAAAAPY anniver-sa-ry! Happy happy happy happy happy…
and so on and so forth until we run out of breath, or are laughing too hard to continue. For birthdays, it becomes “happy happy bi-irthday”, etc. When my own birthday rolls around, I know I can count on getting at least two of these calls. It’s corny, but it’s fun.
O Little Town Of Bethlehem works to the tune for House of the Rising Sun, too. You can hear that on Bob Rivers’ Twisted Christmas. Sounds great.
A lot of these can easily be sung to other tunes, because they share the same meter. Amazing Grace, Gilligan’s Island, Yellow Rose of Texas - all of these have the meter of 8-6-8-6 (an eight-syllable line, then a six-syllable line, an eight, then a six), which for obvious reasons is called “COMMON METER”.
So there you have it.
Along the same lines - using the same tune, but different pacing and emphasis, are two radically different songs from The Music Man:
Seventy-Six Trombones and Goodnight, My Someone.
In a similar thread a month ago, I learned that “My Darling Clementine” can be sung to “Ode to Joy”.
I’ve been driving my wife crazy with that one ever since.
John Fogarty’s “Wrote a Song for Everyone” is practically the same song as The Band’s “The Weight.”
For good, clean fun, there’s nothing like singing the names of organic compounds to the tune of “The Irish Washerwoman:”
Methyl-ethyl-propanediol
Dibenzo anthracene,
etc.
etc.
Every song with the Bo Diddley rhythm can be sung to every other song with the Bo Diddley rhythm.
Hey Bo Diddley, Not Fade Away, Willie And The Hand Jive, you name it. You can go on for half an hour doing it. I know, I’ve been in jam sessions at bars and it’s entirely possible to keep at it until your arms fall off from playing the E string.
I noticed “Stormy Weather” goes well over the end of Fiona Apple’s “Shadowboxer”.
And putting it all together, we notice that Emily Dickinson is compatible with most of these. As DogMom points out, it’s because they’re all in common meter.
Try it:
When I used to recite these poems in English class in HS, it took all of my effort not to sing it as Amazing Grace or Gilligan’s Island. I figured that it wouldn’t go over too well with the instructor. He was kinda a hardass.
My favorite is “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” to the tune of the Stan Rogers song “Mary Ellen Carter”.
There’s a local band in St Louis that does Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to the melody of Free Bird.
Ok- a little more contemporary set of songs…
The Best of My Love-the disco song
with
Emotions - Mariah Carey
“Rock a Bye Baby” can be sung to the chorus of “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”.
*I Want to Be Seduced *and I Want to Be Sedated.
Sandler & Young made a career out of this sort of thing.
The Star Spangled Banner also works to the tune of
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
I read in a Sharyn McCrumb novel that it’s suprising how many Emily Dickinson poems can be sung to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”
It works much better with copious amounts of beer but damned if she isn’t right.