# Different songs, same melody **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981 "2011-04-11T18:27:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/61 "2011-04-13T10:05:42Z")
The Lone Ranger theme sounds just like the third part of the William Tell Overture. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/62 "2011-04-13T16:25:24Z")
Ditto the theme song for Lark cigarettes. I remember one commercial (couldn’t find it on youtube, alas), where the Lark man was holding the “Show Us Your Lark Cigarettes” sign with the “Have a Lark, have a Lark, have a Lark today” chorus in the background.The Lone Ranger approachs the guy and asks what he thinks he is doing, using his music. In turn, William Tell (complee with bow, arrow and apple) appears and says to Tell “I was going to ask you the same question.” Very clever commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/63 "2011-04-13T19:19:51Z")
The Godfathers’ [Birth School Work Death](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38_XoiJS2gU) and John Prine’s [We Are The Lonely](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD9Hqko7ts4) are the same. ---
**Author:** ![osme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/df788c/32.png) [@osme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/osme)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/64 "2011-04-13T20:51:57Z")
76 Trombones and Goodnight My Someone are the same except for Goodnight My Someone is 3/4 slower. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/65 "2011-04-14T00:21:26Z")
[Be A Clown & Make 'em Laugh.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/334/arent-the-show-tunes-be-a-clown-and-make-em-laugh-suspiciously-similar) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/66 "2011-04-14T00:33:40Z")
I’ve been keeping a list ever since sci–fi fans tried finding a melody for “The Green Hills of Earth”: SONGS THAT CAN BE SUNG TO THE TUNE OF “THE BALLAD OF GILLIGAN’S ISLAND” Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song Stairway to Heaven [GILLIGANS ISLAND - STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG2lTB-UVvs) House of the Rising Sun Yankee Doodle Pop Goes the Weasel Peaceful Easy Feeling I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing Yellow Rose of Texas Ghost Riders of the Sky Rocky Top Lion Sleeps Tonight Tangled Up in Blue Whiter Shade of Pale Light My Fire O Little Town of Bethlehem Jingle Bells God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen Greensleeves Jolly Old St. Nicholas The First Noel O Tannenbaum It Came Upon a Midnight Clear I’ll Be Home for Christmas Take Me Out to the Ball Game In-a-Gadda-da-Vida Marines’ Hymn Wabash Cannonball America the Beautiful The Internationale Onward Christian Soldiers Ode to Joy Mack the Knife A Hundred Bottles of Beer Clementine La Cucaracha Semper Paratus The Wearing of the Green (The Rising of the Moon) The Itsy-Bitsy Spider I’ve Been Working on the Railroad Sympathy for the Devil Rollin’ Down to Old Maui Acres of Clams Bread and Roses Sink the Bismarck Forest Green (UK “Little Town of Bethlehem”) Tomorrow Belongs to Me Poems that apply: Jabberwocky Little Miss Muffet Jack and Jill Doctor Foster went to Gloucester Little Jack Horner Itsy Bitsy Spider Mary Mary Quite Contrary Anything by Emily Dickinson ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/67 "2011-04-14T02:36:41Z")
In classic country/mountain music, _The Great Speckled Bird_ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzlOI-8J\_4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jzlOI-8J_4), _Wild Side of Life_ [HANK THOMPSON - The Wild Side of Life - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5y5jWv2xQw), _It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels_ [Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKleTa94dC8) and _I’m Thinking Tonight of my Blue Eyes_ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4tBmpRdZ94](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4tBmpRdZ94). I guess they’ve always known about reuse/recycle in the hills. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/68 "2011-04-14T11:10:22Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Simialrly, both the British and Lichtensteinian national anthems use the same tune. As well as [“Heil Dir im Siegerkranz”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_dir_im_Siegerkranz), the unofficial national anthem of the German empire from 1871 to 1918. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/69 "2011-04-14T11:30:58Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > As well as [“Heil Dir im Siegerkranz”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil_dir_im_Siegerkranz), the unofficial national anthem of the German empire from 1871 to 1918. After further research, I found out that the tune to [“God Save the Queen”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen) was virtually the proto-anthem for almost half of Europe, also including [Norway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongesangen), [Russia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molitva_russkikh) and [Switzerland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufst_Du,_mein_Vaterland). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/70 "2011-04-14T11:59:02Z")
Louis Jordan was a pioneer in committed recycling. At least three of his biggest hits–“All for the Love of Lil”, “Slender, Tender and Tall” and “I Like 'Em Fat Like That”–shared the same melody. Probably a lot more, too. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/71 "2011-04-14T12:35:48Z")
[The Red Flag](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhmfQhtszf0) is also sung to the tune of the White Cockade. [Óró, Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JmUYF7kHro) lifted its melody from What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor? As Astorian points out Irish folk songs often share melodies. Another example is [The Moorlough Shore](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne5Yw2CfJ3c) is often sung to the same air as [Foggy Dew](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b605qq7xBzM)(the 1916 ballad). Patrick Kavanagh used the air of The Dawning Of The Day/Fáinne Geal An Lae for On Raglan Road too. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/72 "2011-04-14T12:51:07Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Louis Jordan was a pioneer in committed recycling. At least three of his biggest hits–“All for the Love of Lil”, “Slender, Tender and Tall” and “I Like 'Em Fat Like That”–shared the same melody. Probably a lot more, too. In the same vein, after scoring a big hit with [Shake, Rattle and Roll](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrkd4l8xHG0), Big Joe Turner came up with [Flip, Flop and Fly](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRHbNRD_Gac&playnext=1&list=PL100EC474C48B0FA6), basically the same song with different lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/73 "2011-04-14T13:07:32Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Weird Al Yankovic’s _I Want a New Duck_ has the same melody as Huey Lewis’s _I Want a New Drug_… To make matters worse, Ray Parker Jr.'s \*Ghostbusters \*sound exactly like _I Want a New Duck. 😃_ At some gigs, I will play a James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” and Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” interchangeably… no one even notices it’s two different songs. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/74 "2011-04-14T14:03:47Z")
I thought of another couple. Bob Dylan’s \*With God On Our Side \*has the same air as Dominic Behan’s _The Patriot Game_. Bob Dylan’s _When The Deal Goes Down_ has the same air as _Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day_ a tune most famously sung by Bing Crosby. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/75 "2011-04-14T14:19:34Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > To make matters worse, Ray Parker Jr.'s \*Ghostbusters \*sound exactly like _I Want a New Duck. 😃_ And they ALL sound like “Pop Muzik” by M. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/76 "2011-04-14T23:47:34Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > The Rhodesian national anthem - _Rise, O Voices Of Rhodesia_ - is set to the melody of _Ode to Joy._ I never could understand why they didn’t try to compose a new melody. I don’t get it. Many anthems are based on already extant airs. As others have said God Save The Queen’s air is used in several and the American anthem is based on an old British drinking song. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/77 "2011-04-15T09:48:21Z")
Finland and Estonia have the same national anthem, which gladdened the hearts of the Estonians whenever Finland beat the Soviet union in something. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/78 "2011-04-18T13:48:29Z")
Morning Has Broken, most famously done by Cat Stevens, uses tune of a traditional Christmas song [Child In A Manger](http://www.answers.com/topic/child-in-a-manger-performed-by-sarah-brightman) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/79 "2011-04-18T14:28:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Morning Has Broken, most famously done by Cat Stevens, uses tune of a traditional Christmas song [Child In A Manger](http://www.answers.com/topic/child-in-a-manger-performed-by-sarah-brightman) Speaking of Irish melodies used in Church… There’s an old Irish song about a pretty girl called “Star of the County Down” (some of you may have heard Van Morrison singing it with the Chieftains). In December, many church choirs sing a song aout Mary and St. Elizabeth, entitled “Canticle of the Turning,” which uses that same tune. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/80 "2011-04-18T17:32:20Z")
Huh, and all this time I had thought that “Child in a Manger” was to the tune of “Morning has Broken”, not the other way around. And I hadn’t a clue that “Canticle of the Turning” was about Mary and Elizabeth: All of the versions I’ve heard have seemed more eschatological. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981.md?page=5)