# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/101 "2012-06-11T05:55:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > 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. There’s also the Jeno’s Pizza Rolls commercial, which is a direct parody of the Lark commercials, including Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels in character as the Lone Ranger and Tonto. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/n5vHYpjaUko/hqdefault.jpg "LONE RANGER - JENO'S PIZZA ROLL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5vHYpjaUko) ---
**Author:** ![whetherbye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e79b87/32.png) [@whetherbye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whetherbye)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/102 "2012-11-21T08:02:06Z")
1. Lady Gaga Paper Gangsta = Vengaboys We like to party 2. The other day I heard a song that had the same melody as Gangnam style and was released before Gangnam style…but now I can’t remember what it is and it is really bothering me!!! ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/103 "2012-11-21T19:18:13Z")
In concert, the band Bon Jovi demonstrates that they took the rhythm from the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil and dropped their lyrics for Faith on top of it. –G! Faith for the Devil? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/104 "2012-11-21T19:28:12Z")
Pretty much the entire ouvre of [Charles Wesley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wesley#Best-known_hymns) and other hymn writers. This was conventional practice at the time; many of the best-known hymn were originally set to well-known tunes, including drinking songs. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/105 "2012-11-24T07:37:30Z")
Traditional Christmas carol “O Christmas Tree”([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9\_3ngTHs6gA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_3ngTHs6gA)), Socialist song “Red Flag” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXOjm95WWo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXOjm95WWo)), and the state song “Maryland, My Maryland” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrmOZk3X9g0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrmOZk3X9g0)) all share the same melody. So does the German march “Abgeschmiert aus 100 Metern” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOj\_Zg\_RLU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOj_Zg_RLU)), and the English song “Now the Carnival is Over” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nze8B39OB0k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nze8B39OB0k)), both of which are based on a Russian song (which I am uncertain as to how to render into the Roman Alphabet)-[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player\_embedded&v=60q\_UNIx6Lk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=60q_UNIx6Lk) The French Foreign Legion song “Les Kepis Blancs” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RArNuw9src](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RArNuw9src)) uses the melody of the well-known Wehrmacht and later Bundeswehr song “Panzerlied” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4ldl12W0I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4ldl12W0I)). ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/106 "2012-11-24T09:52:49Z")
Almost anything by Emily Dickinson can be sung to “The Yellow Rose of Texas”: The Sun just touched the morning; The morning, happy thing, Supposed that he had come to dwell, And life would be all spring. and again… Success is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. And yet again… I lost a world the other day. Has anybody found? You ’ll know it by the row of stars Around its forehead bound. ---
**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:** [November 25, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/107 "2012-11-25T02:42:08Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > Almost anything by Emily Dickinson can be sung to “The Yellow Rose of Texas” See Post #66, and count your blessings that I thought to look, 'cause I was just about to run that list again! ---
**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:** [November 25, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/108 "2012-11-25T05:01:28Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Traditional Christmas carol “O Christmas Tree”([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9\_3ngTHs6gA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_3ngTHs6gA)), Socialist song “Red Flag” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXOjm95WWo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGXOjm95WWo)), and the state song “Maryland, My Maryland” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrmOZk3X9g0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrmOZk3X9g0)) all share the same melody. Small world but I know the person who recorded that rendition of The Red Flag. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/109 "2013-11-15T12:59:58Z")
I was trying to recall the words to ‘Will there be any stars in my crown’ one day and as I half sang it, found myself segueing right into ‘are you washed in the blood of the lamb.’ I know, only an old time gospel singer would even half begin to understand this post. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/110 "2013-11-15T15:11:20Z")
With the exception of the last two measures or so, the jingle for Slinky (It walks down stairs / alone or in pairs) is almost identical to the introduction of “If you want a receipt” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s _Patience_. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/111 "2013-11-15T15:24:54Z")
For some strange reason, Megadeth’s “Mechanix” and Metallica’s “The Four Horsemen” are [nearly identical](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y04dUO0hzsc)! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/112 "2013-11-15T15:43:19Z")
Irving Berlin reworked several bars of “Smile and Show Your Dimple” (1917) into “Easter Parade” (1933). Otherwise the songs are fairly different and you can’t readily sing one set of lyrics to the other’s melody. During 1933 and 1934, one Richard Rodgers melody went through several Lorenz Hart lyrics: one was called “Oh Lord, Make a Movie Star” ("Oh Lord, if you’re not busy up there…); the second was "It’s Just That Kind of a Play ("Act one: You gulp your coffee and run…); the third actually made it to publication and was featured in _Manhattan Melodrama_: “The Bad in Every Man” (“Oh, Lord, what is the matter with me?”…). The fourth set of lyrics finally became a hit: “Blue moon, you saw me standing alone…” ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/113 "2013-11-15T17:56:37Z")
The melody for “Till the End of Time” is lifted straight from Chopin’s Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/114 "2013-11-15T18:45:03Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The French Foreign Legion song “Les Kepis Blancs” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RArNuw9src](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RArNuw9src)) uses the melody of the well-known Wehrmacht and later Bundeswehr song “Panzerlied” ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4ldl12W0I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4ldl12W0I)). There’s a lot of these [little coincidences](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnsRyHcwFI) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/115 "2013-11-15T19:42:28Z")
The verses of John Denver’s song “Back Home Again” can be sung to the melody of “The Whiffenpoof Song”–you know, the part that goes, “From the tables down at Morey’s…” 🙂 Then there’s the “Blister Song,” which uses the melody of the Mexican Hat Dance: _It’ll never get well if you pick it; It’ll never get well if you pick it; It’ll never get well if you pick it; So why don’t you leave it alone? 😃_ ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/116 "2013-11-18T02:12:28Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The German anthem “Deutschland, Uber Alles” was set to an old melody from a Haydn string quartet. The Columbia University alma mater uses > that same melody. With all the Jewish faculty and students at Columbia, I’m a bit surprised that wasn’t changed a long time ago (even though, obviously, Haydn wrote the tune LONG before the rise of the Nazis). _Deutschland Über Alles_ was written in 1841, and became the German national anthem in 1922. Nothing to do with the Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/117 "2013-11-18T04:56:33Z")
About 1961 a topical book was published, with illustrations by Mort Drucker, of “windup dolls” of various world figures, including: **The JFK Doll:** Wind it up and with lots of viggah it makes a statement on Asier, Africer, and Cuber. **The Harry Truman Doll:** Wind it up and &$#@??\*&+?@!! **The Khrushchev Doll:** We had better wind him up before he winds us up. _The King Farouk Doll:_\* Wind it and wind it and wind it and still it sits on its big fat Cannes. and **The Konrad Adenauer Doll:** Wind it up and it puts Deutschland über Allies. - Red Skelton once said to the Queen Mother of Egypt: “Queenie, do you know that your son is ‘farouking’ Egypt?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/118 "2013-11-18T07:49:44Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > _Deutschland Über Alles_ was written in 1841, and became the German national anthem in 1922. Nothing to do with the Nazis. It also survived the Nazis, so to speak, and remains Germany’s national anthem to this day. (It was West Germany’s national anthem during the Cold War.) ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/119 "2013-11-18T07:51:49Z")
Halo by Beyonce and Already Gone by Kelly Clarkson. Although one of the main writers claims they aren’t. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981/120 "2013-11-18T15:25:27Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Andrew Lloyd Webber so is notorious for recycling his medleys that there was once a website devoted to it. Ths Literal Man became When You Want To Fall in Love became Unexpected song. > > Music of the Night from Phantom was originally written for Sarah Brightman as a song titled Married Man, to be used in Aspects of Love. And “All I Ask of You” was a rewrite of Placido Domingo’s [I Don’t Talk to Strangers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCvq04pSrbM), with lyrics by Tim Rice. I don’t talk to strangers. It seems a waste of time to hear someone you don’t know recall a life you won’t know. Those who talk to strangers May not intend a crime. But still, all such occasions Are dangerous situations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-songs-same-melody/577981.md?page=7)