# Inserting song lyrics into alternate tunes: List your faves! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419 "2010-09-29T01:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Big\_Fat\_Harry\_Deal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Big\_Fat\_Harry\_Deal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Fat_Harry_Deal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/41 "2010-10-14T04:35:47Z")
I’ve long enjoyed interchanging the tunes & lyrics of O Canada & O Tannenbaum. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/42 "2010-10-15T05:31:26Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > > [@Eutychus](#): > > > > So can Emily Dickinson’s “[Because I Could Not Stop For Death](http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15395)” > > Someone once pointed out to me that many of Emily Dickinson’s poems can be sung to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. in the Babylon 5 episode [_Day of the Dead_](http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/synops/096.html) Geribaldi’s ex-girlfriend, Dodger, mentions that fact to him. It’s ironic as she is dead herself at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/43 "2010-10-15T17:45:15Z")
Not lyrics, per se, but apparently quite a lot of popular songs have the exact same meter as [Pachelbel’s Canon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM). ---
**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:** [October 15, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/44 "2010-10-15T19:25:20Z")
The thing with Pachelbel’s Canon isn’t so much the meter (which is fairly simple) but the chord progressions. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/45 "2010-10-15T20:05:55Z")
Not exactly the same thing, but upon noticing the musical similarity between “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “Can’t get Enough of Your Love”, I decided to combine them: \*Well I take - a whole lots of money I don’t need - I want you You give me something a man can want Now tell me - what I can ask for Come on come on and run around I don’t have to stay out and - do whatcha do I cant’ geeet a wonderful love I can’t get a wonderful - lu-u-uv I can’t get a wonderful love When I hold her I want love Love sets my soul on fire Yeahh, hang me up in your doorway Gonna hang me up and down my spine Well my baby, she’s all, “come on Dude” I said, “Baby, I’m clean out of ‘do whatcha do’” I cant’ geeet a wonderful love I can’t get a wonderful - lu-u-uv I can’t get a wonderful love But can I get a witneeeess?\* ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/46 "2010-10-15T20:26:51Z")
I want to thank **Dan Norder** and **Suburban Plankton** for collectively jogging my memory that the lyrics of _I Wanna Be Sedated_ go well with the tune of _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/47 "2010-10-15T20:37:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The thing with Pachelbel’s Canon isn’t so much the meter (which is fairly simple) but the chord progressions. D’oh! Of course you’re right. I’m not sure why I typed “meter.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/48 "2010-10-15T21:14:33Z")
> [@Eutychus](#): > > > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > > Specifically, that the words for **Amazing Grace** fit nicely into the tune for **Gilligan’s Island** , and vice versa. > > So can Emily Dickinson’s “[Because I Could Not Stop For Death](http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15395)” In fact, it works with any of Dickenson’s poems 9so I’m told, by Wikipedia, a dubious reference if ever there was one). It is because she wrote in “ballad meter”, which is what the lyrics to Amazing Grace and the theme to Gilligan’s Island were written in. And to the person who pointed out you can swap “Oh little town of Bethlehem” with “House of the Rising Sun”: they both seem to work with Gilligan’s Island, too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/49 "2010-10-17T03:23:53Z")
Oh come all ye faithful vs Twisted Sister’s “We’re not gonna take it”. ---
**Author:** ![MisterDavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MisterDavid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterDavid)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/50 "2010-11-03T10:32:00Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Not that far off, per Howard Shore’s version of [Elbereth Gilthoniel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL5gbwWsWlo&p=0FFD120A96BD982A&playnext=1&index=25) > > :eek: On the Howard Shore theme: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k5jBybTH98I/hqdefault.jpg "'Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah' to the tune of 'Fellowship Theme' from The Lord of the Rings") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5jBybTH98I) [Fellowship Theme/Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah] ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/51 "2010-11-03T14:20:28Z")
> [@Big\_Fat\_Harry\_Deal](#): > > I’ve long enjoyed interchanging the tunes & lyrics of O Canada & O Tannenbaum. [So did this guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXzASiXX8U), apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/52 "2010-11-03T16:11:13Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Lately I’ve been playing with singing the words of The Star Spangled Banner to the tune of the old Soviet national anthem. There are some rough spots like gleaming/streaming only have one note for two syllables but on the whole, it works surprisingly well. Dammit! I came in here to post that. I found that out the roundabout way because the words from both tunes fit _The Irish Washerwoman_ quite nicely. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/53 "2010-11-03T18:13:38Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Dammit! I found that out the roundabout way because the words from both tunes fit _The Irish Washerwoman_ quite nicely. According to the late Isaac Asimov the lyrics to _The Irish Washerwoman_ are Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, …repeated _ad nauseam_…that’s in the original Gaelic, of course. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/54 "2010-11-03T19:12:48Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > According to the late Isaac Asimov the lyrics to _The Irish Washerwoman_ are > Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, > Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, > …repeated _ad nauseam_…that’s in the original Gaelic, of course. Will paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde get my whites their very whitest? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/55 "2010-11-03T22:57:27Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > According to the late Isaac Asimov the lyrics to _The Irish Washerwoman_ are > Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, > Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde, > …repeated _ad nauseam_…that’s in the original Gaelic, of course. I remember that. I used to sing that to my kids. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419/56 "2010-11-03T23:14:43Z")
> [@Dan\_Norder](#): > > One I’ve been doing for ten years or so is “I’m a Little Teapot” to the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated.” It needs to be forced a tad, which works because you leave just enough Ramones in there for people to figure out what you’re doing even if you’re drunk and/or off tune: > > \*\*Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go, I’m a little teapot > Nothin’ to do and nowhere to go-oh-oh, I’m a little teapot > I’m a little teapot, I’m short and I’m stout > Here is my handle, and here is my spout > When I get all steamed up, you can hear me shout: > ‘Tip me over and pour me ooooouuuuuuuut!’ > > Bam-bam-bamp-bam ba-bam-bam-bamp-bam - I’m a little teapot\*\* > > I’ve not yet gotten up the nerve to do this at karaoke night yet, but I occasionally amaze/amuse/annoy my friends/pets/strangers with it. My favorite version of ‘teapot’ was on some sitcom many years ago. The actor playing the father does a hard, funky blues riff version on guitar for his young daughter: buh-dadadadum: I’m a little teapot; buh-dadadadum: short and stout buh-dadadadum: here is my handle etc., etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inserting-song-lyrics-into-alternate-tunes-list-your-faves/555419.md?page=2)