# More songs that can be sung to each other's tunes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121 "2006-12-30T16:58:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/21 "2007-01-01T19:21:54Z")
I find the melody and lyrics of Ben E. King’s **Stand by Me** and The Police’s **Every Breath You Take** to be essentially interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/22 "2007-01-01T21:16:26Z")
The lyrics to Eazy E’s _Eazy-Duz-It_ fit almost perfectly over _The World At Large_ by Modest Mouse. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/23 "2007-01-01T21:36:40Z")
[QUOTE=Enola Straight] I find the melody and lyrics of Ben E. King’s **Stand by Me** and The Police’s **Every Breath You Take** to be essentially interchangeable. [/QUOTE] It’s the same chord progression. How you can hear the same melody and words is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/24 "2007-01-02T05:40:11Z")
What I mean is you could add the vocal track of one and lay it on the instrumental track of the other. You would of course need to do some editing for the refrains and such. YMMV. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/25 "2007-01-02T10:20:54Z")
[QUOTE=Enola Straight] What I mean is you could add the vocal track of one and lay it on the instrumental track of the other. [/QUOTE] Okay, then don’t roll your eyes, bub. Not to make a big deal out of it, but you said they had the same words and melody, which just seemed odd. Since they have different tunes and words and all. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/26 "2007-01-02T16:38:45Z")
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress] The Blind Boys of Alabama sing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun.” [/QUOTE] I often sing “Amazing Grace” to the tune of “Knocking on Heavens Door” I also sang “O Come All Ye Faithful” to the tune of “La Bamba” this Christmas Si ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/27 "2007-01-02T16:43:00Z")
[This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM) guy (YouTube link) can play almost anything to Pachelbel’s Canon! ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121/28 "2007-01-02T16:50:17Z")
I just want to point out that the _I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue_ game “One Song to the Tune of Another” is deliberately played for laughs, and is a demonstration of musical and vocal dexterity - thus, the song/tune matches are awkward to make them funny, and it is the genius of the contestant that makes it work - like Graham Garden singing “Blowin’ in the Wind” to the tune of “Day Trip To Bangor”, complete with Harmonica solo. This is different to the metric similarity noted above, which makes tunes and words interchangable with little difficulty, and indeed, many hymns have alternative tunes specified. Si [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-songs-that-can-be-sung-to-each-others-tunes/386121.md?page=1)