# Old Melody, New Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257 "2010-05-21T14:36:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/21 "2010-05-21T16:32:30Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Not quite. [To Anacreon in Heaven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anacreontic_Song) can’t really be called a folk song, since it was composed for The Anacreontic Society, but it is British, and it is the source of the melody for the Star Spangled Banner. Ah, thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/22 "2010-05-21T16:33:13Z")
Modern lyrics set to classical melodies: The Toys, “A Lover’s Concerto” (Bach Minuet in G) The Nice, “Diary of an Empty Day” (Lalo, Symphonie Espagnole) “Tonight We Love” (Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1) "Full Moon and Empty Arms (Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2) “Stranger in Paradise” (Borodin, Polovetsian Dances) “And This Is My Beloved” (Borodin String Quartet #2) Bob Dylan, “Masters of War” (Nottamun Town) Bob Dylan, “Bob Dylan’s Dream” (Lord Franklin) Roy Harper, "Naked Flame (Lord Franklin again) Leon Rosselson, “Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party” (O Tannenbaum) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/23 "2010-05-21T17:39:28Z")
> [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > Elton John’s English Rose sung to the tune of “Candle In the Wind” was the first thing I thought of. Elton wrote the original with Bernie Taupin. He later rewrote the lyrics as a tribute to Diana. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/24 "2010-05-21T17:42:20Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > _Honey Hush_ sounds like a reworking of _The Train Kept A-Rollin’._ > [@An\_Arky](#): > > That’s to say, \*\*Foghat’\*\*s version of _Honey Hush._ Not sure about early versions. I haven’t heard Foghat’s version of “Honey Hush,” but I can guess what’s going on here. When The Yardbirds covered Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio’s version of “The Train Kept a-Rollin’,” they basically conflated it with the Trio’s version of “Honey Hush,” which came from the same classic Coral album. In other words, they played the riff from “Honey Hush” (the alternating G down to E) bit, but sang the lyrics from “The Train Kept a-Rollin’” (which does not feature this riff, but rather is a straight I-IV-V progression). So assuming Foghat covered “Honey Hush” fairly faithfully from the Trio’s version, they’re actually playing the “Honey Hush” riff as they originally recorded it! It’s The Yardbirds who screwed up…but quite wonderfully so! ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/25 "2010-05-21T17:46:04Z")
The melody from The Carter Family’s “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” (which may well go back much further than them) was appropriated for: “The Great Speckled Bird” – Roy Acuff “Wild Side of Life” – Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” – Kitty Wells ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/26 "2010-05-21T17:49:42Z")
This doesn’t meet the OP’s criterion of exact correspondence, but the song “Miracles” by the country singer Don Williams incorporates melodic elements from Dvorak’s _New World Symphony_. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/27 "2010-05-21T18:00:43Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > I haven’t heard Foghat’s version of “Honey Hush,” but I can guess what’s going on here. > > When The Yardbirds covered Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio’s version of “The Train Kept a-Rollin’,” they basically conflated it with the Trio’s version of “Honey Hush,” which came from the same classic Coral album. > > In other words, they played the riff from “Honey Hush” (the alternating G down to E) bit, but sang the lyrics from “The Train Kept a-Rollin’” (which does not feature this riff, but rather is a straight I-IV-V progression). > > So assuming Foghat covered “Honey Hush” fairly faithfully from the Trio’s version, they’re actually playing the “Honey Hush” riff as they originally recorded it! > > It’s The Yardbirds who screwed up…but quite wonderfully so! Ah, that makes sense! Here’s a [YT link of Honey Hush for the curious](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbxv971JK4M)… (here’s [Train](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girZE7m2KZw)) I actually hadn’t heard the Trio’s version (an admittedly astonishing gap in my listening)…going back further, [Tiny Bradshaw’s version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4EQDD4CqA)doesn’t really have that menacing feel. Rock n roll took care of that… ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/28 "2010-05-21T18:46:15Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > Ah, that makes sense! Here’s a [YT link of Honey Hush for the curious](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbxv971JK4M)… (here’s [Train](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girZE7m2KZw)) I actually hadn’t heard the Trio’s version (an admittedly astonishing gap in my listening)…going back further, [Tiny Bradshaw’s version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4EQDD4CqA)doesn’t really have that menacing feel. Rock n roll took care of that… Those Rock and Roll Trio sessions are the finest rockabilly, bar none, ever recorded IMHO. The story goes that Johnny and Dorsey went out and bought a big batch of R&B records in order to cop some tunes for their upcoming album session (to supplement the originals they had already written). It just so happens that “Train,” “Honey Hush” and “Chains of Love” (another Big Joe Turner song) were in the batch, along with Fats Domino’s “All By Myself.” The Trio gave each of them their unique stamp (and yes, definitely “menace”!). Each one is a classic that I’ve been performing for 35 years now. P.S. Tiny Bradshaw, who started it all with “Train,” is from my hometown! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/29 "2010-05-21T19:23:39Z")
Yep…they were some real gone cats! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/30 "2010-05-21T19:34:21Z")
How about from the same artist. I swear Chuck Berry’s [School Days](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHG5-GxI_Es) is practically the same song as [No Particular Place to Go.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6OS_ItMGpc&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/31 "2010-05-21T19:44:23Z")
Well done on the Rock n’ Roll Trio, **DChord** …I love their stuff. I have to run, but I just wanted to chime in and say that [Green Day’s 21 Guns](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00ikilDxW4)has the same chorus as Bowie’s / Mott The Hoople’s [All the Young Dudes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZqY3hiXJr8). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/32 "2010-05-21T19:46:41Z")
The bridge from STP’s new single is the same tune as the chorus from Nirvana’s [Stay Away.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7WxEv0-qr0) (I personally think it’s an intentional homage to Nirvana, not a “rip-off” as the YouTube poster claims.) ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/33 "2010-05-21T19:47:19Z")
“Amazing Grace” and “House of the Rising Sun” originally used the same tune. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/34 "2010-05-21T19:55:12Z")
[Be a clown](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ul6SVZsy10) by Cole Porter [Make 'em Laugh](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW02c5UNGl0) by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. Cole Porter was the original. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/35 "2010-05-21T20:05:18Z")
[Habanera](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axvhEUyVfX0) from Carmen, and Da-doo-ron-ron. And Carmen Jones, which takes the plot and music from Bizet’s opera, and resets in in 1940’s USA. The bullfighter becomes a boxer. [Boxer Song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49M_RclmA10) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/36 "2010-05-21T20:47:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > How about from the same artist. I swear Chuck Berry’s [School Days](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHG5-GxI_Es) is practically the same song as [No Particular Place to Go.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6OS_ItMGpc&feature=related) Another example – Hank Ballard recycled the melody from his own composition “The Twist” when he wrote ‘Finger Poppin’ Time." ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/37 "2010-05-21T21:13:24Z")
Wow…the Beach Boys had a lot, not just “Surfin’ USA,” but… “South Bay Surfer” --\> “Swanee River” “Lady Liberty” --\> “Lady Lynda” (both their own) Brian Wilson’s “Someone To Love” --\> The Beach Boys’ “San Miguel” Brian Wilson’s “Desert Drive” --\> ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down” As for other artists… John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas” --\> folk song “Stewball” Paul Simon’s “American Tune” --\> a hymn I used to hear in church…damned if I could remember the name! Willie Dixon’s “You Shook Me” --\> Slim Harpo’s “Buzz Me, Babe” --\> Slim Harpo’s “I’m A King Bee” Little Walter’s “Evan’s Shuffle” and Big Walter’s “Honeydripper” are basically the same Vangelis’ “Chariots of Fire” --\> Carey Landry’s church hymn “Abba, Father” U2’s “Vertigo” --\> Coldplay’s “Clocks” --\> Ringo Starr’s “It Don’t Come Easy” --\> Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/38 "2010-05-21T21:25:06Z")
I remember hearing once that you could take just about every one of Emily Dickinson’s poems and sing them to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Does that count as new lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/39 "2010-05-21T21:28:54Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I remember hearing once that you could take just about every one of Emily Dickinson’s poems and sing them to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Does that count as new lyrics? You could do her poems to “Gilligan’s Island,” too. That’s not really that unusual, considering she wrote many of her poems in common meter, which is used very often in traditional ballads and hymns. ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257/40 "2010-05-21T21:32:07Z")
> [@ScatteredFrog](#): > > Wow…the Beach Boys had a lot, not just “Surfin’ USA,” but… Forgot a few… “A Young Man Is Gone” –\> “Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring” “And Your Dream Comes True” –\> “Baa Baa Black Sheep” / alphabet song / “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” “Student Demonstration Time” –\> “Riot In Cell Block #9” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-melody-new-lyrics/540257.md?page=3)