# Old school mashups - what were they called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697 "2012-10-24T03:43:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/1 "2012-10-24T03:43:38Z")
I was watching a couple of YouTube mash-ups and thought of interwoven songs on variety shows and Broadway musicals. I found one or two using “mashup” and “Carol Burnett” and thought of “Lida Rose/Will I ever tell you” from Music Man and of course the counterpoint songs that Sondheim uses such as the opening song/medley “A Weekend in the Country”. I also seem to remember medleys where multiple songs were dovetailed. Are there any terms for any of these “old school mashups”? Do you have any favorites? ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/2 "2012-10-24T05:18:54Z")
> [@SantaMan](#): > > I was watching a couple of YouTube mash-ups and thought of interwoven songs on variety shows and Broadway musicals. > I found one or two using “mashup” and “Carol Burnett” and thought of “Lida Rose/Will I ever tell you” from Music Man and of course the counterpoint songs that Sondheim uses such as the opening song/medley “A Weekend in the Country”. I also seem to remember medleys where multiple songs were dovetailed. > Are there any terms for any of these “old school mashups”? > Do you have any favorites? I can’t think of any examples and I don’t have an answer regarding what the interweaving of songs is called, but surely someone does! I’d like to know, too. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/3 "2012-10-24T05:52:03Z")
Here’s the one from Carol Burnett (actual mashup is in the middle) [http://youtu.be/enPEtFXh3nE](http://youtu.be/enPEtFXh3nE) Carol and guest star Ken Berry mashup of “Sing” and “Put On a Happy Face”. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/4 "2012-10-24T07:01:35Z")
med·ley   [med-lee] Show IPA noun, plural med·leys, adjective noun 1. a mixture, especially of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge; jumble. **2. a piece of music combining tunes or passages from various sources: a medley of hit songs from Broadway shows.** ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/5 "2012-10-24T07:09:22Z")
Yup, medley. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/6 "2012-10-24T07:20:49Z")
I normally think of medley as a series of melodies segueing (sp?) from one to the next. Will the term also apply when two melodies are interwoven? Or alternate ? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/7 "2012-10-24T11:56:11Z")
In the Wiki article for “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature”, Burton Cummings calls it “transwashing”. Maybe he just made that up, though. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/8 "2012-10-24T12:53:28Z")
When me and my friends did it in High School, we called it a “mix”, even though we were neither remixing the songs nor making a mixtape per se. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/9 "2012-10-24T13:46:14Z")
Counterpoint song. Irving Berlin was renowned for this: some of include “[An Old Fashioned Wedding](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ3IyCa8bG4)” from **Annie Get Your Gun** , “[You’re Just in Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LAijDQ2cIE&feature=fvwrel)” from **Call Me Madam** , and “[Play a Simple Melody](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6eiD5hSx7E).” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/10 "2012-10-24T13:55:28Z")
My favorite counterpoint is the [Tonight quintet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonight_Quintet) from West Side Story. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/11 "2012-10-24T14:26:03Z")
Thanks all, looks like counterpoint song/counterpoint duet does it: (caution, tvtropes) [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CounterpointDuet](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CounterpointDuet) ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/12 "2012-10-24T14:31:25Z")
this led me to “Amazing counterpoint duet: 21 year old Barbra Streisand sings “Happy Days Are Here Again” while Judy Garland blends in “Get Happy.”” [http://youtu.be/oKl7K4v9AoU](http://youtu.be/oKl7K4v9AoU) ---
**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:** [October 24, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/13 "2012-10-24T14:55:58Z")
Oh oh! I get to use a term I learned just last week (through [this YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33mk-hgA1m)) Will “quodlibet” or “simultaneous quodlibet” work for you? The latter is pretty close to what we would call a mashup today. Also, [here’s a post on the Beatles’ "I’ve Got a Feeling](http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/igaf.shtml) that mentions some popular music quodlibets: > [@](#): > > The single most notable feature here is the alternation and eventual superimposition of two separate songs. It’s more than just a medley; the fancy college board musicology term for it is a “quodlibet”. Aside from the many learned Baroque specimens of this technique, you can find two very well known examples from the Broadway show repertoire of the late fifties: "West Side Story"s dueling versions of “Tonight” (one by the rival gangs, and one by Maria), and “Music Man”'s alternation of “Goodnight My Someone” with “Seventy Six Trombones”. ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-school-mashups-what-were-they-called/638697/14 "2012-10-24T22:13:37Z")
cool. Thanks for the new word. I was also reminded that some of the medleys segue from one song to the next with a common word or theme. I’ll keep an eye out for examples.