# Songs that scan to other songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2004, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523 "2004-08-05T22:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/21 "2004-08-06T20:51:27Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > Robert Frost’s famous poem “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” fits _Hernando’s Hide-away_ to perfection. > > \ > > &c. That portion, at least, scans pretty perfectly with Greensleeves, also. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/22 "2004-08-06T21:09:34Z")
As someone pointed out on this board before, the Australian National Anthem also has the same meter as the Gilligan’s Island theme. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/23 "2004-08-07T03:35:49Z")
_Habañera_ From Carmen & _Da-Do-Ron-Ron_ ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/24 "2004-08-07T05:04:40Z")
Another Weird Al song which points out a scan is _Brady Bunch_, in which the theme song is sung to the tune of _The Safety Dance_. Here’s a story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls all of them had hair of gold like their mother the youngest one in curls. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/25 "2004-08-07T07:22:18Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And then **Bryan Ekers** pointed out, “The melody of _La Cucaracha_ works, too.” Lest anyone think I’m claiming I noticed this myself, it was a throwaway bit in George Orwell’s _Animal Farm_, in which the revolutionary song is described as having a melody halfway between “Cucuracha” and “Clementine.” Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime. Harken to my joyful tidings Of a golden future time. Soon or late the day is coming, (…etc) ---
**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:** [August 7, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/26 "2004-08-07T17:06:01Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > The lyrics to the theme from “Green Acres” scan pretty well to “Purple Haze.” > > (“Green Haze?”) I swear I heard, years ago on Dr. Demento’s show, someone either singing the lyrics to Green Acres to the tune of the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life”, or the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/27 "2004-08-07T21:32:30Z")
This isn’t exactly the type of thing the OP is talking about, but I’m tellin’ the story anyway: I watched a great deal of the ‘Reagan is Dead’ TV coverage, and when they unloaded his casket off the plane at Andrews I spent several minutes trying to figure out why the hell the band was playing _God Save The Queen_…and then the announcer complimented the band on their rendition of _My Country, 'Tis of Thee_. :smack: I had not noticed until that very moment that the two songs use the same melody, though I have since been told that it was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/28 "2004-08-07T21:48:39Z")
The lyrics to Spiderman fit well into They Might Me Giants’s _Partical Man_ Spiderman, Spiderman Does whatever a spider can… ---
**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:** [September 2, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/29 "2004-09-02T05:58:53Z")
I’ve annoyed people by singing _Stairway to Heaven_ to the tune of _Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_. I’ve never gotten further than the first few lines without someone throwing something at me. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/30 "2004-09-02T12:40:05Z")
The Bloodhound Gang’s “The Ballad of Chasey Lain” has the exact same vocal melody in the verse as Depeche Mode’s b-side “Sea of Sin”. Considering that they were once a Depeche Mode cover band, I’m led to believe it was done on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/31 "2004-09-04T17:28:02Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > As someone pointed out on this board before, the Australian National Anthem also has the same meter as the Gilligan’s Island theme. What, “Waltzing Matilda”? No, “Under the shade of a coolibah tree” does not scan to “That started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.” ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/32 "2004-09-04T17:51:23Z")
And of course, everything scans to “Greensleaves” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/33 "2004-09-04T18:58:19Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What, “Waltzing Matilda”? No, “Under the shade of a coolibah tree” does not scan to “That started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.” “Waltzing Matilda” is not the Australian national anthem. “Advance Australia Fair” is. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/34 "2004-09-04T19:35:50Z")
\*Frosty the Snowman \* scans to _The Devil Went Down to Georgia._ ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/35 "2004-09-04T19:41:07Z")
You can sing the Marine’s Hymn (“From the halls of Montezuma…”) to almost any tune. Irish folksinger Seamus Kennedy does a WONDERFUL job of singing it to (I think) five different tunes in his song “Tribute to the Armed Forces.” ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/36 "2004-09-04T20:16:58Z")
TMBG did ‘Particle Man’ to the 1960’s Spider-Man theme. Can ‘Family Affair’ (by Sly and the Family Stone) scan to ‘Family Affair’ (by Mary J blige), and vice versa, even though the lyrics are delivered slower on the former? ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/37 "2004-09-04T20:56:09Z")
**BMax,** try singing the Ramones’ _I Wanna Be Sedated_ to _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald._ _Twenty, twenty twenty-four hours to go, I wanna be sedated Nothin’ to do, and nowhere to go, I wanna be sedated_ Billy Joel’s _Piano Man_ fits even better, but isn’t as funny. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/38 "2010-05-22T03:33:43Z")
What began as a parlor game to find a suitable melody to the song featured in Robert A. Heinlein’s short story “The Green Hills of Earth” soon became an obsession amongst a small coterie of music-loving sci-fi fans. As far as I can tell, with the occasional tweak, all of these songs are interchangeable with one another, and can also be applied to “Jabberwocky” and the aforementioned _anything_ by Emily Dickinson: Mickey Mouse Club Theme Song Stairway to Heaven House of the Rising Sun Yankee Doodle Pop Goes the Weasel Peaceful Easy Feeling I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing Yellow Rose of Texas Ghost Riders of the Sky Rocky Top Lion Sleeps Tonight Tangled Up in Blue Whiter Shade of Pale Light My Fire O Little Town of Bethlehem Jingle Bells God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen Greensleeves Jolly Old St. Nicholas The First Noel O Tannenbaum It Came Upon a Midnight Clear I’ll Be Home for Christmas Take Me Out to the Ball Game In-a-Gadda-da-Vida Marines’ Hymn Wabash Cannonball America the Beautiful The Internationale Onward Christian Soldiers Ode to Joy Mack the Knife A Hundred Bottles of Beer Clementine La Cucaracha Semper Paratus The Wearing of the Green (The Rising of the Moon) The Itsy-Bitsy Spider I’ve Been Working on the Railroad Sympathy for the Devil Rollin’ Down to Old Maui Acres of Clams Bread and Roses Sink the Bismarck The question is: Are there any others? ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/39 "2010-05-22T13:25:39Z")
The rest of the Stairway To Heaven dope: [These Guys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Roger_and_the_Goosebumps) were involved with the mighty Zep after crossing the line… ---
**Author:** ![ScatteredFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@ScatteredFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScatteredFrog)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523/40 "2010-05-22T14:23:58Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I swear I heard, years ago on Dr. Demento’s show, someone either singing the lyrics to Green Acres to the tune of the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life”, or the other way around. That was Barnes & Barnes of “Fish Heads” fame partnering with Damascus of “Making Love In A Subaru” theme. And yes, it was the “Green Acres” theme sung to “A Day In The Life,” hence the title “A Day In The Life Of Green Acres.” At the end, they apologize to Lennon and McCartney. 🙂 “Rubber Ducky” can be sung to “Surfer Girl” (and vice versa), and in fact there’s a recording out there that does exactly that, called “Ducky Rubber Surfer Girl.” With some clever stretching, even the bridges work. Sometimes to piss my wife off while she’s watching \The Mary Tyler Moore Show\, I’ll sing the chorus of The Brady Kids’ “We Can Make The World A Whole Lot Brighter” to the theme song (starting with “Love is all around…”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-scan-to-other-songs/258523.md?page=3)