# Wait a second--those are the same song! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685 "2014-07-09T02:16:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/1 "2014-07-09T02:16:33Z")
In the late 60s and for much of the 70s the US experienced a revival of 50s R&R and R&B. One of my favorite songs that I had not heard as a kid was The Chantels’ [Maybe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IePTH1PWzAs), a perfect Doo-Wop confection. It sounded vaguely familiar, but it took me years to connect it with Janis Joplin’s [Maybe](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM0T9fumD5k), though they shared space in my collection. D’oh! More recently, I was watching a Harry Anderson magic special and there was a shell game segment accompanied by a vocal rag I later found was The Swingle Singers’ [The Wanderer.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7YSXCp8tpc) I was a few years quicker this time, though I was concentrating on Harry’s hands (a pointless waste of effort–the kid’s good) and humming along to a vaguely familiar melody until the singer went down while I went up and said, “No, you’re singing the left hand!” Yep, another favorite, Scott Joplin’s [Solace,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2NQYxpM-b4) except not nearly as heartbreaking. What two songs did you take too long in realizing they were the same? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/2 "2014-07-09T02:18:31Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/3 "2014-07-09T07:25:24Z")
Done. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/4 "2014-07-09T11:02:38Z")
Not really sure what you’re asking here. I’ve heard a couple of very dissimilar versions of “Mother Popcorn” and “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” and at least three different songs by Louis Jordan with identical (or at least interchangeable) melodies (“All For the Love of Lil,” “Slender, Tender and Tall” and “I Like 'Em Fat Like That.” The third of these was apparently an answer song to the second, but the man was clearly a pioneer of recycling). Bob Dylan’s cover of “Man of Constant Sorrow” bears little resemblance to the Soggy Bottom Boys’. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/5 "2014-07-09T17:07:17Z")
“Make 'Em Laugh” =“Be a Clown” [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/334/arent-the-show-tunes-be-a-clown-and-make-em-laugh-suspiciously-similar](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/334/arent-the-show-tunes-be-a-clown-and-make-em-laugh-suspiciously-similar) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/6 "2014-07-09T17:17:13Z")
Possibly the most famous example of the same melody used for two songs (on purpose to make a story point, in this case) would be Meredith Willson’s _Seventy-Six Trombones_ and _Goodnight, My Someone_. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/7 "2014-07-09T17:30:12Z")
You tell me- does Faith Hill’s “Piece of My Heart” sound anything like Janis Joplin’s? I heard Hill’s version several times and kept thinking, “Wait, I KNOW this one…” before I finally recognized it. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/8 "2014-07-09T17:33:18Z")
Don’t know if it counts, but “Hello Muddah, hello Faddah!” is sung to the tune of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” (I had to look that up). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/9 "2014-07-09T18:35:26Z")
I loved the first two albums by the original Jeff Beck Group (with Rod Stewart on vocals): _ **Truth** _ and _ **Beck-Ola.** _ Both albums featured an "Elvis Presley cover. But while their version of “Jailhouse Rock” sounds pretty much like Elvis, their cover of “All Shook Up” sounded absolutely nothing like Elvis’ original. Indeed, I probably heard it a few dozen songs before I caught on that they were the same song. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FN18OcFNbXQ/hqdefault.jpg "All Shook Up - The Jeff Beck Group") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN18OcFNbXQ) _ **Truth** _ also featured a cover of “Shapes of Things,” a song Beck had recorded with the Yardbirds earlier. You’d never know it was the same song: Yardbirds: [Yardbirds - "Shape of things" - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn2JFlteeJ0) Beck/Stewart: [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFyc_WXWNtw) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/10 "2014-07-09T19:34:02Z")
The theme to _Gilligan’s Island_ can be sung to the rhythm of _Amazing Grace_ And, of course, John Fogerty was once sued for [sounding like himself](http://mentalfloss.com/article/27501/time-john-fogerty-was-sued-ripping-john-fogerty). ---
**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:** [July 9, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/11 "2014-07-09T19:41:47Z")
[Julie London’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXg6UB9Qk0o&feature=kp) and [Joe Cocker’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKNJj6MsGfI) versions of “Cry Me a River” are like two different songs. London is sad and moody; Cocker is rocking and upbeat. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/12 "2014-07-09T20:24:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [Julie London’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXg6UB9Qk0o&feature=kp) and [Joe Cocker’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKNJj6MsGfI) versions of “Cry Me a River” are like two different songs. London is sad and moody; Cocker is rocking and upbeat. And [Streisand](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS7TbVuHtRI&feature=kp) is bitchy (true to the song’s meaning). ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/13 "2014-07-09T21:12:29Z")
To say the obvious because it hasn’t been said, but “Twinkle, Twinkle little star”, the “ABC song”, and [Mozart’s K265](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOXdAa-G4bo) are based on the same theme. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/14 "2014-07-09T21:23:24Z")
_Summertime_: [Sublime](http://youtu.be/eSte_c82p6U) . . . [Janis Joplin](http://youtu.be/guKoNCQFAFk) . . . [Porgy and Bess](http://youtu.be/O7-Qa92Rzbk) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/15 "2014-07-09T22:12:58Z")
The Carter Family’s “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” is the same melody as Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life” (and the Kitty Wells reply (written by J. D. Miller) “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”), as well as Roy Acuff’s “Great Speckled Bird”. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/16 "2014-07-09T23:21:30Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > You tell me- does Faith Hill’s “Piece of My Heart” sound anything like Janis Joplin’s? > > I heard Hill’s version several times and kept thinking, “Wait, I KNOW this one…” before I finally recognized it. Just a link so folks can compare. And watch: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPseJvXVVfo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPseJvXVVfo) A local loud rock station had a promo that said, “We don’t play Faith Hill, but we’d do her, too.” Totally shallow, misogynistic, and dismissive of her considerable singing talent, but day-am! Tim, what did you do to mess THAT up? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/17 "2014-07-09T23:57:15Z")
[Cups](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSbXsFE3l8)by Anna Kendrick [When I’m Gone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sPepTHBrac) by the Carter Family ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/18 "2014-07-10T00:21:17Z")
Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” and Wilson’s “Surfin’ USA” sound vaguely similar to me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/19 "2014-07-10T00:39:42Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Don’t know if it counts, but “Hello Muddah, hello Faddah!” is sung to the tune of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” (I had to look that up). Actually, the title Allan Sherman gave the song was “A Letter from Camp.” I don’t know if this counts for the thread, but for years, I insisted to anyone who would listen that parts of “Eleanor Rigby” sounded strangely like the theme to _Psycho_. People told me I was crazy. Apparently not, though, thanks to the internet. I’ve seen the music side by side, and someone who did arrangements for the Beatles finally said that yes, he was influenced by Bernard Hermann’s music score for _Psycho_. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685/20 "2014-07-10T01:13:10Z")
The theme song to _The Animaniacs_ is mostly lifted from a polka called “There is a Tavern in the Town”. Though it didn’t take me a long time to realize that; I noticed the first time I heard the polka. And in the musical _Man of La Mancha_, Aldonza’s theme (“I was born in a ditch to a mother who left me there…”) is basically the same tune as Don Quixote’s, except much more detailed-- It’s like it’s saying that ugly reality is more “real” than mere fantasies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-a-second-those-are-the-same-song/692685.md?page=2)