PoppaGator,

It's amazing how many of these things are floating around, often crossing musical genres. One that springs to mind is the tune Robert Johnson used for Come On In My Kitchen. He recorded it in 1936, but it had been used for Sittin' On Top Of The World (Mississippi Sheiks, 1930), Six Feet In The Ground (Jimmy Oden, 1934), How Long Blues (Leroy Carr, 1928), How Long, Daddy, How Long (Ida Cox w/ Papa Charlie Jackson, 1925) and at least one gospel tune I have on a CD somewhere. I can't remember offhand who does it.

Leroy Carr's Midnight Hour Blues uses the same tune as Betty and Drupee.

I have a list of every tune Robert Johnson ever recorded with lists of other songs using the same tunes that were recorded earlier. RJ NEVER recorded an original tune. In quite a few instances he used the same tune for several of his songs.

Listen to John Hurt's Richlands Woman Blues and his Creole Belle; same tune, just playing the main guitar riff with different voicings.

And I won't even go into how many tunes are floating around that are basically the same as Wildwood Flower. Check Woody's Ruben James and lots of 1960s-penned efforts.

But it's interesting stuff -- and a great way to expand your repertoire in a hurry.

cheers,

david