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Songs to different tunes

16 Oct 01 - 04:23 AM (#573154)
Subject: Songs to different tunes
From: Trevor

I'm sure there must have been threads on this before which I haven't seen, but having heard Snuffy's rendition of 'My Old Man's a Dustman' to the tune of 'Adieu my Lovely Nancy', and 'Clementine' to 'Cwm Rhondda', I have had my appetite whetted for more. I suppose hymn tunes, with their fairly rigid structure, are fairly easy to fit other words to, although Mal Brown's song 'Crimea Bound' is a bit of a squeeze to the tune of 'Dear Lord and Father..', and 'To Be a Pilgrim' has an extra line of melody to 'Our Captain'. UK Mudcatters will probably know the round of the 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' where contestants have to fit the words of a tune to the melody of another - Willy Rushton was brilliant at it. Any more?


16 Oct 01 - 05:41 AM (#573175)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: alanww

I'm glad you liked my Clementine at Llanstock, Trevor! Snuffy's transposition of My Old Man's a Dustman to the tune of Adieu my Lovely Nancy also works with British Grenadiers - in fact, you can do the lyrics of any of the three to any of the three tunes! Try it!!

Some talk of Alexander ...
Alan


16 Oct 01 - 08:19 AM (#573256)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Snuffy

With a bit of effort you can squeeze almost any song into Ikley Moor Baht 'At, and of course Wild Rover to the tune of Banana Boat Song is well-known.

There was a thread recently about this but I can't find it in forum search.

Wassail! V


16 Oct 01 - 10:07 AM (#573320)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Bill D

it's fun to squeeze Jabberwocky into Beethovens "Ode to Joy".....

yes, there have been other mentions of this game, but not sure of search parameters


16 Oct 01 - 10:45 AM (#573360)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: MikeofNorthumbria

The poet and scholar Robert Graves was fond of this game. While giving a university lecture on the nature of poetry, he illustrated the difference tunes make to our perception of words by singing the words of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to the tune of "Abide With Me" - and then vice versa. The result was very instructive.

Wassail!


16 Oct 01 - 10:58 AM (#573368)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Paul from Hull

Some interesting suggestions here....*G*

The only one I can suggest though is 'Pinball Wizard' to the tune of 'The White Cockade'...


16 Oct 01 - 12:32 PM (#573437)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: brid widder

a useful thread with Christmas coming...'While shepherds watched' goes to hundreds of tunes Simon & Garfunkel's the Boxer is good but my personal favourite is the Laughing Policeman!!! in fact there's probably a thread somwhere on alternative tunes just to that one song!


16 Oct 01 - 01:08 PM (#573461)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Kim C

heeheeheee Amazing Grace to Gilligan's Island heeheehee


16 Oct 01 - 01:19 PM (#573472)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: The Walrus at work

I've heard Seamus Kennedy sing the U.S. Marine Corps song to "Ghost Riders". Will that do?

walrus


16 Oct 01 - 02:12 PM (#573514)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Skipper Jack

My Old Man's A Dustman has been sung to "Pinball Wizard"!


16 Oct 01 - 02:16 PM (#573518)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Clinton Hammond

Wild Rover to "Ghost Riders In The Sky"


16 Oct 01 - 02:44 PM (#573540)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: jeffp

America the Beautiful also goes to Ghost Riders in the Sky, not to mention Amazing Grace and Gilligan's Island.

jeffp


16 Oct 01 - 03:01 PM (#573551)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Dead Horse

We often parodise?(take the piss) out of Lovely Nancy by singing a different set of lyrics to each verse. Starting with Pinball Wizard, then My Old Man's a Dustman, House Of The Rising Sun, Blue Suede Shoes, and finally John Barleycorn. The last verse added to above goes :- And when this song it is all over, There'll be peace throughout the bar. We shall step up to the count-i-er, And shall order another jar. We'll call for liqour merrily, and spend a quid or so. And when our money it is all gone, We shall bugger off home, you know.

There is no substitute for culture !!!


16 Oct 01 - 03:26 PM (#573562)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Kim C

Dead Horse, how many drinks do you have to have for that to work? ;-)


16 Oct 01 - 03:35 PM (#573568)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Dead Horse

How dare you, KimC. Using a four letter word like W**K ! For your information, I, and all my colleagues in the morris AND the Shanty group, are all Teatotallers. So there ;-(


16 Oct 01 - 03:41 PM (#573578)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: DeanC

Amazing Grace to Joy to the World.


16 Oct 01 - 04:11 PM (#573605)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: RangerSteve

I know there's at least one earlier thread on this subject, because I started it. I don't remember the title I used. Anyway, for Trevor's sake, my contributions were: Take Me Out To the Ball Game to the tune of Amazing Grace. How Much Is That Dog in the Window to the tune of House of the Rising Sun, and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam to the tune of Turkey in the Straw.


16 Oct 01 - 04:20 PM (#573610)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Liz the Squeak

'House of the Rising Sun' to 'There is a green hill far away' and vice versa... scares people.

'Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer' goes nicely to the 'British Grenadiers' too, but have only ever found one other song - 'Jerusalem' that fits 'Linden Lea' and vice versa.

LTS


16 Oct 01 - 05:07 PM (#573649)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Geoff the Duck

I once heard Byker Hill sung to the tune of Blake's Jerusalem. I was amazed how well it worked!
Quack!


16 Oct 01 - 05:14 PM (#573657)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Benjamin

I'm a little tea pot works great with the melody of the Jepordy theme music.

If were going to talk about Christmas music, I believe What Child is This? can be sung to the melody of Green Sleeves.

Benjamin™


16 Oct 01 - 06:56 PM (#573731)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Helen

Found it! One trick to remember for finding threads is to click on your name where it appears above a posting in a thread, i.e. after the word "from":

Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: RangerSteve

This will show all the postings that person has contributed to the forum and you can scroll down the list and see if the names of the threads ring a bell.


Click here

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=36233

Still laughing about Hernando's Hideaway & the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Helen


17 Oct 01 - 06:43 PM (#574446)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Herga Kitty

For Christmas, try O Little Town of Bethlehem to the tune of Here's Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy.

Kitty


13 Apr 02 - 01:28 PM (#689212)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Genie

Just cross-referencing threads on the same topic.click here

Benjamin, "What Child Is This?" IS sung to the tune "Greensleeves." [It was written to be sung to that tune.]

Genie


13 Apr 02 - 11:41 PM (#689588)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Hrothgar

"The Wild Colonial Boy" fits to "Clementine," "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and "the White Cockade."


13 Apr 02 - 11:49 PM (#689591)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: GUEST,jerryjames

Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ("Whose woods these are I think I know...") to the tune of "Early Mornin' Rain."

Any poem of Emily Dickinson's can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas."


14 Apr 02 - 12:18 AM (#689600)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: JenBurdoo

I've heard four different tunes to Wild Colonial Boy. Seeing as how it's one of the better known Irish/Aussie songs, I suppose that makes sense...

Jennifer


14 Apr 02 - 04:53 AM (#689668)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Genie

When Katharine Lee Bates wrote her poem "America The Beautiful," it became wildly popular before any tune had been affixed to it. For about two years, it was sung to a wide array of tunes, most notably "Auld Lang Syne." Then Samuel Butler discovered that it fit perfectly with a melody he had already written, and his tune became "the" tune for that song.

Genie


14 Apr 02 - 07:25 AM (#689697)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: nutty

I've always wanted to sing Galway Shawl to he tune of Rosville Fair ( it fits really well) but I've never been brave enough


14 Apr 02 - 02:30 PM (#689884)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: GUEST,Captain Swing

Whiskey in the Jar, Whiter Shade of Pale, Pinball Wizard and My Old Man's A Dustman are all interchangeable

Cheers - Captain Swing


15 Apr 02 - 08:43 AM (#690354)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Dave the Gnome

The White Cockade is a wonderful tune to sing all sorts too as witnessed in Fred Wedlocks 'The White Cockup' - we regularly do a version at our events where we invite new verses fram anyone daft enough to sing them:-)

I also like to do "Chantilly Lace" to the tune of "The Parting Glass". Liz the Squeak does a Christmas Carol to "On Ilkely Moor baht 'at" but I believe that is a genuine Yorkshire carol anyway!

I have yet to find another tune to sing Bohemian Rhapsody to - I'm sure if anyone can do it, Mudcatters can!

Cheers

Dave the Gnome


16 Apr 02 - 09:06 AM (#691203)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: The Walrus at work

Of course "The Red Flag" plays to "The White Cockade" - one of the many with that name - but that could be because it was the tune it was originally written for.

Walrus


16 Apr 02 - 09:19 AM (#691221)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: MudGuard

The national anthems of the Federal Republic of Germany (Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit) and the former German Democratic Republic (Auferstanden aus Ruinen) fit quite well.

Got some people confused when the lyrics were exchanged by some jokers at a big party shortly after Germany was united...


17 Apr 02 - 07:32 AM (#691941)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Bullfrog Jones

Dave, I've always wondered, if lemonade's made from lemons and orangeade's made from oranges, what do they use to make White Cockade?


17 Apr 02 - 11:14 PM (#692563)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Stephen L. Rich

Try O, Little town of Bethlehem to the tune of House Of The Rising Sun.

Singer and comedian Larry Rand, in Chicago, insist that you can sing any Robert Frost poem to the tune of the Hernando's Hideaway Number from the musical Damn Yankees.


18 Apr 02 - 01:37 AM (#692602)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Genie

Maybe youse guys can answer me this:

I find that when I try to sing "In The Still Of The Night" I tend to sing it to the tune of "Deep Purple," and halfway through the first portion of the song, my lyrics morph into "Deep Purple" lyrics. Obviously, the first couple of lines of the songs could be switched with each other's tunes. Ist that true of the rest of the two songs? [I can't, for the life of me, remember the tune to "In The Still Of The Night" beyond about the first two lines--because I keep going into "Deep Purple!"

Genie


18 Apr 02 - 03:43 PM (#693065)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Sooz

I used to love the "Words of one song to the tune of another" in the wonderful panel game "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" on BBC Radio 4. We had this in action one morning in our school assembly when the music teacher was bashing out one hymn while the words to something which did not even vaguely fit were projected on the screen for the "congregation". Pupils made a valiant attempt until the music teacher realised in about verse 3. A classic moment in the education of those young minds!


18 Apr 02 - 06:41 PM (#693197)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: Herga Kitty

After I'd been to Pete Wood's lecture on John Barleycorn at the UK National Folk Festival last weekend, I realised that you could sing John Barleycorn to the "We'll sing 'Hallelujah' at the turning of the year" tune, and keep that chorus to go with the original verses


27 Aug 03 - 08:13 PM (#1009292)
Subject: RE: Songs to different tunes
From: The Fooles Troupe

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