Singing one song to another's tune
September 15, 2018 10:19 AM   Subscribe

What's a song that you can sing over another's tune that fits impeccably, unexpectedly well?
posted by Sterros to Media & Arts (27 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 


Amazing Grace sung to the tune of The House of the Rising Sun. It doesn't work as well the other way, though.

https://youtu.be/zE4k76VjGdY
posted by rakaidan at 10:45 AM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


If we're talking melody over another song's chord progression, there's Stairway to Britney.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:50 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]






You can sing almost anything to "Tell Me Why" including We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, etc.
posted by theora55 at 10:59 AM on September 15, 2018


Gilligan's Island, Yellow Rose of Texas, Amazing Grace, Emily Dickinson:

Common metre.
posted by zamboni at 11:00 AM on September 15, 2018


I asked this previously and, while I got a number of non-answers, it was prompted by my favorite example which is the interchangeable East and West German national anthems (but that was intentional, so not really unexpected).
posted by hoyland at 11:04 AM on September 15, 2018


The Jewish song "Dror Yikra" can be (and is) sung to any number of tunes, including that of "Sloop John B.".
posted by 8603 at 11:24 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: It's not primarily meter. What I'm looking for is not one song to the tune of another, but one song to its own tune, which could be sung over the track of a different one. Cf these mashups, which are closer to the idea: Thunder Busters Tusk in the Wall
posted by Sterros at 11:42 AM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


bon jovi's you give love a bad name and belinda carlisle's heaven is a place on earth
posted by poffin boffin at 11:59 AM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Amy Winehouse's "Tears Dry on Their Own" is a very different vocal melody over the instrumental track, basically, of the Motown standard "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (by Ashford and Simpson; link is to the Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell version). Listening to one after the other is one of my favorite things ever
posted by miles per flower at 12:07 PM on September 15, 2018


DJ Greg Wilson layered Amerie's One Thing on top of the Stone's Sympathy for the Devil and it was pretty fabulous.
posted by gyusan at 12:33 PM on September 15, 2018


Gilligan's Island theme to House of the Rising Sun (Animals version)
posted by sandra_s at 12:36 PM on September 15, 2018


God Save The Queen/The Star-Spangled Banner, at least the way Glenn Gould does it. (He calls it a "quodlibet").
posted by rollick at 12:50 PM on September 15, 2018


In music ed we call these “partner songs”- songs with similar length and harmonic basis.

Here’s a pretty good list of some folk ones with linked music. Searching for that term will bring up lots more options in the teacher Pinterest world, among other spaces.
posted by charmedimsure at 2:21 PM on September 15, 2018


The Jewish song "Dror Yikra" can be (and is) sung to any number of tunes, including that of "Sloop John B.".

Along the same lines, the Jewish hymn "Adon Olam" can be sung to hundreds of different melodies. My favorite is "Your Cheatin' Heart." I suspect it's because it's meter is iambic tetrameter (it's even given as an example in the linked article).
posted by ubiquity at 3:16 PM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


"All Star goes with Anything' is a collection of 9 instrumentals from classic pop songs that have the vocals of All Star edited into them."
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 4:17 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


One of my karaoke dreams is to put in Ed Sheeran - Shape of You and actually get up and sing "Wait For It" from Hamilton.
posted by capricorn at 4:23 PM on September 15, 2018


Super-obscure example: The theme music to the 1980-82 run of the game show Blockbusters is a perfect fit for "Greased Lightning" from Grease.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:53 PM on September 15, 2018


bon jovi's you give love a bad name and belinda carlisle's heaven is a place on earth

If you're going "wait, how, what?", it's been a staple of Orbital's live version of Halcyon for decades.
posted by Kyol at 8:05 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


It's possible to sing Depeche Mode's People are People over the top of many songs. Another one to try is Information Society's What's On Your Mind, which has that little "Pure Energy" sample which you can add to even more songs, placed for comedic effect at the end of any 8-count.
posted by oxisos at 8:22 PM on September 15, 2018


I'm a fan of No Fun-Push It.

I posted this in a similar thread back in April: I need this for nefarious karaoke purposes
posted by EKStickland at 11:56 PM on September 15, 2018


Not two specific songs, but are you aware of the Welsh tradition of Cerdd Dant? It can also be a choir and of course can be adults (that example just happens to be a child solo). More information here
posted by sianifach at 11:21 AM on September 16, 2018


Steve Earle's wonderful "Copperhead Road" actually works well with "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme song. This came to me one night in a dream.
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 11:56 AM on September 17, 2018


That awful "One Foot in Front of the Other" song can be sung with the lyrics of "Party in the USA." It makes me so happy to do this.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:47 AM on September 18, 2018


Black magic woman by Carlos Santana works well over She works hard for the money, by Donna Summer. Parts of Hello I love you, by the Doors, work over Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel.
posted by DTHEASH1 at 1:19 PM on September 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


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