> From: aeolian@nyc.rr.com.geentroep (Randolph Herr)
> To: "Mechanical Music Digest" <rolls@foxtail.com>
> Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 10:43:23 -0400
>
> Subject: Same Melody Used For Different Songs
>
> "The Mr. Potatohead Syndrome"

> In music, two examples that come to mind are "Who's Your Little
> Who-zis" which is liberally borrowed from "S'Wonderful".  I do not
> believe that Gershwin ever sued over this, and one possible reason
> might be that scholars have found a Jewish folk melody which is even
> closer to "S'Wonderful" than "Who's Your Little Who-zis" !
>
> The second example is that I have always felt that the chorus of
> De Sylva, Brown and Henderson's "The Varsity Drag" is basically Richard
> Rogers' "The Girl Friend" with a few cosmetic alterations, which
> actually improve the song a little bit.  Genius that Richard Rogers
> was, he certainly didn't need help from anybody, but this is an
> exception.  I have no doubt that this practice is still being done
> today, but since I can't stand any music written after the mid 1930's,
> I don't know any examples.

It happens a lot with church music.  Bach's "Ode to Joy" (9th Symphony,
4th Movement) has had words put to it several times.  I think this
often happens when the words and music are not written together.  When
poems are put to music as lyrics, or lyrics are written for a purely
musical melody, it often happens that more than one person has the
idea, and the result is Mr. Potatohead Syndrome.

Another interesting and related idea is the fact that one can often
interchange melodies and lyrics.  For example, it's possible to sing
"Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Gilligan's Island", and vice versa
(also "Star of the County Down" and other folk songs).  This is possible
when the meter is close enough.  One song I've heard (but can't, alas,
recall the title of) is an example of both: a quite well-known poem
adapted as lyrics to at least two different tunes.

regards,
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