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6rant6's avatar

Looking for songs from other lands in common meter...

Asked by 6rant6 (13710points) November 8th, 2010

Did you know you can sing “Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah” to the tune of “House of the Rising Son”?

You can because they same line length – 8 beats each.
‘There is a house in New Orleans…
1….....2.3..4….....5..6…...7….8….....’

It’s really the music that must fit the pattern – we can tweak the words so they fit. Sometimes the words are 8,6,8,6… but the melody line is always 8 beats.

There are a ton of standard’s that fit this pattern. Song’s many Americans would know include, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, “I’d like to teach the world to sing (The Coke Song)”, and “Gilligan’s Island.”

What I a looking for – and need help with – are songs that fit this metric that are from other English speaking and non-English-speaking places. I’m particularly wanting folk songs.

They should be songs that almost everyone knows in their land of origin.

Okay, so anyone have a song that fits this puzzle?

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3 Answers

gailcalled's avatar

Not quite the same, and an idea from Andrew originally, but you can sing all the poetry of Emily Dickenson to the tune of Yellow Rose of Texas.

Why one would want to is not clear. And be warned; the tune is indelible.

6rant6's avatar

@gailcalled Yeah, and you can set them to House of the Rising Sun, Or Gilligan’s Island, or It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, or hundreds of others.

gailcalled's avatar

@6rant6: I am doomed, now that you have mentioned the other melodies.

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