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Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

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#1

Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Anyone know of Bway tunes that sound very similar (in some part atleast) to other songs (bway or not)?

Here are ones I found:

"I'm All Alone"(Spamalot) = My Own True Love(Gone w/the Wind)
"The Last Midnight" (Into the Woods) = Bali Hai (South Pacific)
"His Name is Lancelot" (spam) = Copa Cobana
"Man" (Full Monty) = Magnificent Seven theme (was that on purpose?)

The Finale of Wicked ends like the finale of West Side Story (WICKED!!...low rumbling chord...WICKED!!...low rumbling chord...in WSS, 'doo da'....lrc...'doo da'...lrc)

yes, doo da.
beat in Santa Fe (Rent) = Marian the Librarian (Music Man)...kinda



Updated On: 12/28/05 at 02:05 AM

#3

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

yeah, I know, I'm just pointing things out :)

edit: and you're right, No One is Alone sounds a LOT like The Candyman Can!! good work, you get a gold star.

Updated On: 12/28/05 at 02:19 AM

#4

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Wicked - there's a few bars of instrumental (that I THINK are just before the Wizard's first appearance) that incredibly remind me of the "and it's beginning to snow" line from Christmas Bells in Rent. It's creepy and no one else ever seems to hear it, hah.
#5

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

take a listen to your fault from into the woods and the begining of la vie boheme (no please no not tonite etc..). They're very simular. Given that Larson worked closely with Sondheim on ITW, it doesnt surprise me.
NYC's Most Retarded Drag Queen The Mimi Show: hosted by Mimi Imfurst features Broadway stars Tuesdays @ 10:30pm Weekly! June 13th: Hairspray's Michelle Dowdy, June 20th: Aida's Lori Ann Strunk, June 27th: Composer Katie Thompson No Cover- No Drink Minimum OW BAR: 221 E 58th Street (between 2nd and 3rd) www.owbar.com
#6

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

In Hairspray, the music played after Tracy says "You have acne of the soul!" (before the scatter dodgeball game starts) sounds very similar to the beginning of the overture from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
"The world is a better place because of hairspray." - Michael Ball

#8

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

I always thought the rhythmic structurs of much of Barcelona from Company and Next from Pacific Overtures were similar. I've been told I'm wrong - I stillllll hear it.
"Love Life. Live." Michael Bennett
#9

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

I'm 99% sure the Magnificent Seven theme sample in "Man" from Full Monty is intentional - if there was ever a stereotypical male THING, wouldn't it be a western? Its definitely the theme to Magnificent Seven.
There's always room for pathos - and jazz hands.
#10

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

There's a bittersweet evocative love song in RENT that bears an uncanny resamblance to Musetta's Waltz from La Boheme...

(Yes, I'm being silly).

#12

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

"War Is A Science" from Pippin always reminds me of part of "Dance at the Gym" from West Side Story (when they are in the circle).

Also, "Finale B" from Rent sounds very similar to "Prepare Ye" from Godspell .

Updated On: 12/28/05 at 12:36 PM

#13

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

I don't know how many of you are familiar with aspects of love, but the common dialogue melodic method in the show (which moves in a step pattern up the scale) is dreadfully similar to " The Lady's Paying" from Sunset. a
Keep your morals, I don't have time. Keep your lovers, I'm changing mine! -The Likes of Us
#14

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Peach..

"Also, "Prepare Ye" from Godspell sounds very similar to "Finale B" from Rent. "

I think you mean the other way around re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!


There's a song sung by Sammy Davis (can't remember it offhand) that sounds exactly like Run Freedom Run from Urinetown..
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Willy Wonka
#15

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

The snippet of music following "I can't believe this is good-bye" from the Rent soundtrack's "Goodbye Love" sounds like "Lean on Me."
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#16

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Yes, Craig, I do. Good catch. re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

I was listening to the two in succession comparing, and alas, they were written down that way.

(Goes back to edit.)
#17

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Ok, I'm a big nerd...

There's a line from Joseph, in "Storm the Crows":

"Anyone from anywhere can make it if they get a lucky break"!!

which sounds exactly like a musical line that Firmin and Andre sing in Phantom...both in the key of Eb major...the first apperance of the melody, the lyrics are:

"To hell with Gluck and Handel --
have a scandal and you're sure to have a hit!"

This is the prime example of why I insist that so much of ALW sounds the same...everything is in Eb or Bb, and he uses motives over and over again.

Like I said, I'm a big nerd.
#18

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

In "Ever After" in Bare, Peter sings "I'm left with my courage alo-ooooooone" EXACTLY the same way "alone" is sung in the first verse of "I'd Give it all for You" from JRB's SFANW.
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
#19

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

I remember seeing ALW say in an interview that's he's only knowingly plagiarized himself once (or that he's only noticed one instance where he plagiarized himself. It's been a while since I saw it, so the details are fuzzy). I wonder if that's the instance to which he was referring.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#22

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Wonderful from Wicked (at least when he sings that word) reminds me of Normandy from Once Upon a Mattress.
It was 6 hours, I don't even like to have sex and eat bacon for 6 hours.
Freddy Benson- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
#23

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

a section from could I leave you sounds just like a section from last midnight.

"I'm an American, Damnit!!! And if it's three things I don't believe in, it's quitting and math."
#24

re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs!

Himself, Puccini, Prokofiev... It's all pretty blatant

Oh, I know. re: Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs! I've just always been curious as to which he was actually referring.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey

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