Bway songs that sound blantantly like other songs! — Page 3

^^ As Long As Your Mine is pretty much No One Mourns The Wicked in a different key. It's most likely intentional!

Updated On: 12/29/05 at 11:28 AM

The "Tomorrow" melody in "Worst Pies In London" was intentional - Sondheim was poking fun at the biggest hit show on Broadway at the time.

There is a phrase in "You Gotta Die Sometime" from FALSETTOS that's identical to a phrase in "How Many People" from CHESS. The FALSETTOS lyric is "That's it - that's the ballgame". I can't recall the lyric in CHESS, but the melody is identical.

Has anyone mentioned the "Why God Why"/"Small Hotel" similarity? Forbidden Broadway does in their MISS SAIGON parody. What about "Music of the Night" and "Come to Me, Bend to Me"?


Jerry Herman is a master of self-plagiarism. The refrains of "It Takes A Woman" and "We Need A Little Christmas" are almost identical.

"Run Freedom Run" from URINETOWN is similar to "Gonna Build a Mountain" from STOP THE WORLD... I WANT TO GET OFF.

Updated On: 12/29/05 at 12:17 PM

The same four note motif is featured as the title phrase in the following songs:

"I Want It All" from BABY

"It's Not Too Late" from ROMANCE ROMANCE

"A Bit of Earth" from SECRET GARDEN

"This Is The Mo... (ment)" from JECKYLL & HYDE

My sister and I think that Day By Day from Godspell and the Finale from Pippin up to the line "Rivers belong where they can ramble" sound the same, to the point where you can sing Day by Day to the Finale and it will match.

"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." "

You are of course speaking of the movie version--it is actually playing the opening chords to 'Take Me Or Leave Me' (which is kindof cool thematically, if you think about it)...which does in fact sound a lot like Lean on Me!


I thought of another--the opening music of "Shiksa Godess" in Last Five Years sound like the theme from Sex and the City.

And the other day, I heard a song that sounded exactly like It Takes a Woman from Hello, Dolly! but i can't remember what it was...anyone know what I'm thinking of?

"Fable" is my absolute favorite song from LITP, but the opening drives me CRAZY because it sounds like in Into the Woods opening vamp. ARGH!!!

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ALW constantly used melodies from shows that didn't do well or didn't get off the ground in his later musicals. For example, in Sunset Boulevard during the middle of " As if we never said Goodbye,"
"I don't want to be alone, that's all in the past. This world's waited long enough; I've come home at last."
Exactly the same tune, key and everything, as the middle eight in "Half a Moment" from By Jeeves.
" Constant spinning memories, spin before my view, like a toy kaliedoscope, images of you."

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Any other parents out there?
"I Wanna Be A Producer" sounds very much like a song from The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (animated film) called "I'm Just a Little Black Rain Cloud." Same chord progression, only slightly different melodies.

theres similar melodies throughout the pajama game and damn yankees, but they're by the same people

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This may be a bit obscure but I swear "All You Have To Do is Wait" from City of Angels has the exact same melody as "Going Going Gone" from Lolita, My Love

The beginning of "Written in the Stars" from Aida reminds me of "Circle of Life" from Lion King.

But I'm probably just odd.

umm whenever I try to sing "The Speed Test" from Millie I end up somehow singing "Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance hahaha

Bluesuadeshoes8, "Speed Test" is based off of another Gilbert & Sullivan patter song, from Ruddigore. Which explains the similarity =)

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