Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar- Page 2

[WOSQ]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 11:39am

The Girl of the Golden West by Puccini is stolen outright by Lord Lloyd-Webber and is in Phantom.

And then:

"Oh, what a beautiful morning..."
"Come take your medicine, dear world..."

Richard Rodgers heard this steal and vowed to subtly get even. It took a couple of years.
"Yes, New York. [bum BUM], its really us..."
"Two by two [bum BUM], the animals..."

[degrassifan]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 11:59am

Is it just me or has anyone else ever noticed that parts of "Part of That World" from The Little Mermaid sounds suspiciously similar to parts of "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love" from West Side Story?

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 12:12pm

degrassifan -- which part of "A Boy Like That...."?

[Jon]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 12:39pm

The same four note motif makes up the title phrase of the following songs:

"I Want It All" (BABY)
"A Bit of Earth" (SECRET GARDEN)
"It's Not Too Late" (ROMANCE/ROMANCE)
"This is the Mo..(ment)" (JECKYLL & HYDE)

ALSO:

"We Need a Little Xmas" from MAME has basically the same refrain as "It Takes a Woman" from HELLO DOLLY

"Why God Why" from MISS SAIGON sounds like "Small Hotel" from ON YOUR TOES (as pointed out in FORBIDDDEN BROADWAY)

Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen" sounds an awful lot like "Falling in Love With Love" from BOYS FROM SYRACUSE

There's a line in "You Gotta Die Some Time" from FALSETTOS ("I quit - that's the ballgame") that is identical to a line from CHESS.

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

[E.Davis]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 12:47pm

"A tough act to Follow" from Curtains and "If I were a Bell"...very similar at some points......especially at, with certain instrumentals, they sounds almost identical to "from the moment we kissed tonight" from guys and dolls.....just an observation though

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:09pm

There are passages in Lippa's Wild Party ("Queenie Was a Blonde") and Little Women (don't know the score too well) that use that same instrumental motif that was in Beauty and the Beast. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? The motif actually became the introduction for "No Matter What" on stage, which still was written before the other two shows.

~Steven

[lesmizsaigon]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:19pm

The beginning of The Little Mermaid's "Poor Unfortunate Souls" sounds like the beginning of Les Miserables' "Master of the House"

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:25pm

...and the moral of the story is: everyone in musical theatre unwittingly lifts bits and pieces of other songs so let's all stop picking on Andrew Lloyd Webber THE END.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:37pm

80% of the songs from SPRING AWAKENING.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 1:58pm

...and the moral of the story is: everyone in musical theatre unwittingly lifts bits and pieces of other songs so let's all stop picking on Andrew Lloyd Webber THE END.

Actually, I don't believe that is the moral of the story. Thanks, though.

Interesting discussion, though.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 2:47pm

LadyDramaturg2, in "A Boy Like That," Anita sings " A boy who kills cannot love, A boy who kills has no heart..." and when Maria sings " It isn't true, not for me, It's true for you, not for me..." Both parts sounds like "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?"

Or maybe a better example is when Ariel gives her voice to Ursula. The initial vocalization sounds like those particular sections in "A Boy Like That."

Maybe I'm just hearing things.

[LadyDramaturg2]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 3:07pm

degrassi-- no you're right, I got it. It's just that the underlying harmonies are so different, and think of the (instrumental) intro to A Boy Like That: cacophonous, rhythmically jagged, so unlike the intro to Part of Your World...

But the melody notes are almost the same, it's true.

Like when Schwartz wrote "unlimited, my future..." using the precise notes of the melody, "Somewhere, over the rainbow," the alteration of harmony and rhythm made it a completely different song.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 4:25pm

"The beginning of The Little Mermaid's "Poor Unfortunate Souls" sounds like the beginning of Les Miserables' "Master of the House" "

Both of which are similar to some tunes in Cabaret, which are similar to Kurt Weill.

[nmartin]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 5:32pm

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer from The Rink and I Want to go to Hollywood from Grand Hotel start exactly the same way.

[legallysam]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 5:37pm

Somewhere That's Green - Little Shop of Horrors

AND

Part of Your World - Little Mermiad

i've ALWAYS though this!

[bwayguy22089]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 6:00pm

The Christmas song "Bells Will be Ringing" and Hairspray's "I Know Where I've Been" are EXACTLY the same.

[practically_perfect]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 6:43pm

I second the part in "Say it Somehow" and the intro to "Beauty and the Beast". I can't hear one without thinking of the other

[MyLife]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 6:49pm

"Part of Your World" and "Legally Blonde"

[Jack King]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 7:43pm

Aha! I did some research on this to confirm and then reveal the actual source of a huge hit for pop singer Tony Martin in 1954 named "Here." It is the 'Pas de Deux' from "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky. That same song was also a hit in 1961 by Robert Goulet.

The pop song "composer" is listed as Harold Grant.

So here {pun} are the first four lines of the song.

"Here in this enchanted place.
Here enclosed in your embrace.
Here with you so near to me.
Here is where I want to be."

I remain,

jk

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 8:09pm

I Love a Piano and Alexander's Ragtime Band. Both were written by Irving Berlin.

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 9:24pm

Everything in Young Frankenstein! It has always bothered me, but I was never sure if they were purposely parodied.

There's Nothing Like the Brain=There's Nothing Like a Dame (from South Pacific)
Deep Love=Heaven (from Carrie)

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 9:25pm

I always thought that more than "Les Poissons", the stage version of "Under the Sea" sounded like "Be Our Guest"

Either way, "Mermaid" was 1989 where "Beauty" was 1991 so "Be Our Guest" would be the rip.

[philly03]

Posted: 12/15/08 at 9:25pm

The overtures to Gypsy (atleast the LuPone one, I certainly have not been collecting recordings of the Gypsy overture) and on here your beloved musical Carrie are similar. They both start out with a loud "bang" and then go into a fast past melody. I haven't heard the Carrie overture in a while (from THOSE sites), but from what I remember they're similar!

And just because you can hear EVITA in Phantom of the Opera, and Phantom of the Opera in Sunset Boulevard, and Sunset Boulveard in Woman in White doesn't mean Lloyd Webber is "ripping off his own music"/repitive .

[Josh Freilich]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 9:53am

For some reason the "Eyesight to the Blind" vamp reminds me of that to "Hard Knock Life."

[popular_elphie]

Posted: 12/16/08 at 11:53am

The very first second of "Gaston" from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and "Send Me Someone" from YF are the same, and I always end up getting ready to sing along to Gaston when "Someone" comes on my iTunes.