Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar — Page 6

#126

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/3/09 at 10:55pm

Random, but... "Meadowlark" and "My Little Big Red Plane" from "Captain Louis." Listen to the endings.

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Madame Morrible: "So you take the chicken, now it must be a white chicken. The corpse can be any color. And that is the spell for lost luggage!" - The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken

#127

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/3/09 at 11:23pm

Also, "Meadowlark" and "Corner of the Sky". Listen to the beginning.

#128

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 1:00am

So, I dutifully checked all the previous posts to see if anyone had posted these:

The first one I'm not going to take full credit for because Seth Rudetsky talked about it on one of his deconstructions, but I always notice it now: the beginning of "In the Heights" from In the Heights and "America" from West Side Story.

And I don't know if it's just me, but sometimes I'm reminded of Jason Robert Brown's the Last Five Years when listening to Tom Kitt's next to normal, ESPECIALLY during "Perfect For You." Anyone agree?

#129

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 1:53am

This thread is too long to search, so I'll add two of my favorites even though they may already have been mentioned:

"Once In A Lifetime" and "This Is The Moment" - Leslie Bricusse steals from himself.

And probably the most egregious: "Mame" and "Avenue A" - sounds like Jerry Herman was just too tired to write something new.

#130

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 2:34am

I think the beginning of "Just Another Day" from Next to Normal sounds like parts from "Taylor the Latte Boy."

#131

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 3:43am

The first one I'm not going to take full credit for because Seth Rudetsky talked about it on one of his deconstructions, but I always notice it now: the beginning of "In the Heights" from In the Heights and "America" from West Side Story.

I'm fairly certain that was an intentional homage. At least I always assumed that it was.

#132

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 12:16pm

^ I've always thought that too.

Anyway, the first few bars of 'Good Morning Baltimore' and Jon Larson's 'Valentine's Day' (you can hear it on Jonathan Sings Larson) are remarkably similar, I've noticed.

#133

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 2:57pm

"these probably don't count since they are all from the same show, but 3 songs from wonderful town are literally identical- What A Waste, Pass the Football, and the beginning of A Quiet Girl. It annoys the living hell out of me."

Uhh... it's called a RECURRING MOTIF. Most great musical theatre scores use them. Jule Styne used recurring motifs in Gypsy and Funny Girl. Sondheim does in all his shows. So does Andrew Lloyd Webber.

#134

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 3:18pm

The "Unlimited" intro (the fast triplets) from "Wicked" and "The Spark Of Creation"

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Madame Morrible: "So you take the chicken, now it must be a white chicken. The corpse can be any color. And that is the spell for lost luggage!" - The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken

#135

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 3:32pm

The last musical phrase of "Let Love Grow" from 9 to 5 sounds almost exactly the same as the end of "The Schmuel Song" from The Last 5 Years.

Updated On: 6/4/09 at 03:32 PM

#136

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/4/09 at 5:22pm

"I'll Cover You" from RENT and "Don't Let Me Go" from Shrek. I definately hear the beginning part of "I'll Cover You" after Donkey stops the repetitive Don't Speak lyric.

Updated On: 6/4/09 at 05:22 PM

#137

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/8/09 at 4:22pm

Well, I for one think that "Astonishing" from Little Women and "Defying Gravity" sound identical.

Not necessarily melodically, but pretty much every other way, progession, feel, theme, mood, lyrically, etc.

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Baritone in search of a role in a new musical...

#138

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 6/8/09 at 5:51pm

I've always though "You're Timeless to Me" from Hairspray sounded a lot like "I'm Still Here' from Follies. And I tend to skip both those songs on the OBCRs. The melody is really old-fashioned (I get that's the point on some level of both songs) but it's off-putting.

#139

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 12:59pm

I have always compared songs from Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and CATS.

Bustopher Jones = Potiphar
Go Go Go Joseph = Jellice Ball ( No one else seems to hear it though.)
and there was one more comparison.. I can't think of it right now.

#140

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 1:45pm

Overture of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the Opening music to "Desperate Housewives"

Somewhere Beyond My Wildest Dreams from The Little Mermaid (20 seconds in) and Belle from Beauty and the Beast

#141

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 1:55pm

In 13: the musical, during Becoming a Man, Evan sings "In the middle of the city, in the middle of the street, there's a sound of something crumbling, rumbling underneath my feet."

In Parade, during This is Not Over Yet, Leo sings, "It means a man who isn't guilty, doesn't have to walk the plank! It means the gallows still are vacant and we've got my wife to thank!"

These two melodies sound almost identical! Even though it's the same composer, I've always noticed this!

#142

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 1:58pm

""Once In A Lifetime" and "This Is The Moment" - Leslie Bricusse steals from himself. "

Don't forget that Whitney Houston's song "One Moment in Time" also sounds nearly the same as "This is the Moment" - Mr Wildhorn wrote for Whitney Houston (albiet not that song), and they both have other similarities: performed at the Olympics / etc.!

#143

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 3:50pm

The openings to Like Father Like Son from Aida and Brand New Day In New Jersey from Toxic Avenger are identical! Thought a different song had come up on shuffle lol.

#144

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 10:08pm

Maybe it' just me but every time I listen to "Music of the Night" it sounds very similar to portions of "Johanna."

#145

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/8/09 at 11:28pm

I think that "Our Children" from Ragtime sounds like that song that Vladimir sings when Dimitri and Anya dance in Anastasia. Same composers, too.

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Jimmy, what are you doing here in the middle of the night? It's almost 9 PM!

#146

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/9/09 at 10:51am

"Tara's Theme" from "Gone With the Wind" and "Come to My Garden" from "Secret Garden"

#147

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/9/09 at 11:11am

I have always thought that "Agony" from Into the Woods and "It Would Have Been Wonderful" from A Little Night Music are very similar.


Edit: Okay I just re-read the title and the word suspicious may be implying songs that are by different composers...so of course that doesn't apply to those two songs!

But they are both a duet between two men lamenting about women they love!

Updated On: 7/9/09 at 11:11 AM

#148

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:45am

"Bad poets imitate; good poets steal." -- T. S. Eliot, who brilliantly took little elements from others and remade tehm into something new.

I think the same can be said of composers.

Steve Sondheim has ben writing and rewriting the same song (Anotehr Hundred People) over and over since Company debuted.

#149

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:48am

"I'm AlwaysChasing Rainbows" is a Chopin prelude (I've forgotten which one at the moment.)

"Stranger in Paradise", as most of us who watched late night TV some years ago know, is really Plivetzian Dance #3 by Borodin.

#150

re: Songs That Sound Suspiciously Similar

Posted: 7/10/09 at 9:49am

"I'm AlwaysChasing Rainbows" is a Chopin prelude (I've forgotten which one at the moment.)

"Stranger in Paradise", as most of us who watched late night TV some years ago know, is really Polivetzian Dance #3 by Borodin.