Songs That Sound An Awful Lot Like Other Songs

[MadAboutTheBoy]

Sometimes I hear song from a musical that reminds me so much of another song. This morning on Sirius XM's Broadway channel, I heard for the first time the song "Doctor's Orders" from "Catch Me if You Can." It struck me as very similar to the number "Do Me a Favor" from the original "Carrie" musical:

"Doctor's Orders"

"Do Me a Favor"

Are there any songs from different musicals you think sound very similar or remind you of one another in some way??

 

[JudyDenmark]

"Somewhere That's Green" and "Part of Your World" for a variety of reasons, though it doesn't totally shock me since they're both Menken. ("Out of the sea / wish I could be / part of that world" is nearly identical to "far from Skid Row / I dream I'll go / somewhere that's green"

[Kitsune]

For some reason I get "Motherhood" from Hello Dolly! and "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame mixed up in my head. I mean, they're obviously different, but there are enough similarities.

[NightMusic3]

Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown's "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' in the Rain is straight plagiarised from Porter's "Be a Clown". Also, Jerry Herman's "It Takes a Woman" and "We Need a Little Christmas" have pretty similar melodies. 

[Wick3]

When I first saw Dear Evan Hansen (before the cast album was released) I thought "you will be found" sounded a lot like the "flashlight" song from Pitch Perfect 2.

 

[goodlead]

"Be a  Clown" and "Make 'Em Laugh," the latter from "Singin' in the Rain" the former from (perhaps) "The Pirate."
 

 

[ABitOnTheSide]

"Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar is the exact same as "Rosemary" from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

[Kitsune]

NightMusic3 said: "Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown's "Make 'Em Laugh" from Singin' in the Rain is straight plagiarised from Porter's "Be a Clown". Also, Jerry Herman's "It Takes a Woman" and "We Need a Little Christmas" have pretty similar melodies."

Thank you, that was it - I don't know why I said Motherhood before! (I saw the Hello Dolly tour recently and remembered one of the songs sounding a lot like "We Need a Little Christmas"

[QueenAlice]

MISS SAIGON had so many songs that sounded familiar The NY Times wrote a piece on it.https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/19/theater/recordings-view-playing-name-that-tune-with-miss-saigon.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=6B1519E0310A96665FE826136E362073&gwt=pay

The biggest culprit is “Why God” which sounds an awful lot like”There’s a small Hotel”

[Wick3]

I miss that game show "Name That Tune"!!!!!!

[Alex Kulak2]

The piano at the beginnings of "Mr Witherspoon's Friday Night" from Lucky Stiff and "Counting Down to Christmas" from A Christmas Story: The Musical are the same

 

[DoTheDood]

I know the point of Book of Mormon is meant to poke fun at Broadway, but man is "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" spot on with "The Wizard and I". I listened to BoM first so everytime I hear 
Wicked, I think of BoM, which is the opposite intent probably.

[aj88]

Even though the rest of the songs are different from one another, the same notes are used for the title lyrics IF ONLY YOU WOULD LISTEN from School of Rock and SOMEONE ELSE’S STORY from CHESS

[MollyJeanneMusic]

I would love for one performance of "Popular" in Wicked for them to take the musical tag of "Watch What Happens" from Newsies and put it at the end of the song and see if anyone notices.  I've always thought it would sound really cool.

Also, the musical tags of "Being Alive" from Company, "Out There" from Hunchback, and "Evermore" from the live-action Beauty and the Beast all could pretty easily be swapped out for each other.

ALSO also, I can see the song "Brooklyn's Here" from Newsies going pretty well into the titular song of Little Shop of Horrors.

[bwaylyric]

Whenever I listen to "Come to Me, Bend to Me" from Brigadoon, I'm reminded of "Music of the Night" from Phantom.

[BeukyBaby]

I've always thought Moonfall from Drood and With Every Breath I Take from City of Angels sounded very similar. Does anyone else hear it?

[davidbrian81]

Every time I hear "We Do Not Belong Together" from SITPWG, I can't stop hearing "Chariots of Fire"

[kdogg36]

The "God, you are so beautiful" section of "Happiness" from Passion has, since the very first time I heard it, put me in mind of the tune of "Unexpected Song" from Song and Dance.

In the other direction, "Other Pleasures" from Aspects of Love sounds an awful lot like the discarded version of "With So Little To Be Sure Of" that can be heard on the remastered recording of Anyone Can Whistle.

[Someone in a Tree2]

I can't listen to the opening phrase in "No-one is Alone" without hearing "Who can take a sunrise...?" from "The Candy man Can".

Edited to correct the Into The Woods song I really meant.

[bwayrose7]

A bit of Pasek and Paul nearly self-plagiarizing: DEH's "Only Us" and "Rewrite the Stars" from Greatest Showman. 

DEH: "What if it's you / And what if it's me / And what if that's all that we need it to be"

Greatest Showman: "It's up to you / It's up to me / No one can say what we get to be"

[youwillbefound2]

This is going to sound completely ridiculous and I know BOM did a lot of parodies of other songs, but that one part in Spooky Mormon Hell Dream that goes like "Welcome, welcome to spooky Mormon hell dream" sounds a lot like The American Dream from Miss Saigon.......

[two ladies tickets]

Welcome to the Rock from Come From Away = Pinball Wizard from Tommy.
You Will Be Found from DEH = Unpretty by TLC.

[ItsJavert]

'If the World Turned Upside Down' from Finding Neverland and 'The World Turned Upside Down' from Hamilton share many similarities.

Frank Wildhorn's songs all sound the same.

[henrikegerman]

"Come Back to Me" from ON A CLEAR DAY and "Follow Me" from CAMELOT

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

You Will Be Found has always sounded aggresively derivative of pop songs from the 2000s.

Waste from Road Show, Johanna II from Sweeney, and Everybody's Got the Right start the EXACT same way.

In fact I remember at the beginning of Road Show my friend in the audience turning to me as soon as the show started and whispered sang "Everybody's got the right to be happy..."