One Song To The Tune of Another

One Song To The Tune Of Another

"One Song to the Tune of Another" was the first game played on the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and is still almost always played every other episode. It consists of panellists singing the lyrics of one song to the tune of another song, accompanied on the piano.

The four original panellists were adept at this game, and each took an individual turn. Since the death of Willie Rushton guest panellists have appeared, and the two team members occasionally sing together, presumably to compensate for the unsteadiness of a guest's voice. Guest panellists sometimes exhibit little or no musical talent, most notably Jeremy Hardy, whose dreadful attempts at singing are greatly anticipated by audiences, and this itself often makes for effective comedy.

The panellists also sometimes impersonate a singer associated with one of the songs (usually the tune). In several episodes, Graeme Garden was given a song with a tune by Bob Dylan and not only impersonated him, but broke off into a harmonica solo. Notably "How much is that Doggy in the Window", to "Blowin' in the Wind".

The game has been played in several Christmas specials (requiring "One Carol to the Tune of Something Else" — in particular, singing "Silent Night" to the tune of "Tequila"), and a variant was played in the 2007 special Humph In Wonderland, in which panellists sang a Lewis Carroll poem to the tune of a song. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden sang "Jabberwocky" to the tune of "Jerusalem", and Andy Hamilton and Rob Brydon sang "You Are Old, Father William" to the tune of "I Know Him So Well".

Occasionally, some of the panellists imitate backing singers for the panellist actually singing when there is a suitable gap in the song, such as one of the 2009 episodes hosted by Jack Dee, where Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden backed Tim Brooke-Taylor.

Some of the humour derives from the incongruity caused by differences between the songs involved. They may differ wildly in genre, structure, tempo, and time signature, but unlikely combinations have sometimes worked surprisingly well. Having the same metre helps. Examples include:

• Willie Rushton singing "My Old Man's a Dustman" to the tune of "The Girl from Ipanema", and "Maresy-doats and dozy-doats" to the tune of "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover"
• Barry Cryer singing "Love Me Tender" to the theme tune from The Archers
• Barry Cryer singing "My Old Man's a Dustman" to the tune of "Heartbreak Hotel"
• Barry Cryer singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" to the tune of "One" from A Chorus Line
• Graeme Garden singing "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" to the tune of "'O Sole Mio"
• Tim Brooke-Taylor singing "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" to the "Dance of the Hours" from La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli
• Tim Brooke-Taylor singing "What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?" to the tune of "Tea For Two"
• Tim Brooke-Taylor singing "On Mother Kelly's Doorstep" to the tune of "Hernando's Hideaway"
• Tim Brooke-Taylor singing "Rehab" to the tune of "When I'm Sixty-Four"
• Graeme Garden singing "Ain't Gonna Bump No More With No Big Fat Woman" to the tune of Jerusalem
• Willie Rushton singing "The Laughing Policeman" to the tune of "As Time Goes By"
• Barry Cryer singing "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" to the tune of the Can-Can
• Graeme Garden singing "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" to the tune of "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside"
• Graeme Garden singing "Kung Fu Fighting" to the tune of "Greensleeves"
• Graeme Garden singing "Blame It on the Boogie" to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic
• Rob Brydon singing "Anarchy in the UK" to the tune of "Just When I Needed You Most" by Randy VanWarmer and singing "Killing Me Softly" to the tune of "The Bare Necessities"
• Jack Dee singing "Purple Haze" to the tune of Brahms' Lullaby
• Stephen Fry singing "Knees Up Mother Brown" to the tune of "The Skye Boat Song"
• Andy Hamilton singing "So Macho" to the tune of "La Marseillaise"
• Jeremy Hardy singing "Teenage Kicks" to the tune of "Jerusalem"
• Tim Brooke-Taylor singing "Girlfriend in a Coma" to the tune of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips"
• Phill Jupitus singing "Feelings" to the tune of the Colonel Bogey March
• Paul Merton singing "Stand By Me" to the tune of the William Tell Overture
• David Mitchell singing "A Whiter Shade of Pale" to the tune of the theme from The Muppet Show and vice versa sung by Tony Hawks
• Ross Noble singing "Sometimes When We Touch" to the tune of "Scotland the Brave"
• Linda Smith singing "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads to the tune of "Save Your Love" by Renée and Renato
• Sandi Toksvig singing "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"

A contribution to the effectiveness of the rendition is made by the pianist (usually Colin Sell) who, given the uneven rhythm of the vocalists, often has a much more difficult task than is usually required from an accompanist.