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one song to the tune of another - explained



car analogy
Most songs are comprised of two basic elements: the words (or lyrics) and the tune (or music) - it might help to think of these two components as being like the engine and body of a car. It is possible to take the engine (or words) out of a car and replace it with a new engine or indeed a used item taken from a different car (or song). Or if your car has a rusty body shell (or tune) you may wish to buy a new one and transfer your old engine (or words) into it.

Surely I am not suggesting throwing hard earned sov’s at some spanner monkey who might bodge the job? Quite right - it is all to easy to end up with some back-street, untrained, cowboy messing things up. At the piano is Colin Sell.

cargo ship analogy
Try to think of the song as a cargo ship - the song is represented by the vessel sailing the oceans transporting the words, or cargo. Every now and again the ship, or song, comes into port and unloads its cargo, or words, and takes on a fresh cargo, and thereby one song is sung to the tune of another. Easy peasy lemon squeasy so far. But let me pre-empt your next question - yes indeed, what about fog? Surely the captain would have trouble finding the right berth in a harbour shrouded by fog with the inevitable consequence he might collide with the dock side. And the last thing you want is someone blindly bashing quays. At the piano Colin Sell.

clock analogy
The construction and flow of a song is very much akin to a clock - the numbers around the face represent the words while the hands sweep around like the tune carrying the melody along. This analogy obviously only works with a traditional timepiece as digital clocks don’t have hands. So in your minds eye you should have a picture of a clock, perhaps perched by your bedside. And as you visualise this scene I know exactly what you are thinking - what about the annoying little tick in the background? At the piano we have Colin Sell.

cooking analogy
Each panellist is allocated a song from which you take the words and discard the tune.

It might help to think of it separating an egg - the shell is the song containing the words, or yolk, and the tune, or white. The yolk can be combined with milk, sugar, and flour to make custard, a complete change of combination but still food. While the white is thrown away, although this is waste and can be used to make light fluffy soufflé - try it with grated fresh parmesan, if you cannot get fresh parmesan a hard cheddar will do. Two meals that are very different, even though they come from the same shell.

But what about salmonella poisoning? Well every egg based meal carries the risk of being spoiled by a stomach-turning bowl-exploding little germ - there is Colin Sell at the piano.

cooking pot analogy
This concept is of such basic simplicity I often wonder why I bother to explain it, but there are those who can be a little slow on the uptake - so pay attention.

A song is comprised of two elemental components - the tune and the words. The obvious and simplest analogy would be a cooking pot or saucepan containing food in the process of being cooked. The contents are like the words, and these are contained within the pan much in the same way the tune carries the words. Just as there are many varieties of tune, so there are an infinite variety of pots and pans and each type can contain all manner of different foodstuffs, or words. These can vary from simple fare, such as Baked Beans or soup, through to quite complex dishes like stews or Coq au Vin, and they can be cooked (or sung) in two different ways - one involves the boiling water of the classical style, the other the hot fat of a more contemporary interpretation. However, beware for the latter has its incipient dangers.

I can sense you are keen to hear more, so let’s move on to Health and Safety aspects. As you are no doubt thinking, isn’t there some precaution we can take in the event of one of these pots catching fire? Quite right - as every safety conscious cook knows it is vital on these occasions to keep handy a huge wet blanket. At the piano is Colin Sell.

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