I’ve been listening to Bela Fleck’s Perpetual Motion CD (which is an excellent combination of superior banjo playing and classical music–that may sound weird, but it isn’t–check it out). I’ve noticed this before but that was before I had a blog…did you know that “God Save the King” is the same as “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”? Yes, it is and in fact that tune is used by lots of countries for their anthems. No one seems to know exactly where the tune came from but, of course, we know Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words for “My Country…”
It is interesting that Beethoven, Paganini, Donizetti and others have all used a variation on the tune. If you want to know more, just type in God Save the King and browse the web. Lots of interesting items on it are out there.
My friend A once mentioned that “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and the “Alphabet Song” have the same tune. I wonder how many other well known songs share the same tune.