Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 September 3

= September 3 =

"The Ants Go Marching One by One" and "The Animals Went In Two by Two"
How were these songs' tunes able to diverge?? The former has a long final line:

...and they (new bar) all go (new bar) marching (new bar) down to the (new bar) ground to get (new bar) out of the (new bar) rain.

The latter has a shorter final line:

...and they (new bar) all went (new bar) into the ark (new bar) for to get out of the (new bar) rain.

(Note: Wikipedia used to have an article about both of these songs titled The Ants Go Marching, and it said that these 2 songs have exactly the same tune. But for some reason the article was re-directed.) Georgia guy (talk) 00:45, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The article's/redirect's history is still there. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:42, 3 September 2023 (UTC)


 * "How were these songs' tunes able to diverge?" When songs effectively enter the Folk music arena, people can and do vary the tunes (and lyrics) however they like: sometimes variations catch on, sometimes tunes diverge and evolve until they are scarcely recognisable as variations of the same progenitor.
 * As the linked article says, these two songs used the tune of the 1863-registered song 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home', but even that was not original – the lyricist heard someone humming it, and it resembles a Scottish folk tune Robert Burns used in 1630, which is thought to be connected to a different English folk song first printed in 1611, though undoubtably older. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.81.165 (talk) 04:55, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
 * To clarify, Burns reused a melody originating in 1630 (he wasn't born until 1759). Alansplodge (talk) 10:40, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Quite right, my wording was poor. I meant to say "...tune known from 1630 which Robert Burns re-used . . . ." {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.194.81.165 (talk) 03:23, 5 September 2023 (UTC)