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THE BHBI SONGBOOK

For many years we have had the tradition of picking unusual melodies for Adon Olam. It is fun for the congregation to try to guess the melody, if the schatz can carry a tune. It’s also fun to guess why the schatz chose a particular melody.

Adon Olam is in the meter of iambic tetrameter:
duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH.
It is a very common meter, many melodies can be used for this hymn. Some suggestions are given below.

Under the assumption that if A=B and B=C then A=C, feel free to try and sing any of the songs listed below to the tune of any of the others!

To hear a given tune, click on the , and an mp3 file will open in a new window. Most files are ~1MB.

Traditional Jewish Melodies

Adon Olam (well, of course there are several real melodies)
Anim Zemirot
Dovid Melech Yisrael
Dror Yikra (several)
Ein Keloheinu
El Adon (Shabbat shacharit)
Lecha Dodi (several)
Shalom aleichem
Shir Hamaaloth (Birkat hamazon)
Sim shalom
Tzur mishelo (several) or
Yedid Nefesh (several)
Yom zeh m’chubad
Yonah matzah

Jewish Holidays

Aday ad yimloch
Adir hu
Chanukah chag yafeh col cach
Dayenu
Echad Mi Yodea
I have a little dreidl
Maoz Tzur
Mi Yimalel
O Chanukah o chanukah
Oh once there was a wicked wicked man
V’col ma’aminim

Israeli Secular Melodies

Ba Shanah Habaah
Hava nagila
Hatikva
Jerusalem of Gold
Sharm al Sheikh (with thanks to Rabbi Dr. Moshe Frankel)
Shavtem mayim

Yiddish Classics

Bei Mir Bist du Shoen
Dona, Dona
My Yiddische Mama
Tumbalalaika

U.S. Patriotic Melodies

America the Beautiful
Grand Old Flag
Battle Hymn of the Republic
God Bless America
Yankee Doodle (when you're in a hurry to get to the Kiddish)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (George M. Cohan)

Anchors aweigh
Caisson Song (Army theme)
Marine Corps Hymn
Off we go into the wild blue yonder (good for the weekend of the air show)

General Secular Melodies

Addams family theme
As tears go by
Auld Lang Syne
Alley Cat
Both sides now
The Campbells are coming
Can-can
Can’t help falling in love
Captain of the Pinafore
Cecelia (Simon & Garfunkel)
The Chicken Dance ("Le canard", good for Bar Mitzvahs)
Cornell Alma Mater (tune also used by many other colleges)
Did you ever see a lassie.
Do-re-mi (Sound of Music)
El Condor Pasa
English country garden
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Foggy, foggy dew
Gaudeamus igitur
Good day, sunshine (Beatles)
Green grow the lilacs
Gypsies, tramps and thieves
Habanera (from Carmen)
Happy birthday to you (for when kiddish is in honor of someone’s birthday)
Happy wanderer
Hernando’s Hideaway
In heaven there is no beer
Irish Washerwoman
I’ve been working on the railroad
Jamaica Farewell
K-k-k-katy
Keeper of the Eddystone Light
L'Arlesienne (Bizet)
La Cucaracha
La donna e mobile
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Light cavalry overture
Limbo Rock
Little Buttercup
Lone Ranger theme (William Tell Overture - even faster than Yankee doodle)
Love potion #9
Mack the knife
Masterpiece Theatre Theme (Mouret’s “Rondeau”)
Merry merry month of May
Michael row the boat ashore
Michigan Fight Song
The minstrel boy
Molly Malone
My Bonny lies over the ocean
My way
Never Smile at a Crocodile (Disney’s Peter Pan)
Notre Dame Fight Song
O Tannenbaum (some think this is in poor taste)
Ode to joy (Beethoven's 9th)
On the beautiful blue Danube
On Wisconsin
Our great Mikado.
Prince of Denmark’s March
Rise and shine (Noah built him an arky, etc.)
The river is wide, I can’t cross o’er.
Rock around the clock
Scarborough fair
Scotland the brave
Singing in the rain
Sixteen going on seventeen
Sloop John B.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Sounds of silence
Steelers going to the Superbowl
Streets of Laredo
Summer time (from Porgy and Bess)
Take me out to the ball game (Where are you going after shul?)
Teddy Bears' Picnic
The Toreodore Song (from Carmen)
The very model of a modern major general
There was a Union Maid
They can't take that away from me
Turkey in the straw
Underdog Theme song
Walking in a winter wonderland
Waltzing with bears
Waltzing Mathilda
Wedding March (Mendelsohn)
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing
When the Saints go marching in
When I was a lad (Pinafore)
When you wish upon a star
Windy (the Association)
Yellow Submarine
You are my sunshine
You can't always get what you want

Ethnic
(these will only be familiar to people who do recreational folk dancing.)

Armenian:
Armenian Hymn Daradzyal
(complements of Sevan Hacopian)

Bulgarian:
Bucimis (15/8 time)
Cetvorno shopsko oro (7/8 time)
Daichovo Oro (9/8 time)
Pravo Oro
Sedi Donka (25/8 time, really 7/8+7/8+11/8)
Tropanka

Croatian:
Crici crici ticek
Moja diridika (Adon olam is almost as good a tongue-twister as the original lyrics)

Greek:
Samiotisa (7/8 time, the Bulgarians don't have a monopoly on it)
Slow hasapikos (several) or

Hungarian:
Tubarocza Czardas and Hohrenski Czardas

Irish:
Paddy on the Turnpike

Italian
Tarantella

Norman:
Le bal de jugan

Quebecois:
La bastringue

Romanian:
Alunelul

Russian
Korobuschka

Scottish:
Gae Gordons

Serbian:
Shano dusho
Shetnya

Slovak:
Tancu tancu

Swedish:
Janta Och Hambo and Rospiggspolska

Turkish:
Ali Pasha (5/4 time)

Suggestions for additions to our list may be sent to Leon Metlay at:

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