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Adon Olam: The Lyrics, The Legend, The List(tm)

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A few years ago, the folks running Rosh HaShanah services for Stanford Hillel sang the lyrics to Adon Olam to Deep in the Heart of Texas with an appropriately convoluted explanation justifying this choice.

After hearing this, I told some of my equally warped-minded friends, many of whom are also Jewish. Several of them responded with, "That's great, but my favorite tune for Adon Olam is" and give me yet another equally "off" tune.

The list of tunes that work with the lyrics to Adon Olam keeps growing. Here's what I've got so far:

• 5:15 (The Who, from Quadrophenia)
• A Day in the Life (Beatles)
• Alice's Restaurant (after all, you can sing anything you want to Alice's Restaurant)
• Amazing Grace
• America the Beautiful
• Angels We Have Heard On High
• Another Hot Day (from 110 In The Shade)
• Any Dream Will Do (from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)
• Beat It (Michael Jackson)
• Bells for Her (Tori Amos)
• Black Dog (Led Zeppelin)
• Blackbird
• Blowin' In The Wind
• But Anyway (Blues Traveller)
• Cadet Rouselle
• Carmina Burana (the "O Fortuna" section)
• Clementine
• Cornell University Alma Mater
• Deck the Halls (optionally, leave the "fa la la"'s in)
• Deep in the Heart of Texas
• Deutchland Uber Alles
• Don't Cry For Me Argentina (from "Evita")
• Endgame (from Chess, the beginning of the piece)
• For Unto Us a Child is Born (from Handel's Messiah, three verses at a time)
• For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield)
• Gever Holech L'ibud (Derech Mirpeset) (by Shlomo Artzi -- I'm not familiar with it --Lynn)
• Go To The Mirror Boy (The Who, from Tommy)
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
• Greece's national anthem (I'm told it scans to Deutchland Uber Alles, but I don't actually know the tune.)
• Greensleeves
• Hail to the VIctors (University of Michigan pep song)
• Happy Birthday
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing
• Hernando's Hideaway (from "Pajama Game")
• History of Chess (from Chess)
• House of the Rising Sun
• Hymm 43 (Jethro Tull)
• I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General
• I'd Like to Teach The World to Sing (Coca-Cola theme from the 60s)
• It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
• It's a Small World
• Jeremy (Pearl Jam)
• Limbo Rock (Chubby Checker)
• Mac the Knife
• The Macarena
• Mrs. Robinson
• New York, New York (the title song from the movie/musical, made famous by Frank Sinatra)
• Nothin' Like a Dame (from South Pacific)
• Notre Dame Fight Song
• Ode to Joy (Beethoven's Ninth Symphony)
• Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel (one and a half verses at a time)
• Oh God Our Help In Ages Past ("St. Anne") (Lynn's note: I presume this is another Christian hymn)
• Pharaoh Story (from Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)
• Piano Man (Billy Joel)
• Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 ("Everybody must get stoned...", Bob Dylan)
• Ripple (Grateful Dead)
• Rock Around the Clock
• Rock of Ages (both the Christian hymn AND the one translated from Maoz Tsur!)
• Scarborough Fair
• Sherry (the Four Seasons song)
• Simple Gifts (Shaker hymn)
• Sloop John B
• Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Some Enchanted Evening (from South Pacific)
• Stairway to Heaven
• Stand Columbia (Columbia University's Alma Mater)
• Star-Spangled Banner
• Stars and Stripes Forever
• Suicide is Painless (Theme from *M*A*S*H*)
• Sympathy For The Devil (Rolling Stones)
• Tangled Up In Blue
• Tantum Ergo (Catholic hymn)
• The Ballad of Sweeney Todd ("Attend The Tale...")
• The Entertainer
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight
• The Marine Corps hymn ("From the Halls of Montezuma")
• The Midnight Special
• The Papageno bells (from The Magic Flute)
• The Rain Song (from 110 In The Shade)
• Theme from "F Troop"
• Theme from "Gilligan's Island"
• Theme from "Jeopardy"
• Theme from "The Brady Bunch"
• Theme from "The Flintstones"
• Theme from "The Mickey Mouse Club"
• Theme from "Underdog"
• This Old Man
• Tom Sawyer (Rush)
• Tom's Diner
• Turkey in the Straw
• Uncle John's Band (Grateful Dead)
• Up On Cripple Creek (The Band)
• When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• William Tell Overture
• Yankee Doodle
• Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Yellow Rose of Texas (also works for nearly all Emily Dickinson's poetry)
• Yellow Submarine
• Yerushalyim Shel Zachav
• You're The Top