Find sentences that fit in a song (fit in a song, fit in a song)

Sizzling sexuality! Alkmaar, Alkmaar North, Heerhugowaard! OV chip card loading machine! What do these three seemingly completely different phrases have in common? You can sing them all to the tune of Damage Germany, everything is done – a well-known tune involving the German national football team in these times that Mannschaft could perhaps be replaced by our own Ajax.

Dutch scholar and language advisor Wouter van Wingerden (46) collects lyrics everywhere he goes that can be sung to the aforementioned tune or to the almost identical-sounding Beatles classic We all live in a yellow submarine. He shares the results on his popular X (formerly Twitter) and Blueskyaccounts ‘Submarinevorbei’.

As early as 1966, the year that ‘Yellow Submarine’ was a number 1 hit in the Netherlands, comedian Wim Kan did something in that vein: he sang in his New Year’s Eve conference about the then Prime Minister Jelle Zijlstra, to the tune of We all live in a yellow submarine his political lampoon Jelle will see where we gowhich became very popular.

Syllables

“Good day Wouter van Wingerden,” I sing at the start of the telephone interview, but this is unrelentingly rejected. It is not only about that the text fits on nine or ten syllables, as many as both tunes count, but also that it follows the same meter and stress pattern. So yes: ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. But not: ‘That is unfair competition’, Van Wingerden sends as an example.

Like all good things in life, the idea for this social media account came across Van Wingerden’s path by chance. “I have a head that is fairly sensitive to meter, how a sentence flows, what cadence it contains,” he says. This also became apparent in the spring of 2021, when he saw a message on his espresso machine “‘Fill and insert the water tank,’ it said,” says Van Wingerden. It matched the football slogan. Initially it remained with that example, but when he came across more in the following months, he set up the Twitter account ‘Submarinevorbei’ in September.

Melody

“When I see something that matches a certain melody, my mind quickly makes that connection,” says Van Wingerden. Of course, it helps that he has always been latently “on” for these tunes since creating his account. He estimates that three-quarters to 80 percent Damage Germany is. “That structure is just a little bit simpler.” He can’t remember ever being a syllable off. “At most, I thought later: this is not the strongest stress pattern. But I’m so sensitive to meter, so it’s actually always right.”

Why these two melodies? Van Wingerden is not a Beatles fan or a hater of the German football team. “The melody is so strong and has a very compelling rhythm,” he explains. “That rhythm is common and apparently it also appeals to others.” He refers to the many positive reactions, but also to the suggestions he regularly receives. For example, Dutch celebrities Claudia de Breij, Andries Tunru and Michiel Veenstra, among others, sent suggestions. However, the largest part, 90 to 95 percent, is still his own discovery.

Google Maps

Van Wingerden finds his texts everywhere, but often when he is on the road, in recipes, on Google Maps and on Teletext – an image with a “proof place” is added to all posts. There are signs from the highway or from the train, which together form a tune: Feijenoord, IJsselmonde, Beverwaard. A Teletext headline is often exactly nine or ten syllables long, which increases the chance of catching the melody. ‘General Considerations have started’, it said on September 20, and: ‘Dutchman released from Spanish cell’.

The accounts are purely for entertainment, Van Wingerden likes that they make people happy. He has plenty of favorites, but he likes it best when it can be done in one word and the rhythm is right. “The Plastic Surgery Association is one of those, it is completely correct,” he says. “Just like polyethylene terephthalate. I had no idea what it was when I read it, but I immediately recognized the melody in it!”

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