name that tune!

Here's something I've always wondered about. First up, here's XTC's "Take This Town" from the soundtrack to the 1980 film Times Square. (I've never seen the movie - but the soundtrack is pretty cool.)

Okay, so you've listened to that track. No doubt that little whistling melody in the chorus is lodged firmly inside your skull.

Now listen to the next song: Mission of Burma's "New Nails" (from 1982). Okay, in the middle section, when Roger Miller's singing about "the shores of Galilee," hear that guitar part? That's right: it's the same little melody from the XTC song.

It's possible, of course, that for whatever reason Miller thought to borrow the XTC melody for the guitar line for this part of the song. It's even possible that the similarity between the two parts - both melodic and rhythmic - is just a coincidence.

But I'm wondering whether both songs don't draw from a pre-existing melody...an old TV show theme, a hymn, a march, something like that? Does that tune ring any bells for anyone?

XTC "Take This Town"
Mission of Burma "New Nails"