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Whose Song Is It Anyway?
I’m sure by now most of you have heard the story of George Harrison’s court battle over his alleged plagiarism of the Chiffons’ 1960 song, “He’s So Fine.” For those of you who haven’t heard, it happened soon after George’s 1970 hit, “My Sweet Lord” climbed the charts as a million-selling number one hit. Seems George had the former song in the back of his mind when he wrote the latter. He was ordered to pay $587,000.00 over the copyright infringement case. In another ironic twist to this story, George’s manager, Allen Klein, bought Bright Tunes Publishing, which held the copyright on “He’s So Fine.” So Harrison ended up owning both songs.
Over the years I’ve noticed several songs that sound like other songs and wondered if these other parties eventually ended up in court over who owned what. The first example that comes to mind involves three songs. Listen closely to Air Supply’s “Even The Nights Are Lonely.” When it comes to that phrase, the music behind it sound exactly like Christopher Cross’s “Arthur he does what he pleases,” phrase from “Arthur’s Theme.” Both those phrases also sound exactly like Elton John’s phrase, “Maybe you’ll get a replacement,” from his song, “Good-bye Yellow Brick Road.” Okay, who had it first? Air Supply uttered their phrase in June of 1982. Christopher Cross first said it in August, 1981. However, Elton John first sang his phrase in November of 1973 so it looks like he would prevail in a lawsuit.
In 1966 The Beatles released “Revolver,” an album that included Paul’s personal favorite, “Here, There and Everywhere.” In it there’s a phrase that says, “And if she’s beside me I know I need never care.” Nine years later Dianna Ross released “Theme From Mahogany,” which included the second line, “Do you like the things that life is showing you?” The music from those two phrases is identical so Paul would win in this lawsuit.
The Beach Boys would have some money coming from John Lennon (or at least his estate) if this next example were to come to trial. In 1964 Brian Wilson wrote “Don’t Worry Baby” and included the phrase, “When she looks in my eyes and makes me realize what she said.” Lennon’s 1980 song, “Just Like Starting Over” contains the phrase, “And when I see you darling, it’s like we both start falling in love again.” Different words, almost the same musical notations in both cases. Pay up, John.
Sometimes all it takes is a single chord strummed on the guitar in a particular way to conjure up notions of plagiarism. Granted, I don’t think you can build a case on one chord, but listen to the opening guitar riff (one chord) from The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” then listen to the opening guitar riff from Shocking Blue’s, “Venus.” Who copied whom here? The Who-May, 1969. Shocking Blue-seven months later. Case closed.
I recently heard the opening measures to Led Zepplin’s, “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and you know what? It sounds almost identical to the opening measures of Chicago’s, “25 or 6 to 4.” Zep’s tune is from 1969 while Chicago’s is from 1970. Hmmmmm?
The Beach Boys’, “Sloop John B.” came out in April of 1966 while Glenn Campbell’s, “Rhinestone Cowboy” came out in June of 1975. The words are different, but the melodies are almost interchangeable. Again, Brian Wilson would have a few bucks coming from a settlement like this.
I remember as a teenager how impressed I was every time a new Beatle song came out. I used to say, “How can they keep coming up with new ideas and new melodies? You’d think sooner or later all the possible combinations would be used up.” Apparently not so. Look at all the unique songs that have come out in the last forty years (not counting the examples above.)
While it’s true that the examples I’ve sited here are for the most part the exception to the rule, I have to say that from personal observation, I’ve noticed two distinct forms of music that I can truly say, “If you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all.” One of those music styles is polkas. Literally, if you can play one polka, you can play them all. The other category is rap or hip-hop or whatever it is you call that recording (I refuse to call it music) that sounds like someone reciting violent poetry to the sound of another guy beating on a cardboard box with a broken curtain rod.
Imagine the tangled up courts we’d have if all those guys decided to sue each other!
©2008 Bill Bernico for CYBERMIDI.com Downwind Publications
5 comments
Actually "Sloop John B." by the Beach Boys was a remake of an earlier version of the same song by the Kingston Trio, which was probably an even earlier calypso tune. The most blatant rip-off that I noticed and that never seemed to trigger any lawsuit, was John Lennon's "And So This is Christmas" the melody is almost identical to a Peter, Paul, and Mary song: "Stewball" a lament about betting on the wrong horse in a race. I also notice that PP&M would rework public domain folksongs in such a way that they could claim copyright on their versions. Or so it seemed to me!
I'm sure there are many more examples of plagerism, intentional or not. These are a few good examples. Can anyone else come up with some more?
I found this page after I heard "Even The Nights Are Lonely" and thought, "Boy, that sounds familiar!"
Some other ones I've run into:
Arthur's Theme and How Am I Supposed To Live Without You
Breaking Us In Two -Joe Jackson and Day After Day -Badfinger
Briefly: Greatest Love Of All -Whitney Houston and We're All Along -Boz Scaggs (near "All Forgotten Now" and "Throw It To The Wind")
And although significantly different, I used to get "Save Your Kisses" by Brotherhood of Man confused with "If" by Bread. And the my wife started singing "Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" - similar chord sequences in there - ahh the 70s...
Hi,
I found this post after looking up "Theme From Mahogany" with my noticing how blatantly similar it is to "Here There and Everywhere" and thought maybe they had paid for it in advance; or if they were trying to get back at The Beatles for the George Harrison incident and got away with it.
I'm a songwriter myself and a bit of a musician. I can say that a lot of it tends to be unintentional if some parts sound copied... I always like to check, but it can be hard since there are so many songs out there. You can't really copyright a chord progression or even an accompaniment on its own. That's why you'll hear the same bass lines and rhythm sections on a million and one rock 'n roll tunes.
There is just a fine line between using some parts for arrangement, accompaniment or transition and straight up plagiarizing. Personally I think if it is unintentionally similar AND the artist has made sure to remove any doubt if had, then they should in most cases be fine but if it still sounds too similar, it has to be settled in court if the suspicious party thinks so.
Nowadays it's quite different though; most signed artists on big labels can ripoff whatever they want; intentionally or not; because their label pays to be able to use anything from any song (among other signed artists, publishers and labels). It's one regular fee they pay to ASCAP, and the others.
As for your opinion of hip hop... you obviously haven't listened to enough of it... one could say similar things about any genre without having listened to a broad enough range of it. I respect all forms of music and can see all of their good points. Even a lot of 50s rock and roll culture resembles hip hop... one of the famous DJs of that time used to do improvised rhyming in between playing the rock 'n roll records; it is considered one of the first examples of rap.
Oh yes, and is it just me or does the instrumental part in the middle of Alanis Morissette's "You Learn" sound suspiciously like "Yub Nub" - that Ewok Song?!?
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