Flat-Out Ripoff Songs
Jason Quick
> How about when 1 composer rips off hirself?
Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode/Yazoo/Erasure) does this all the time. One song
(Reach Out) from a recent album (Cowboy) was particularly bad, in stealing
the entire bassline from "Just Can't Get Enough." Given that his particular
genre (synthpop) is based upon digital and analogue synthesizers, I guess it
isn't surprising that there's a bit of self-pilfering going on.
And now they've got an all-covers album (a really odd one at that IMO)
coming soon. First single is "Solsbury Hill". See here if you're curious:
http://www.erasureinfo.com/other/solsbury.html
Jason
Russell Stewart
Paradise" by Stevie Wonder.
Even worse than that was when Coolio had the gall to
sue Wierd Al Yankovic for doing his parody "Amish
Paradise".
--
Russell Stewart | E-Mail: check my web page
UNM Physics Department | WWW: http://www.swcp.com/~diamond
alt.atheism #343
"If knowledge is dangerous, the solution cannot
be ignorance. The solution has to be wisdom."
--Isaac Asimov
John Hatpin
>How about "Gangster's Paradise" by Coolio vs. "Pasttime
>Paradise" by Stevie Wonder.
>
>Even worse than that was when Coolio had the gall to
>sue Wierd Al Yankovic for doing his parody "Amish
>Paradise".
We covered this quite recently. Stevie was fine about Coolio's
version (the sentiments were close to his heart), and even performed
it with him on at least one occasion.
I agree about the gall, though.
--
John Hatpin
John Hatpin
based on the chord sequences of popular tunes of the day.
As I understand it, there were two reasons for this being done: (1) to
avoid paying royalties, and (2) the new melodies were more interesting
to play, more in keeping with the style.
--
John Hatpin
Estron
> Even worse than that was when Coolio had the gall to
> sue Weird Al Yankovic for doing his parody "Amish
> Paradise".
Except that Coolio didn't sue. He made unflattering comments about
Yankovic, claiming that Yankovic hadn't gotten his permission to record the
parody (Yankovic disputes this point), but there was no actual lawsuit
filed.
--
All opinions expressed above are nothing more than that.
Pax vobiscum.
est...@tfs.net
Kansas City, Missouri
Barbara
>>were different arrangements or stanzas of one. OTOH, until recently I'd
>>thought 2 movements of "Heroica" were from different pieces, and that
>>one was a parody of the other; it STILL sounds like a parody, damn it!
>>
>>In case you didn't see it in the other thread, my entry is "Love Potion
>>#9" and "You've Got to Change Your Evil Ways".
>>
>
"At This Moment"
"I'd get down on my knees, kiss the ground that you walk on, if I could just
hold you again.
"Love Has No Pride"
"Love has no pride when there's no one but myself to blame. I'd give anything
just to see you again."
The lyrics aren't a great example, but I think the two songs sound awfully
alike.
Barbara -
"I've got something inside me
Not what my life's about
Cause I've been letting my outside tide me
Over 'til my time runs out."
Taxi
Harry Chapin
GrapeApe
>> He had a big fat hit, it was ghastly."
>> -Nick Lowe, "All Men Are Liars"
Mojo Nixon had a line about Rick Astley too.
SoCalMike
"GrapeApe" <grap...@aol.comjunk> wrote in message
news:20021105175456...@mb-fn.aol.com...
he had a whole song about debbie gibson.
if he was gonna bag on anyone, it should have been tiffany. she was a
lameass.
Bill Kinkaid
wrote:
>>
>"At This Moment"
>
>"I'd get down on my knees, kiss the ground that you walk on, if I could just
>hold you again.
>
>"Love Has No Pride"
>
>"Love has no pride when there's no one but myself to blame. I'd give anything
>just to see you again."
>
>The lyrics aren't a great example, but I think the two songs sound awfully
>alike.
Never occurred to me before; they're both 3/4 time, chord progressions
not far off and have similar sentiments, but that's about it. But
either Susan Jacks or Linda R are a hell of a bit better looking than
Billy Vera (especially when he shaved the beard off) but he had a
kickass backup band.
Bill in Vancouver
Brett Bayne
Lord" plagiarism lawsuit? This thread is not for you, so go directly to the
next thread, do not pass go, do not collect $200. This is a place to discuss
songs that sound suspiciously like other songs -- not remakes, not partially
sampled songs, not even "tribute" songs a la the Rutles. (Also excluded are
instances of self-plagiarism, e.g., John Fogerty.) I'm talking about those
songs where you go, "Hey! This sounds a lot like that song by that other guy."
To get the ball rolling, I will list a few tunes I think are remiscent of other
ones. I'd like you to do the same. Some (like "Ghostbusters" vs. "I Want a New
Drug") have had their day in court. Others may strike you as nothing alike. I
am here to solicit your own examples. Obscurities are OK. All of the examples
below contain at least a portion that harkens back to an earlier song.
* * * * * * * * *
"If You Could Read My Mind" (Gordon Lightfoot) vs.
"The Greatest Love of All" (George Benson, later Whitney Houston)
This one was a real plagiarsm case: Compare the former's "I don't know where we
went wrong, but the feeling's gone, and I just can't get it back" to the
latter's "I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow..."
* * * * * * * * *
"Arthur's Theme" (Christopher Cross) vs.
"Even the Nights Are Better" (Air Supply)
"Once in your life, you find her..."
"Even the nights are better..."
* * * * * * * * *
"Speedy Gonzales" (Pat Boone) vs.
"Crocodile Rock" (Elton John)
The wordless choruses of these two songs are so close to each other that I
suspect it must have been intentional.
* * * * * * * * *
"Hungry Heart" (Bruce Springsteen) vs.
"Getcha Back" (The Beach Boys)
You just gotta hear 'em back to back.
* * * * * * * * *
"Barrytown" (Steely Dan)
"Standing in for Joe" (XTC)
This is the most astonishing example of two songs that resemble each other.
It's much more obvious than "My Sweet Lord." Must be heard to be believed.
Brett
----------
Confirming your striddly fears since 2002!
Oriole Adams
permission.....but Back in the Day, when I was part of the Organization, I
heard "Ice Ice Baby" on the radio one day (early days, before it was a hit) and
phone Queen Productions. I described the tune and asked if they'd heard it.
"No" was the response, so I taped it off the radio next time I heard it and Fed
Ex'd it to England. A few days later I got a phone call from Queen
Management...."Brian May listened to the tape and said 'no worries, it's
crap.'"
Of course, time and record sales would eventually tell differently....
.:* feel smart again <a href="http://www.mentalfloss.com">mental floss</a>
Rick B.
Over"? ("If time were not a moving thing...") Sounded a whole lot like
Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" without the choruses.
The Kinks reportedly thought about suing the Doors over "Hello, I Love
You," thinking it too similar to "All Day And All Of The Night."
ObCecil: The curious case of "Be A Clown" and "Make 'Em Laugh":
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_365b.html
Rick B.
Greg Goss
>To get the ball rolling, I will list a few tunes I think are remiscent of other
>ones. I'd like you to do the same. Some (like "Ghostbusters" vs. "I Want a New
>Drug") have had their day in court. Others may strike you as nothing alike. I
>am here to solicit your own examples. Obscurities are OK. All of the examples
>below contain at least a portion that harkens back to an earlier song.
There was a popular country song to the melody of "Octopus's Garden"
in the early nineties, but I can remember nothing of the song except
feeling offended at the ripoff each time I heard it.
Bill Kinkaid
<mkoe...@spamhole.com> wrote:
>On or about Sun, 3 Nov 2002 02:58:31 GMT, pci...@TheWorld.com (Paul
>Ciszek) allegedly averred:
>
>>No plagerism because its in the public domain, but try listening to
>>(or singing) the Irish folksong "Little Beggarman" and the John
>>Denver song "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" back to back.
>
>You're recommending someone listen to "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" on
>*purpose*?
And it wasn't written by John Denver but by John Martin Sommers. You
can tell which one is the real country boy because he has two names.
Bill in Vancouver
Shalom Septimus
wrote:
>And it wasn't written by John Denver but by John Martin Sommers. You
>can tell which one is the real country boy because he has two names.
Well, so did Henry John Deutchendorf Jr. (alias Denver), he just didn't
put both of them on his record covers.
--
Shalom
GrapeApe
>>>(or singing) the Irish folksong "Little Beggarman" and the John
>>>Denver song "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" back to back.
>>
>>You're recommending someone listen to "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" on
>>*purpose*?
Life ain't nothing but a funny funny riddle....
Robert Goodman
news:20021102180637...@mb-fo.aol.com...
> "Arthur's Theme" (Christopher Cross) vs.
> "Even the Nights Are Better" (Air Supply)
>
> "Once in your life, you find her..."
> "Even the nights are better..."
>
> * * * * * * * * *
I didn't even realize those were 2 different songs. I'd thought they
were different arrangements or stanzas of one. OTOH, until recently I'd
thought 2 movements of "Heroica" were from different pieces, and that
one was a parody of the other; it STILL sounds like a parody, damn it!
In case you didn't see it in the other thread, my entry is "Love Potion
#9" and "You've Got to Change Your Evil Ways".
How about when 1 composer rips off hirself? I can think of 2 Phil
Spieler numbers used for NFL Films that are extremely similar. Recently
a TV commercial for IIRC a drug or drug co. had music that sounded like
one of the Phil Spielers in question, just with a little rubato and
counterpoint. Apply some rubato and counterpoint to a piece of music,
and probably few people will recognize the similarity unless prompted.
Robert
SoCalMike
"Robert Goodman" <rob...@bestweb.net> wrote in message
news:aq4ud2$6dctc$1...@ID-140940.news.dfncis.de...
> "Brett Bayne" <bret...@aol.commieplot> wrote in message
> news:20021102180637...@mb-fo.aol.com...
>
> > "Arthur's Theme" (Christopher Cross) vs.
> > "Even the Nights Are Better" (Air Supply)
> >
> > "Once in your life, you find her..."
> > "Even the nights are better..."
> >
> > * * * * * * * * *
> I didn't even realize those were 2 different songs.
my entries in that category are 2 songs from the same artist...
"when i hear music" and "look out weekend" by debbie deb
rick astley and kylie minogue used to have similar sounding songs as well,
but both were produced by stock/aiken/waterman, which would explain that.
>I'd thought they
> were different arrangements or stanzas of one. OTOH, until recently I'd
> thought 2 movements of "Heroica" were from different pieces, and that
> one was a parody of the other; it STILL sounds like a parody, damn it!
>
> In case you didn't see it in the other thread, my entry is "Love Potion
> #9" and "You've Got to Change Your Evil Ways".
then theres "mentirosa" by mellow man ace, that borrowed heavily from the
latter.
Rick B.
was all over the place..."What A Fool Believes" by the Doobie
Brothers, "Steal Away" by Robbie Dupree, "How Do I Survive" by Amy
Holland, a Gino's fast food commercial, and probably a bunch of others
I've mercifully forgotten. Who was ripping off who I'm not sure.
Oriole Adams
>was all over the place..."What A Fool Believes" by the Doobie
>Brothers, "Steal Away" by Robbie Dupree, "How Do I Survive" by Amy
>Holland,
Of course, the fact that Amy Holland was married to Michael McDonald might've
explained the similarity between two of the above-listed songs.
Oriole ~
Ernest T Bass
"Brett Bayne" <bret...@aol.commieplot> wrote in message
news:20021102180637...@mb-fo.aol.com...
How about:
Memories (from the musical Cats)
and
Blue Moon (the 50s song, "Blue moon, I saw you standing alone...)
Lesmond
>
>rick astley and kylie minogue used to have similar sounding songs as well,
>but both were produced by stock/aiken/waterman, which would explain that.
"Do you remember Rick Astley?
He had a big fat hit, it was ghastly."
-Nick Lowe, "All Men Are Liars"
__
I came to stay, but I got swept away.
Bill Kinkaid
<rob...@bestweb.net> wrote:
>"Brett Bayne" <bret...@aol.commieplot> wrote in message
>news:20021102180637...@mb-fo.aol.com...
>
>> "Arthur's Theme" (Christopher Cross) vs.
>> "Even the Nights Are Better" (Air Supply)
>>
>> "Once in your life, you find her..."
>> "Even the nights are better..."
>>
>were different arrangements or stanzas of one. OTOH, until recently I'd
>thought 2 movements of "Heroica" were from different pieces, and that
>one was a parody of the other; it STILL sounds like a parody, damn it!
>
>In case you didn't see it in the other thread, my entry is "Love Potion
>#9" and "You've Got to Change Your Evil Ways".
>
In ETNAB and AT the line in question is the refrain in one song and
the verse in the other. And it's seven notes.
In the other example it's five notes in LP#9 with two of them repeated
in EW. We're really getting picky here, aren't we? (though if George
Harrison can be successfully sued over three notes...)
Bill in Vancouver
Bill Kinkaid
Not that it isn't cribbed from something (the reason I can stand
listening to ALW's music at all is that it was good music the first
time it was written) but I don't see the connection here.
Bill in Vancouver
Brett Bayne
I can see a vague similarity between
"Memory" and "Blue Moon." They're not
that different melodically. Certainly not enough
to sue over. From the minute I first heard
"Memory," I suspected it was ripped off from
something. Maybe it just has kind of a "familiar"
ring to it?
I always enjoyed David Letterman's version:
"Midnight...and the kitties are sleeping..."
Brett
-----------
artyw
Mellencamp's "I fight authority and authority always wins" annoying
similar to "I faught the law and the law won, by the Bobby Fuller 4.
Then again, most everything Mellencamp sings annoys me. Not one of my
fonder Hoosier memories.
Dana Carpender
Lesmond wrote:
>
> On Mon, 04 Nov 2002 06:58:07 GMT, SoCalMike wrote:
>
> >
> >rick astley and kylie minogue used to have similar sounding songs as well,
> >but both were produced by stock/aiken/waterman, which would explain that.
>
> "Do you remember Rick Astley?
> He had a big fat hit, it was ghastly."
> -Nick Lowe, "All Men Are Liars"
"He said 'I'm never gonna give you up or let you down' --
Well, I'm here to tell you that Dick's a clown."
Great album, great song.
--
Dana W. Carpender
Author, How I Gave Up My Low Fat Diet -- And Lost Forty Pounds!
http://www.holdthetoast.com
Check out our FREE Low Carb Ezine!
Paul L. Madarasz
power chord intro as China Grove, and the Doobies did one of 'em and
Quicksilver did the other, first.
My brain isn't working well right now.
--
Paul L. Madarasz
Tucson, Baja Arizona
"How 'bout cuttin' that rebop?
-- S. Kowalski
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Pinckley Torres
I don't think anyone's mentioned these, forgive me if I missed 'em
The Strokes.........opening middle and closing guitar and drums of Last Night
ripped off from Tom Petty's American Girl
White Stripes.........most of the song is just a much speeded up ripoff of the
guitar break from Tom Petty's "Last Dance With Mary Jane"
........and everyone knows John Williams must have been listening to the old
Chevrolet commercial whilst he was "creating" the theme to Jurassic Park
Helgi Johannsson
Boron Elgar
Kerr-Mudd, John
--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.
Snidely
/dps "Hi, Helgi!"
--
But happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason
to 'be happy.'"
Viktor Frankl