Is Amy Grant's "Every Heartbeat" a plagiarism of Madonna's "True Blue"?

Cafe Society
1

I just realized that the song Every Heartbeat by Amy Grant sounds a great deal like True Blue by Madonna. Additionally, Amy Grant actually sings the line “my river runs true blue” in her song. It seems pretty transparent to me that the later song, which came out in 1991, is a ripoff of Madonna’s, which was released in 1986.

Has anyone else taken note of this?

2

Actually, the lyric is
“My red blood runs true blue” - it’s a play off of the colors.

And to the question in the OP - no. No more than any other pop song about love is a ripoff of every other pop song about love.

3

Trust me, if Madonna thought that someone had plagiarized one of her songs, she would have had an army of lawyers on the case in, um, a heartbeat.

And no, I don’t hear that much of a similarity.

4

As a huge Madonna fan AND someone who played Amy Grant’s Heart in Motion* cassette continuously as a pre-teen, I can confidently say these songs are nothing alike. First of all, the Amy Grant song is set up like a courtroom scene.

Here we speak what’s on our minds
Let me give this testimony
We affirm that you will find
That you are my one and only

Amy’s heartbeat in this context, is in fact the star witness of the ‘‘case.’’ Because each heartbeat bears the name of her lover, we are assured that she is really in love.

The Madonna song, on the other hand, is basically about having had a million guys

(I’ve had other lips
I’ve sailed a thousand ships)

but this one finally being True Love.

(But I never knew love before 'til you walked through my door)

Madonna’s song doesn’t really have a gimmick, it’s just a story about finally finding love after a long and arduous search.

The only similarity is when Amy says, ‘‘My red blood runs true blue’’ - but ‘‘true blue’’ not even the focal point of the song, just part of the chorus - she is referring specifically to her circulatory system, you know, because of the heartbeat. It’s all about the heartbeat.

I hope that helps.

*It’s a good album, guys. Srsly.

5

Couldn’t let this thread pass without this song.

6

I never would have thought of it if you hadn’t brought it up but if I listen to the instrumental and not the singing, I can totally hear it. I think on that level it might be considered ripped off; I’m not knowledgable enough about music to analyze the similarities. With the vocals I don’t really notice.