Although one might not say that songs based on the blues progression are “stolen” from a particular song, the other predominant jazz chord progression are the “rhythm changes”, known as such because they are based on Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”.
Marc Sabatella’s great online improvisation manual has a page detailing this further:
The 1965 Hindi mystery movie Gumnaam had songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar, the much-beloved “Songbird of India” (who has sold more copies of hit songs than anyone else in the world). When I listened to the soundtrack, I was shocked to hear the ghost song “Gumnâm hai koî” (Is There Anyone Nameless?).
The melody is lifted exactly, note for note, from Henry Mancini’s “Charade.” The only difference is the time signature switched from 3/4 to 4/4. Did they credit Mancini? No.
The song is credited to Naushad, the greatest maestro of Hindi film music from the 1940s through the 1970s. I still can’t believe an artist of his stature would pull such a shameless ripoff of another composer’s work.
History repeats itself. In 1980 Yoko Ono’s song on Double Fantasy, “I’m Your Angel”, lifted the melody note for note from the classic “Makin’ Whoopee” by W. Donaldson & Gus Kahn. The record producer Sam Geffen tried to persuade Ono not to change the time signature from 3/4 to 4/4 so the similarity wouldn’t be so obvious, but she insisted on doing it in 4/4. Supposedly the copyright holders were going to sue, but she settled quietly out of court. The irony(?) is that “Makin’ Whoopee” had been recorded by Harry Nilsson shortly before John Lennon started boozing around with him after Yoko threw him out.
I’m pretty sure that “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones both have the exact same guitar riff.
Also, “School Days” by Chuck Berry and “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys always sounded a little bit to similiar for my tastes.
I’m no musician, but when I heard the verse to this lame ass Bangles song, I said Prince should sue the pants off the idiot who wrote this travesty since it so closely mimics the verse to “1999”. It turns out Prince wrote it himself, though it’s officially credited (blamed?) to someone named “Christopher”. I guess self-plagarism is OK with the purple one.
“La Bamba” and “Twist and Shout”
I remember Doctor Demento had a segment on his show that addressed this too. I have no idea what he is doing now.
Click here to find out.
Cheers,
Hodge
Actually, “Surfin’ USA” uses the music from “Sweet Little 16” by Chuck Berry. At least in this instance Mr. Berry is given credit for it (although I understand he had to sue to get it). A lot of stuff Chuck Berry did sounds very much alike, but in this case it’s definitely “Sweet Little 16” and not “School Days”.
On the other hand if what you really meant is “School Days” and “Surfin’ USA” are too similar for your tastes, then listening to “Sweet Little 16” and “Surfin’ USA” back to back will make you physically ill.
Oh, I’m pretty sure “Louie Louie” and “Wild Thing” use the same changes as well.
Under Pressure by Queen/Bowie is completely different from anything done by Vanilla Ice, such as “Ice, Ice, Baby”. I mean there’s an extra note in there and everything.
And there’s some Black Sabbath tune that my little brother once made me listen to that I immediately realized had the same changes (but played must slower) as the chorus of “I Will Survive”!
“Lit Up” by Buckcherry (one of my favorite songs) takes the main riff from a KISS song called “Shock Me” from Love Gun. It’s uncanny how the songs can sound very different, with almost the exact same chords. Just thought I’d add another to the ever-growing list.
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You - Zeppelin
25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago
Brain Stew - Green Day
Last Resort - Papa Roach
I think Brain Stew and Last Resort may be exactly the same. Listen to em sometime.
Almost every Blink 182 song I’ve heard has some variation of I-V-vi-IV. Come to think of it, almost every pop-punk song goes like that.
An quick hijack concerning Black Sabbath…the Cardigans, of all folks, have done at least two (and probably more) SUPERB Black Sabbath covers (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Iron Man). It seems that their guitarist and main songwriter was always a die-hard metal fan and wanted to be a kick-ass heavy metal rocker ever since he was a wee boy. That’s what I heard, anyway. At any rate, the songs are redone and rearranged, which in my opinion is essential if you’re going to do an effective cover (because why record the same song exactly as it’s already been done) and I like the weird friction between Nina Persson’s sweet little girl voice and Ozzy Osbourne lyrics like “The people who have crippled you, you want to see them burn.”
But if you don’t like that sort of thing, it will probably make you want to kill some Swedes in a big way.
Back to the main topic…it occurred to me that one of the things that can influence one’s opinion of whether two sounds are identical is whether the person is just LISTENING to them or PLAYING them. When you’re left all alone with your acoustic guitar, a lot of songs get stripped down to very basic elements and similar patterns jump out that wouldn’t necessarily be obvious if you were just hearing the song as it was originally recorded. No?
Wow, hardly close…
In My Life:
I V vi-I7 IV iv I (2)
vi IV VIIb viib I
vi II iv I
Stand By Me:
I vi IV V I (3) [i.e., verse and chorus chords identical]
The passing chords give “In My Live” a completely different feel, despite the presence of some chords in common with “Stand By Me.” The changes also occur in different places in the rhythm.
It’s really just the riff, not the whole song. If that counts, how about Jessica Simposn’s “I Think I’m in Love With You”? That’s an even more blatant riff-off (sorry, bad pun) of “Jack & Diane”.
Kyomara:
Yeah, different versions can accentuate the similarities. I have an instrumental version of “Penny Lane” that sounds surprisingly like the Indiana Jones theme.
IJGrieve- YES! That’s the song and band I was thinking of. It drove me nuts when I first heard cause I had to rack my brain to figure out what song the verse sounded almost exactly like.
I always thought “Enola Gay” by the Electric Light Orchestra sounded a bit like Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” At least the verse melody.
The Monster Magnet tune ‘Space Lord’ cops a riff from Sabbath’s ‘N.I.B.’. There’s also a bit in ‘Give it Away Now’ by the Red Hot Chili Peppers that sounds like ‘Sweet Leaf’.
My favorite entry in this category (there was even a lawsuite over it) is Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven is a Place on Earth” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer.” Although the former is in a major key and the latter in a minor, the arrangement and the bridge and chorus melodies are nearly identical.