Not every problem results in a lawsuit. For all we know, the publishers of the songs could have worked out a deal between themselves in private. Or not.
Kid Rock’s All Summer Long sounds just like Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London. Plus sampling of Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama.
It’s probably the closest mainstream country will currently get to alluding to gay themes. Even if they’re really not.
When that came out, I remember Kid Rock mentioning that he listened to Werewolves of London and Sweet Home Alabama and noticed the similarities, so he wrote the song in a similar vein. I’m curious if he had to get permission from or pay royalties to the other two songwriters (or song owners, now). I suppose one or both of the other owners might grant permission, realizing that if his song became popular, it might result in renewed interest in the Zevon and Skynyrd songs, too.
That “country music” mashup linked about always makes me sad. Most current country music is absolute crap, with the same lyrics and song structures. Thank goodness for some decent bands like Whiskey Myers, Turnpike Troubadours, Dirty River Boys and Red Meat.
Interesting, since Sweet Home Alabama was itself a response to Neil Young’s Southern Man.
Well, you are onto something here.
The composers of Werewolves of London are listed as:
MARINELL LEROY P
WACHTEL ROBERT T
ZEVON WARREN
The composers of All Summer long are listed as:
KING EDWARD C
MARINELL LEROY P
RITCHIE ROBERT J
ROSSINGTON GARY ROBERT
SHAFER MATTHEW
VANZANT RONALD W
WACHTEL WADDY
ZEVON WARREN
Waddy Wachtel and Robert Wachtel seem to be the same person.
And the composers of Sweet Home Alabama:
KING EDWARD C
ROSSINGTON GARY ROBERT
VANZANT RONNIE
Isn’t Girl Crush the song that many country stations refused to play? They were afraid that their redneck listeners would turn gay just from hearing it. This despite the fact that the song isn’t actually about being gay.
Sentences 1 and 3 are correct. Sentence 2 should be changed to: They were getting complaints from homophobic rubes who misunderstood the song, much as those who think Springsteen’s “Born In The USA” is a pro-military, patriotic song.
I imagine country radio stations will play anything that attracts listeners and boosts ratings. They were concerned that Girl Crush would do the opposite. I actually like the song. It is an interesting spin on a love song, and has a nice vocal.
The time signatures are different, as well.* Heartache* is in 4/4 time and Girl Crush is in 6/8 time. There are, as has been noted, melodic similarities but that harmonic progression is common as lint.
The country mash-up is hysterically funny. I love the line about drinking “home-made wine.” It’s lines like these (and they happen in a lot of different genres) that exercise my eye muscles.
Robert Earl Keen wrote The Road Goes On Forever in 1989. Toby Keith “wrote” Bullets in the Gun in 2010.
Keen noted the similarities, commenting “But you know what they say about people from Oklahoma: They’ll steal your hat and help you look for it.” Instead of filing a lawsuit, he wrote The Road Goes On and On.
Similar melody contour and chord structure; “It’s a Heartache” is in 4/4 (or equivalent) whereas “Girl Crush” is clearly in 3/4. ETA: or 6/8 as MonkeyMensch said above.
Or even 12/8 if you want to notate it that way (that was my first instinct, but 6/8 might be better. Regardless, the sheet music online seems to be split between 12/8 or 6/8). Hell, you can even write it out in 4/4 if you wanted to, by using triplets. The time signature difference isn’t really a big deal, though. It’s usually not that difficult to take a song in 3 and make it 4 or vice versa. There are some songs I play in 3/4 or 4/4 depending on my mood, but the song is still recognizably the same song. That said, it is a difference to be noted.
That doesn’t make any difference. “Down Under” was ruled to have plagiarized “The Kookaburra Song” based solely on a very brief part of the chorus. “Blurred Lines”, egregiously, was ruled guilty of plagiarizing Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” based solely on the “feel” of the song, not the content itself.
I’ve noticed that many recent high-profile lawsuits are being brought not by the writers themselves, but by the inheritors of their estates – “Stairway to Heaven” vs. “Taurus”, plus the two previously mentioned examples. The writers of “It’s a Heartache” (Ronnie Scott & Steve Wolfe) are still alive, so maybe we’ll have to wait until their kids inherit before there’s a lawsuit?
It’s kind of funny because, listening to it, I was thinking: “So, you got a girl crush and you wanna taste her lips ? Mmmm, that’s interes … SNOOZE …”.
The kookaburra tune is very short so although the flute riff in Downunder makes up a relatively small part of the song it contains a full 25% of the kookaburra song. The riff also repeats throughout the song and is very recognisable. That said, I think going after writers for this kind of plagiarism is stupid and I’m not advocating for it.
I’d swear that crap “Pretenders” (true in so many ways) Don’t Get Me Wrong is the same song as some equally shitty Miami Sound Machine dance tune.
Despise both of them!
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - King of Swing (1994/1998) about 70 seconds in
The Pogues (yes, really) - Gridlock (1989) about 90 seconds in
I guess they could be both based on a common swing motif. See also: Amen break.
That reminds me of this exchange you and I had back in 2013 in this thread:
It’s a bit different, but they both remind me of “Sing Sing Sing,” by Benny Goodman.
And, similar obligatory link to the Four Chord Song.