# THIS song sound just like THAT song. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106 "2013-10-24T13:16:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/101 "2013-10-29T02:34:23Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > There is a crappy **Pretenders** song (_Don’t get me wrong_?) from late in the catalog when they really were pretending that sounds just like some crappy **Miami Sound Machine** song. I despise them both, and won’t go looking for links. That must be “[Words Get in the Way](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZ4SeK3Gos).” Don’t bother to thank me; I accept cash or checks. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/102 "2013-10-29T03:40:49Z")
Petula Clark’s [I Know a Place](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUKlvnIujXA) and the theme from [Sesame Street](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmcdBnj4ZOg). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/103 "2013-10-29T15:22:00Z")
Many of these are only vaguely similar, mostly from the beat structure. Especially ones based on traditional songs. > [@corkboard](#): > > I can’t link to them from here, but [What’s Up?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NXnxTNIWkc)(4 Non Blondes, 1992) is the same song as [Don’t Worry, Be Happy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU)(Bobby McFerrin, 1988). I’m not hearing it. Links added to aid comparison. > [@SykoSkotty](#): > > I hear huge similarities in the chorus of Lovin and Cherry Pie - not the lyrics, but the guitar riff. Some similarity but not the same. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/104 "2013-10-30T03:26:24Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > There is a crappy **Pretenders** song (_Don’t get me wrong_?) from late in the catalog when they really were pretending that sounds just like some crappy **Miami Sound Machine** song. I despise them both, and won’t go looking for links. The Pretender’s first verse of [I’ll Stand by You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuWAGT9ZkYE) is identical to Shakira’s first verse of [Estoy Aqui](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s01X7j-nOB0). ETA: Thanks to Mrs. Map for noticing this one! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/105 "2013-10-30T07:43:58Z")
[The first few measures of Dvorak’s New World Symphony: 4th Movement](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlMPh3AtBZY) and the theme from Jaws. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/106 "2013-10-30T10:56:28Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > The Doors’ [“Hello, I Love You”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzM71scYw0M) and the Kinks’ [“All Day and All of the Night.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yQRiEtxA5A) Not to mention the Kinks’ own [You Really Got Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk3Ei_yoI4c). For years I thought they \*were \*the same song… ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/107 "2013-10-30T11:08:20Z")
And French cult singer **Serge Gainsbourg** used one of the themes of the 1st movement in _Initiales BB_ ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuZklVrHspM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuZklVrHspM)). He also borrowed from **Brahms** and **Chopin** for other songs. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Tethered Kite > Part of Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” borrows identical tune and words from “Scarborough Fair” sung by Simon and Garfunkel. > > “She once was a true love of mine.” > > Edited for clarity: I’m not sure if he borrowed it from them. But they adapted it from a nineteenth century English folk song. The melody itself is much older than that. 16th or 17th century, I think. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by TreacherousCretin > > “Enter Sandman” by Metallica got its bass line from “Space Truckin” by Deep Purple. And the guitar riff from obscure late eighties crossover thrash-punk band **Excel**. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Wordman > > Madonna’s Express Yourself and GaGa’s Born This Way Talking of **GaGa** , _Alejandro_ sounds awfully close to one of **Ace of Base** ’s singles from the early nineties but I can’t pinpoint which one(_All that she wants_ perhaps?). ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/108 "2013-10-30T12:40:12Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Talking of **GaGa** , _Alejandro_ sounds awfully close to one of **Ace of Base** ’s singles from the early nineties but I can’t pinpoint which one(_All that she wants_ perhaps?). [Don’t Turn Around](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INi7srItF6g) is the one I think it sounds like. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/109 "2013-10-30T14:19:42Z")
Could be, I can’t check right now. All of **Ace of Base** ’s songs sounded a bit similar anyway. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/110 "2013-10-31T01:13:06Z")
[Any Dream Will Do](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKHDpT26FGk) from **Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat** and “[Ripple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m7aqU5DfvU)” by the Grateful Dead. “[A Little Priest](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atSbk0vLuRw&t=02m50s)” from Sweeney Todd and “[Valse](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHMGOYc8s_M&t=01m00s)” from Masquerade by Aram Khachuturian. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/111 "2013-10-31T03:07:32Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > How about the “Star Wars” theme and “Born Free.”? One is the other one, played upside down. I’ll never forget Victor Borgia appearing on Johnny Carson, sets some sheet music down on the piano, and plays “Born Free.” Then he turns the sheet music over, and plays “Star Wars.” Classic. The melodic intervals of the first two notes make an inversion (upside-down melody), it’s true. But then both have a descending triplet, followed by another descending figure of two notes like the beginning notes. However, the rhythms don’t quite match. Whereas the theme from _Lawrence of Arabia_ is rhythmically an exact match for _Born Free_, and while the opening two notes are a descending fourth in each, the triplet and following two notes form an exact melodic inversion, each descending interval in _Lawrence of Arabia_ matching up with an ascending interval in _Born Free_, and vice versa. I discovered this years ago, I wrote out the two melodies together on parallel staves and played them on the piano, and sure enough they form mirror images (except for the first two notes, which are a mirror image in _Star Wars_ to both of the other two). Maurice Jarre gets the props for first writing this melodic figure in 1962, while John Barry in 1966 and John Williams in 1977 cribbed off of him. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/112 "2013-10-31T03:20:33Z")
[BOBBY COMSTOCK LETS STOMP](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMdrHL-HgU) And Sweets [Ballroom Blitz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN9jTnxv0RU). Listen to the drum intro. Listen to the background guitar riffs. I’m surprised there wasn’t a lawsuit! ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/113 "2013-10-31T03:32:20Z")
There is a riff in Garbage’s [I Think I’m Paranoid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpRiSb_Ir-s) that is very similar to The American Breeds [Bend Me Shape Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CVJFQkPkCg). ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/114 "2013-10-31T04:13:44Z")
The famous riff from Lloyd-Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” sounds _suspiciously_ like a 1971 Pink Floyd song called [“Echoes”](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xkx4ia6Th1A). The DAAAAAA-da-da-da-da-DA-DAA-DAA part is distinctive. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/115 "2013-10-31T04:29:01Z")
That ten-note theme from Les Mis is pretty similar to “Danny Boy” (or London Derriere), if not sueably so. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/116 "2013-10-31T13:34:00Z")
David Hasselhoff had a song in the late 1980s called “Crazy for You”. If you listen to it, I probably don’t even need to tell you what it sounds like, but just in case… “YMCA” by the Village People ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/117 "2013-10-31T14:19:47Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > London Derriere If I could like this post, I would. There just aren’t enough Benny Hill references in general conversation… ---
**Author:** ![jimmijimmijimbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@jimmijimmijimbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmijimmijimbob)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/118 "2013-11-01T17:31:08Z")
Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between _Under the Bridge_ and _Stairway to Heaven?_ ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/119 "2013-11-12T13:39:21Z")
> [@jimmijimmijimbob](#): > > Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between _Under the Bridge_ and _Stairway to Heaven?_ I can see that. Similar structure – starts with arpegiatted guitar chords, folksy verses, introduce drums but keep it folksy, then finish up with a minute of rousing rock (with chord patterns based on i-flat VII-flat VI), then back to the folksy thing for the brief outro. A very different one I just noticed: James Gang’s [Funk #49](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_qHU_6Ofc0) (1970) – the main riff – and Kenny Loggins’ [Footloose](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq3Q3FfJkK4)(1984) – the chorus. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106/120 "2013-11-12T13:54:40Z")
When I was in my twenties and embraced Punk as a relief from over-polished Stadium & Yacht Rock: Rock was _not_ about skill. Before I knew it, I was 44, U2 released **Vertigo** , and I mentioned that it was the Supremes’ **You Keep Me Hanging On**. The twenty-somethings gave me dirty looks and reminded me that Rock is _not_ about originality, either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-song-sound-just-like-that-song/672106.md?page=7)