This song sounds almost exactly like THAT song!

Cafe Society
81

A couple I got from my years as a Kiss fanatic:
Buckcherry’s song “Lit Up” has basically the same guitar part as Kiss’ “Shock Me” from *Love Gun *or *Alive II *(but please, for the love of Og, stay away from any version you might hear with Tommy Thayer singing lead).
Kiss borrowed a little from Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” for “She.” Eric Singer (current and former Kiss drummer) and Bruce Kulick (former Kiss guitarist, now with Grand Funk) were briefly part of a project called ESP (Eric Singer Project) and made an album with a cover of “Foxy Lady” in which they made the similarities obvious enough for almost anyone to catch.

ETA: Yeah, can’t access YouTube from here, or I’d post links… not that I think most people are that interested in Kiss.

82

how about “my sweet lord” and “he’s so fine”

identical melodies

83

The Strokes stole the opening riff for “Last Nite” from Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”

84

I was going to say He’s so Fine and My Sweet Lord as well, but thought it wasn’t mentioned because it’s too obvious.

85

There was a programme on BBC Radio a while back about this very subject, called It’s the Same Old Song. Some that I remember from it:

Elastica - Waking Up
vs.
The Stranglers - No More Heroes (I think there might even have been lawyers involved there)

Elastica again, more blatantly - Connection
vs.
Wire - Three Girl Rhumba (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2hstt2rQjY)

Oasis - Shakermaker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3OO2sWelNs)
vs.
I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing

k.d. lang - Constant Craving
vs.
Rolling Stones - Anybody Seen My Baby

Some of these are admittedly more in the “spookily similar riff” vein rather than being basically the same song. There were more examples in that programme such as the aforementioned Killing Joke/Nirvana one. I’ll see if I can dig out the recording.

86

“Jeepster” by T. Rex owes a lot to Howlin’ Wolf’s “You’ll Be Mine”.

87

And Dvorak’s New World Symphony, no?

88

Opening parts of DeGarmo & Key’s “Rebel for God” and Whitecross’ “When the Walls Tumble” are pretty identical, but I wouldn’t expect you to know either song unless you’re into 80s Christian metal …

89

There’s a live version of Orbital’s ‘Halcyon and on and on’ that mixes both these songs in near the end (around 5:20).

90

Obvious to the point that George Harrison was sued for copyright infringement and lost. I believe he ultimately conceded the similarity but said that it was not an intentional imitation.

91

The opening of the Indigo Girls’ “Tried to Be True” always reminded me of The Who’s “Don’t Let Go the Coat”. I used to listen to a radio station that had both songs on its playlist, and it often took me a few seconds to figure out which one I was hearing.

Part of Leonard Cohen’s oft-covered “Hallelujah” sounds like Elvis’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” to me. Wikipedia tells me that the melody of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” was borrowed from the French classical song “Plaisir d’Amour”, so it actually predates Elvis by more than a century.

A couple of years ago there was some new song that I always thought was a cover of a Rolling Stones song until the lyrics kicked in, but I’m afraid I can’t remember what the two songs were. :o

I learned from Pop-Up Video that the Stones noticed the resemblance before the song was released, and hastily added lang to the songwriting credits (thus granting her a slice of the royalties) to head off any potential lawsuit. lang reportedly said she was very flattered to have been considered an influence.