Something borrowed
[T]he single, “24 Hour Breakup Session,” is the best rewrite of the Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night” since the Doors hacked up “Hello, I Love You.”
Which is not intended as a slam on Local H: it’s an excellent song. When I first noticed this, I began singing “Hello, I Love You” over the “Breakup Session” outro, and pointed out the similarities to Trini. “Doesn’t mean they plagiarized it,” I said; “hell, this stuff is forty years old now.”
Shortly thereafter, there arrived in my mailbox an MP3 of Local H performing “Hello, I Love You” live. Okay, so it’s not like they never heard this chord progression before.
This has become almost a parlor game for us, finding songs that sound a lot like other songs. I think the first one we hit upon was “Falling Down,” by Atreyu, which has a distinct “Radar Love” rhythm to it. (Her ear for bass lines is way better than mine.) I explained to her how George Harrison got sued for plagiarism, and I noted that there are lots of examples of bits of songs that seem to have originated elsewhere: Melissa Manchester’s “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” was echoed in Madonna’s “Material Girl,” and it’s impossible for me to hear “C’est La Vie” by Shania Twain without hearing Abba’s “Dancing Queen.”
Still, we hadn’t come across anything quite this blatant:
We’d previously checked “Viva La Vida” against Creaky Boards’ “The Songs I Didn’t Write” and had noticed some similarities. (Here’s the Creaky Boards position, since retracted.) Joe Satriani, however, is actually suing Coldplay.
I found the video at Patterico’s, along with this astute comment: “This isn’t a surprise. As lefty enviromentalists, Coldplay is into recycling.”
Kay Dennison »
7 December 2008 · 2:47 pm
I think it’s right and just. There’s a vast gorge between artistic license and plagiarism. I’d be more surprised if Satriani wasn’t suing.
unimpressed »
7 December 2008 · 5:11 pm
Hrm. The linked video/photo(?) doesn’t work for me.