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Songs that rip off other songs.

Famous examples everyone knows would be something like My Sweet Lord by George Harrison nicking some melody from He's So Fine by The Chiffons (which they successfully sued for), and The Verve stealing the strings from a version of a Rolling Stones' The Last Time (again which they had to cough up for in the end).

Any other examples?

Not ones which give credit to the tracks they borrow from (How You Satisfy Me by Spectrum which I posted the other day borrows a section from I Can't Let Go by Evie Sands - but Sonic openly admitted that and it was in the credits and so on), but songs that people try to get away with that steal from others.

I'll get things started with one which I only just found out about, but some people might know. Led Zep are getting sued - and apparently thisisn't a sudden thing, it's been talked about for years - by the bass player from the band Spirit, because Stairway To Heaven apparently gets its intro from their song Taurus. I can see what he means too...

Spirit - Taurus (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd8AVbwB_6E#t=107

I won't bother posting Stairway - you all know how it goes.

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Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

We did this once before. Here were the ones I suggested last time:

Armitage Shanks ... Shirts Off / Buzzcocks ... Fast Cars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5KdJuCGwk0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW49tFZPCF4

Adam & The Ants ... Prince Charming / Rolf Harris ... War Canoe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p__WmyAE3g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvzobDENcF0

Deep Purple ... Black Night / Ricky Nelson ... Summertime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHlODWd4GeM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fu3jd05R-I

T.Rex ... Jeepster / Howlin' Wolf ... You'll Be Mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-G7-yLFmCQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLGgVRMk0Rg

The Long Blondes... Christmas Is Cancelled / Elvis Costello ... Oliver's Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4s76oLcPTo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVwrrkt22Ag

The Rolling Stones ... The Last Time / The Last Time (traditional gospel standard)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM2b9CcH1KM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1jGF-6bFpI
When The Verve sampled an orchestral version of The Last Time for Bittersweet Symphony and were made to pay all their royalties to Mick & Keef, Keef said something like "serves them right, should've written their own song instead of ripping off one of ours"!

And here's a few more:

The Beach Boys ... Surfin' USA / Chuck Berry ... Sweet Little Sixteen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4slliAtQU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLV4NGpoy_E

Elastica ... Connection / Wire ... Three Girl Rhumba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilKcXIFi-Rc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja2NXS3njXs

Elastica ... Line Up / Wire ... I Am The Fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Y7vH2XsAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnIXXe83fe4

Elastica ... Waking Up / The Stranglers ... No More Heroes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipsBL7IBwzY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6yTRq_rJg4

Nirvana ... Come As You Are / Killing Joke ... Eighties
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqN0ZOEO9oI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1U1Ue_5kq8

The Jam ... Start / The Beatles ... Taxman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSqpT6gfDU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqK97av7I3s

The Kinks ... Holiday In Wakiki / The Rolling Stones ... 19th Nervous Breakdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDqfywQua5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU1kTuVSUOw

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

I thought Start was acknowledged to be a rip off?

Anyway - Elastica: Me@nswear were accused of ripping off Connected for their track Daydreamer.

Talking of Me@nswear - see if you can guess which song called Paperback Writer they might have been listening to when they wrote this one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vICR80UFv8g

_________________
Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

_________________
Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys - Ida Red Likes The Boogie (1938)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSPbTL0 ... redirect=1

Chuck Berry - Maybelline (1955)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75RiHJGfyUE

_________________
Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

Johnny Clarke ... None Shall Escape The Judgement / Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers... Egyptian Reggae
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czpk40mlxFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdZAQwIMx7k

_________________
Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

The main melody of the latter is the bass line of the former.

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

The opening line of Black Box Recorder's Goodnight Kiss:


The chorus for Wig in a Box from Headwig and the Angry Inch


Tenuous I know, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's a nod.

The Montanas ... Difference Of Opinion / Hüsker Dü ... Terms Of Psychic Warfare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVnJ-t-zLRE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amaZcOsVMIY

_________________
Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

Pulp - Common People - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM

Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHo233RntO4

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Crazy haired surfin' slacker

While we're at it then...

Pulp - Disco 2000 (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGExYuth-WE

Laura Branigan - Gloria (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXx0pWpszKg

_________________
Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

_________________
Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

And:

New Order - Love Vigilantes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlHQSIMHqjA

Lightning Seeds - Pure (towards the end sounds like the start of the above)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6myNbk15sMs

And New Order got sued for this:

John Denver - Leaving On A Jet Plane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBKOcUbHR0

New Order - Run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpC0JT7nEc

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If Ian Curtis had lived, and enjoyed the ale…

- -

The Sweet ... Blockbuster / David Bowie ... The Jean Genie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQj9Gbr2hx8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQo6zpVzt8

_________________
Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

Pink Floyd's Intersellar Overdrive (1967) was written from Syd Barrett trying to play a song that the band's manager was humming to him, so there is a little similarity with the intros.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o2sA0vpA-4


That song was My Little Red Book by Love (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-SuGfLhqo4

_________________
Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

I guess this counts - although (I haven't checked, but I think) both were written by the same team (Barry, Greenwich - with Spector on the second version) so it could just be an idea taken to the next level.

The Shirelles - I Met Him On A Sunday (1958)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWHcROtzeks

The Crystals - Da Doo Ron Ron (1963)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSpwxz8s0NU

_________________
Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

After Brazil v Colombia last night, I flipped over to BBC4 and caught a bit of a program about Neil Sedaka. My girlfriend commented on the similarity between the verse melody of Neil's big 70s comeback song Laughter In The Rain and Waterloo Sunset, something I'd never noticed before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J3gX47rHGg&feature=kp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsYIiY2wnyU

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

Bonnie Prince Billy - One With the Birds

The Byrds - Hickory Wind

I assume this one's deliberate.

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Pukka Pie pest

Embrace the margin
Always Changing at Retford http://sptxx.tumblr.com/
Not Changing at Retford http://sptxx2.tumblr.com/

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Crazy haired surfin' slacker