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Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you probably know by now that Coldplay has been accused of plagiarizing the tune used in the title track to their new album Viva La Vida. The band Creaky Boards claims members of Coldplay stopped in to one of their gigs in NYC and lifted their tune called “The Songs I Didn’t Write.” (Irony anyone?)
Whether the claim is accurate or not isn’t for us to say. We’ll let the legal system go to work on that one. But we can fill you in on a few other recent plagiarism claims. Ethan Trex did such a great job on this blog earlier this month writing about the time the Beach Boys pinched from Chuck Berry, so be sure to check that post out when you’re done clicking through the list below.
4. Beatle George Harrison was sued by the publishers of The Chiffons’ 1964 hit “He’s So Fine.” Apparently they thought the melody of his song “My Sweet Lord” was a wee bit too similar.
Ruling: After several years of litigation, a trial judge concluded that $1,599,987 of the whopping $2,152,028 the song had made to date was a reasonable sum owed The Chiffons’ publisher. Harrison, of course, appealed the case but the ruling was upheld.
Here are the two songs for you to decide:
“My Sweet Lord”“He’s So Fine”
3. In 2007 the 1970s band The Rubinoos sued Avril Lavigne alleging that her hit “Girlfriend” ripped off their song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.”
Ruling: Lavigne settled out of court and the lawsuit was dropped. Her lawyer, though, pointed out that settlement does not necessarily indicate an admission of copyright infringement. Here are the choruses of the two songs in question:
“Girlfriend”“I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
2. In 2005, Belgian composer Salvatore Acquaviva sued Madonna for lifting the melody from his song “My Life’s Getting Nowhere” for her 1998 hit “Frozen.” Said Acquaviva at the time of his court proceeding, “I was in the bath. I was listening to the radio, and thought that’s strange, I know that melody. I said it’s not possible.”
Ruling: The judge declined to award damages, but did order the withdrawal of all remaining discs for sale and barred the song from Belgian TV and radio airplay. The plagiarism in question consisted of the song’s opening four-bar theme.
Hear it now:
1. Also in 2007, Timbaland (Timothy Z. Mosley) was alleged to have plagiarized several elements of “Acid Jazzed Evening,” a song recorded in 2000 by Finnish artist Tempest, in his song for Nelly Furtado called “Do It.” In an interview, Timbaland admitted to what he called “sampling,” but he also claimed that sampling is “not stealing,” because “everybody samples from everybody every day.”
You can watch a detailed comparison in the clip below:
Ruling: the jury is still out
Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
It should be noted that even though Avril Lavigne stole that chorus from the Rubinoos, they had (allegedly) stolen it from the Rolling Stones song “get off my cloud”. Speaking of the stones, another of their songs, The Last Time, was lifted for the Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony. Its crazy how stuff like this happens… Anyway, great post, I really liked it!
-Josiah
posted by Josiah on 6-30-2008 at 9:43 am
Well, ColdPlay definitely used the melody from Kraftwerk’s “Computer Love” for their song “Talk”. Even though they supposedly used it by permission, there’s a suspicious history here.
The Harrison and Lavigne examples are especially blatant. I guess there’s the idea that “no one will notice”.
posted by Jim on 6-30-2008 at 11:28 am
Not to discredit the Chiffons but I think George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” is far superior to “He’s So Fine”, and has, IMHO, one of the most beautiful slide-guitar riffs ever. Similar melody, maybe a little if you are looking for it - but in reality the songs are very different. (I believe the court eventually ruled that it was “unconscious plagiarism”) I think Harrison, just like Lennon (who was also sued for “Come Together”) were easy targets because of their huge success.
I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Vanilla Ice’s rip off of “Under Pressure” by Freddie Mercury & David Bowie.
posted by Nerak on 6-30-2008 at 1:11 pm
I guess I’ve been living in a cave, because I didn’t know Coldplay was being sued. But then, I don’t listen to them, it’s a little to yuppie-hipster for me.
posted by Pearl on 6-30-2008 at 2:31 pm
Sorry, I just saw that you had briefly mentioned the Vanilla Ice one in the previous article. My mistake.
posted by Nerak on 6-30-2008 at 2:56 pm
There was actually a small argument that Bob Dylan had plagarized poetry lines in his latest album, Modern Times.
posted by Jenny on 6-30-2008 at 3:51 pm
I guess I thought this whole controversy was over years ago. Dollar bills aside, I think the music community has greatly benefitted by mashup culture, which is overt sampling and blending of previously recorded songs.
posted by Johnny Cat on 6-30-2008 at 8:22 pm
My favorite plagiarism story has to be John Fogerty getting accused of plagiarising himself… he wrote “Run Through the Jungle” for Creedence Clearwater Revival… but had signed over the rights to his music when he left the band. In 1985 he released a solo album, “Centerfield” and then was accused of copying his own music in the song “The Old Man Down The Road”. He originally argued that one could not plagiarize oneself… but even had to play guitar riffs from the two songs on the stand!
posted by Heather on 7-1-2008 at 12:26 am
I agree with Nerak, and not just because I’m biased in favor of any Beatle. My Sweet Lord is much better than He’s So Fine - even though I do like both songs. I love the lyrics and feeling behind My Sweet Lord, as well as the guitar riffs, that you just don’t get from He’s So Fine.
posted by Melodye on 7-1-2008 at 11:32 am
The Timbaland beat in question is such a common one that a million people could sue him for plagiarism. That’s just a band trying to get their name out there, and suing to do it. It’s a VERY simple beat.
posted by Crandal on 7-7-2008 at 4:47 pm
Avril Lavigne has done quite a lot more plagiarizing than just the stupid “girlfriend” song. Listen to the song “I’m the kinda” by Peaches, and then listen to Avril’s “I don’t have to try.” it is a carbon copy. Plus, any of the songs she did happen to write herself- which are not many- are also carbon copies of songs by Pink, Nickelback, Coldplay, etc.
posted by Mindymoo on 7-26-2008 at 2:23 am
Tom Petty pursued legal action against The Red Hot Chili Peppers because one of their newer songs sounds suspiciously like “Last Dance With Mary Jane”.
So what, you say?
Both songs had the same producer. Google it and you’ll find sites that have audio clips of both. It seemed pretty blatant to me after I heard them.
posted by PhineusQButterfat on 7-29-2008 at 10:33 am
Notice any similarities… The movie Music and Lyrics came out a year before Mystery Jets came out with this song…
Check out Music & Lyrics - “Way Back Into Love” full version and Mystery Jets - “Young Love”
posted by passion78259 on 8-19-2008 at 12:55 am