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Olivier Group: Super Admins Posts: 1868 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: Jan. 21 2008, 19:48 I've listed 3 plagiarisms on my blog, with samples proving my accusations. http://kebawe.com/2008/01/07/good-artists-copy-great-artists-steal/ Superstition, Stevie Wonder 1972 = Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel 1986 The Revolution, Chris de Burgh 1982 = Revolutions, Jean-Michel Jarre 1988 Echoes, Pink Floyd 1971 = The Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber 1986 Any other ones you can think of? Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: Jan. 22 2008, 05:18 There's a tune in Elgar's Caractacus that remarkably resembles 'Oh My Darling Clementine'. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Jan. 22 2008, 17:51 A section of the melody to Dario G's "Carnaval de Paris" is identical to the chorus of "Amico è" by Dario Baldan Bembo, re-done in French (and with greater success, I think) by Céline Dion as "Hymne à l'amitie". And a 1960s song made famous by Phil Collins, "A groovy kind of love", is identical to Ivan Graziani's "Agnese" (they both stole from the same source, a 1600s rondeau by Muzio Clementi). These are the ones that are springing to my mind right now, as there are literally hundreds... There also was a bit of rather famous controversy, some time ago, surrounding a Michael Jackson song, "Will you be there?", which Italian singer/songwriter Albano Carrisi (a.k.a. Al Bano) claimed to be identical to his own "I cigni di Balaka". It was - as with the Collins/Graziani thing, Carrisi and Jackson had both stolen the melody from one source, namely an old 1930s spiritual... -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Holger Group: Members Posts: 1506 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: Jan. 23 2008, 04:15 Makes me think of something funny I saw on YouTube: Pachelbel Rant Also, I found this series about musical plagiarism. Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: Jan. 23 2008, 13:40 The Rod Stewart / Jorge Ben example was the first one that popped in my mind - I'm not surprised it was the first one in the video above. The nice thing is that Jorge proved the plagiarism and got what he was owed. One weird thing is that Cat Stevens receives royalties for the Flaming Lips' track Fight Test, because the label executives thought the song was similar to Father and Son. Also, the Lips' song Shine On Sweet Jesus echoes the verse melody of Baby, You're a Rich Man - but the Lips' song is so laughably superior that I never managed to make the link, until I read about it. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: Jan. 23 2008, 15:22 Isn't Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal" the song which starts up the famous Disco Samba medley? "Peh peh, pe-pe-pe peh / Peh peh, pe-pe-pe peh / Peh peh, pe-pe-pe peh / Pe-peh" ? Strangely enough, I've never made the link with the Rod Stewart hit, this being the first time I've ever read about it. @ Alan: the use of folk tunes by classical composers is fairly common. Just think of Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien or Respighi's Pines of Rome. They're almost entirely built on Italian folk tunes. Back on topic: an Italian song by Patty Pravo called "Pigramente signora" was so similar to a Pete Seeger song (whose title I don't remember right now) that it actually was a cover of it. But it was never credited as such. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Sir Mustapha Group: Musicians Posts: 2802 Joined: April 2003 Posted: Jan. 23 2008, 19:57 Quote (Ugo @ Jan. 23 2008, 15:22) Isn't Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal" the song which starts up the famous Disco Samba medley? "Peh peh, pe-pe-pe peh / Peh peh, pe-pe-pe peh / Peh peh, pe-pe-pe peh / Pe-peh" ? Strangely enough, I've never made the link with the Rod Stewart hit, this being the first time I've ever read about it. Judging by your onomatopoeic description, I think you're right. Holger's second link will clarify it better - it's the first example it shows. I remember reading about that issue on a random newspaper article I bumped upon, a few years ago. If you're willing to go looking for more "classic" cases, there's George Harrison's My Sweet Lord (which was decided to have been 'unintentionally copied' from the Chiffons' He's So Fine), and Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, which borrows a bit from Spirit's Taurus... but if we're gonna talk about Led Zeppelin, we'll have a long talk. -------------- Check out http://ferniecanto.com.br for all my music, including my latest albums: Don't Stay in the City, Making Amends and Builders of Worlds. Also check my Bandcamp page: http://ferniecanto.bandcamp.com Back to top

Holger Group: Members Posts: 1506 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: Jan. 24 2008, 03:01 Quote (Holger @ Jan. 23 2008, 10:15) Also, I found this series about musical plagiarism. OK, now that I've actually gotten around to watching the whole thing (well, the first part... only had had a quick look when I posted it), it strikes me as funny what some people will call a plagiarism. While some of the examples are actually quite close (the Chili Peppers / Tom Petty thing for instance - but then, I could well believe that Petty "plagiarized" that from someone in the first place, as it's quite a generic type of thing anyway - indeed, isn't it somewhat reminiscent of "Summer in the City"?), in other cases the connections seem rather flimsy to me. For example, the "Thriller" thing - it is somewhat similar musically and it's also noteworthy that it seems to have a similar theme, and it may actually have served as an inspiration - but calling it a "plagiarism" seems like quite a stretch to me. (Also, I find it hard to believe that the supposed "original" should be from 1966, judging from the sound of it.) Back to top

Alan D Group: Members Posts: 3670 Joined: Aug. 2004 Posted: Jan. 24 2008, 04:13 Quote (Ugo @ Jan. 23 2008, 20:22) the use of folk tunes by classical composers is fairly common. When I wrote my comment, it hadn't occurred to me that 'Clementine' is a folk tune - but of course you're right, Ugo - it is a traditional song and so doesn't really count. However, having said that, I think the resemblance in Elgar's case is accidental. He didn't deliberately use the 'Clementine' tune (in the way that Vaughan Williams or someone might have done) - and in fact it isn't really the same - just has similarities. Back to top

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