 Panzerfaust  | 19 Aug 2009 9:45 p.m. PST |
I was talking with my friend the other day, who is an amateur musician and song writer, about plagiarism in rock and roll. A recent radio interview had brought it to mind. Anyway, I told him about Rod Stewart being sued (years ago) by a Brazilian artist named Jorge Ben Jor who claims that the chorus of Stewart's "Do you think I'm Sexy" was ripped off from his song "Taj Mahal". My friend countered with the claim that George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" was a rip off of the Chiffon's "He's so Fine". YouTube link YouTube link YouTube link YouTube link We listened to all four songs and came to totally opposite conclusions. I just don't see the sameness of He's so Fine and My sweet Lord. Sure, they have a very trivial similarity but are certainly not the same. On the other hand the Rod Stewart rip off is so painfully obvious that I don't see how anyone can question it. In my mind the musical sense of my friend is seriously in question, or perhaps just his intellectual honesty. After all, he is a Rod Stewart fan and may be defending him. Who is right, me or my friend? |
| kyoteblue | 19 Aug 2009 9:53 p.m. PST |
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| Buff Orpington | 20 Aug 2009 3:59 a.m. PST |
George Harrison was forced to pay up over He's So Fine/My Sweet Lord. |
| nycjadie | 20 Aug 2009 4:35 a.m. PST |
When I was young, I came to learn that every Rod Stewart song I liked was written by someone else who sang and arranged it much better than he did. |
| Photonred | 20 Aug 2009 5:48 a.m. PST |
Listening to both it sure sounds to me like Rod, and George "borrowed" the music for their respective songs. |
| Klebert L Hall | 20 Aug 2009 6:19 a.m. PST |
Most art is derivative of other art. People should get the hell over it.
-Kle. |
| Who asked this joker | 20 Aug 2009 6:29 a.m. PST |
The suit was specifically on the melody. It was pretty dumb. |
| lugal hdan | 20 Aug 2009 7:27 a.m. PST |
Though it's not plagiarism, it irked me that Rod Stewart got so much mileage over his remake of Robbie Robertson's "Broken Arrow" song a few years back. And Robbie's was by far the better version! |
| richarDISNEY | 20 Aug 2009 7:44 a.m. PST |
I am still head over heels over the Prince's 1999 and Phil Collins' Sussudio…. Oh the humanity… ( I just don't hear it…) link 
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| Eclectic Wave | 20 Aug 2009 7:46 a.m. PST |
Oh the best case of plagiarism was when John Fogerty got sued by his old record label Fantasy Records, that he plagiarized the song "Run through the Jungle" when he wrote the song "Old man down the road". Note that John Fogerty wrote "Run through the Jungle", so Fantasy Records (who had the rights to CCR works at the time) sued John Fogerty for plagiarizing himself. John won the suit of course, but it actually went to trial, and John had to go through legal procedings for years. |
 John the OFM | 20 Aug 2009 7:51 a.m. PST |
I think all these music plagiarism suits are lame. Just how many note combinations are there?
"Did you ever listen to the radio in the years from 1960 to 1986?" |
| mad monkey 1 | 20 Aug 2009 12:57 p.m. PST |
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 20thmaine | 01 Sep 2009 6:54 p.m. PST |
The best potential law suit was Geffen's threat to neil Young for recording albums that didn't sound like Neil Young. (he had a point though. Trans, still makes me shiver) |
begins to think about terrain for Team Yankee.