Songs that sound like each other (lyric, pop, gospel, player)

[mike0421]

The premise of this is simple. What songs, either intentionally, or by accident, have been almost completely copied, either by melodic or lyrical borrowing. Example: I was listening to a song I hadn't previously heard, "Goodbye Mr. A" by a British pop band, The Hoosiers. Here's the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNNf...layer_embedded

As I was listening, I thought to myself, this seems to be almost a carbon copy of the ELO song "Mr. Blue Sky" that I remember from my early years, when I first started listening to music seriously:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2Ncx...layer_embedded


I am sure there are plenty of other notables, the most famous one that comes to mind is "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison, which musically was so similar to "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons that a court battle ensued, and Harrison was found culpable of subconsciously copying the song.

[Gimme3steps]

Two of the more famous soundalikes


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ku4QUhoXk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfc

[aardvarks]

The Zuton's "Confusion"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQTW1Bpv42o

sounds a lot like

Billy Joel's "an innocent man"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PThPI1kLGU8

[j96g]

since we already mentioned ELO and Huew Lewis, here they are again!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pVihntUEVw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-EwY...eature=related

[WhistlerMCMLV]

Oh, don't get me started . . .


Barry White, "Can't Get Enough of Your Love"


Barry White, "What Am I Gonna Do With You"

---


Howlin' Wolf, "No Place to Go"


Led Zeppelin, "How Many More Times"

---


Sonny Boy Williamson, "Bring It On Home"


Led Zeppelin, "Bring It On Home"

[jaida]

Every time I hear the beginning of David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure" I get temporarily punked into thinking it's Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" song. It's annoying. (I vaguely remember there being a lawsuit or something against Vanilla because he didn't get give proper credit to David Bowie and Queen.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu52P9-2B8o


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNrtWwyY1kM

[Thomas R.]

I guess The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" had a controversy with Andrew Oldham Orchestra's rendition of The Rolling Stones song "The Last Time."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Y9qQnIPdk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9u9mZz-o-g

[WhistlerMCMLV]

The Electric Flag, doing Howlin Wolf's "Killing Floor" (for which they credited him as the songwriter on the album)


Led Zeppelin, "The Lemon Song" (on which they grafted Wolf's "Killing Floor" to Robert Johnson's "Stones in My Passway" and gave neither man proper songwriting credit)

[Thomas R.]

Looking for Gospel songs I noticed these two songs sound pretty similar to me. I guess Guthrie took much of the melody, but I hadn't heard the Carter's earlier song. (Which I think might not really be original to them either as I thought that was an old folk/gospel song)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxo-zayI6tE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s

[Missy.Rivers]

It could be just me, but I think the main underlying riff sounds the same here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5BaurXMmMU


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7aOWIFgIZQ