Posted on 07/24/2023 4:56:43 PM PDT by grundle
This is the 1981 song “Find Another Fool” by Quarterflash. Please note the opening lyrics of:
“I should have learned this lesson long ago”
“That friends and lovers always come and go”
That singing is 20 notes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0lRM7FmJgU
And this is the 1979 song “We Live For Love” by Pat Benatar. The same 20 notes (or at least 20 very similar notes) can be heard from the guitar at the beginning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8TCo2QW6U
Too soon!
“(or at least 20 very similar notes)”
Let’s move on to blatant plagiarism:
Cheryl (one sheet of toilet paper) Crowe and “All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun” and Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck In the Middle With You”.
Total tune RIP off.
20 16th notes @ 4/4 would be a little more than a measure. Even if up to a lethargic 5 measures, not sure that would amount to plagiarizing as much as it might be an inspired phrase.
I can see that. Or rather hear it.
There’s a lot.
Every Led Zep song, for example.
Even Beatles borrowed.
I always thought Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car sounded like John Mellencamp’s Jack and Diane. I figured he let it go because everyone got so excited about her song back then. Guess I’m not the only one who noticed.
https://vimeo.com/107529683
FUNNY! Couple days ago wife daughter and I were eating out at a restaurant and without paying too close attention, I heard music come on the PA and started singing He’s so Fine, because that is what I thought was playing! It turned out to be George’s My Sweet Lord! The subject of all that controversy. That Intellectual Property case had a very interesting history, we’d benefit from knowing more about how it was disposed.
getalife
Couple days ago wife, daughter and I were eating out at a restaurant...
A comma can keep you out of jail.
Probably like ‘My Sweet Lord/He’s So Fine... an unconscious borrow. As Tiny Tim used to say... ‘Eight notes, it’s only eight notes...’
Oh crap. They all borrow from each other. They freely talk about it, or used before all the lawyers got involved.
If they were alive Bach, Beethoven and Tchaikovski could sue everybody.
There are only 12 notes in the chromatic scale. Complete originality is impossible.
I appreciate your attentive listening, but I cannot discern a similarity between the guitar opening on either song. The Benatar song is sufficiently dissimilar in that it:
1. Is in E-flat minor while the Quarterflash song is in B-minor.
2. Has a prominent guitar solo that overshadows the rhythm guitar that I _believe_ is what you are focused on when trying to draw a similarity to the Quarterflash song.
However, I stand to be corrected! It would be really useful if you provided specific timestamps in each video for comparison. You can right click on the video while it’s playing and select “Copy video URL at current time to do so”.
I guess they hardened their heart.
I’ve listened to both songs many times and never heard a similarity. I still don’t even after you mentioned it.
Also, the quarterflash song is significantly faster.
George Harrison wound up paying $450k or thereabouts for that one. It was pretty close to the same.
There are actually twelve notes in Western music. There are seven notes in a key, the 8th being the octave. Of course, there are actually an infinite number of notes, but not very many that sound good together.
There is more similarity between the intros of Steve Miller's "Take The Money And Run" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama".
Not that I think Steve Miller was ripping Lynyrd Skynyrd off but they do sound similar.
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