For blog-work this week, research and listen to some examples of musical plagiarism. Identify: 1) the definition of plagiarism 2) at least one example of a truly plagiarized song and 3) at least one example of a coincidental relationship between 2 songs. Discuss your findings here. Some notable instances include (listed as original/supposed plagiarism): Chiffon's "He's So Fine"/George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"; Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance"/The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California"; Queen's "Under Pressure"/Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" and, most recently, Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly"/Coldplay's "Viva La Vida".
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
POS: Plagiarism in Song
For blog-work this week, research and listen to some examples of musical plagiarism. Identify: 1) the definition of plagiarism 2) at least one example of a truly plagiarized song and 3) at least one example of a coincidental relationship between 2 songs. Discuss your findings here. Some notable instances include (listed as original/supposed plagiarism): Chiffon's "He's So Fine"/George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"; Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance"/The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California"; Queen's "Under Pressure"/Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" and, most recently, Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly"/Coldplay's "Viva La Vida".
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11 comments:
Daniel Sugar
Poetry of Song-D
4-7-2011
1. Plagiarism (Noun)- the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
2. “Get Ya”, by Lee Hyori, was believed to be a plagiarized version of Brittney Spears’ “Do Somethin’”
3. “If I Could Fly” is coincidentally related to Cold Play’s “Viva La Vida” are coincidentally related. It is only a small guitar piece that may have been inspired by “Viva La Vida”, but it takes one thing and makes it something completely different, so it is not plagiarism.
1. Plagiarism- a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work
2. The Bellamy Brothers released a song in 1979 called "If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body," which said, "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" In Britney Spears’ new song, "Hold It Against Me," she sings "If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?" These lyrics are very similar, however it is only one line of a song and it went with the entire theme of her song so I don’t think this should be considered plagiarism.
3. Part of Usher's hit song "OMG" is very similar to a song sung by Homer Simpson in an episode of the "Simpsons" in 2003. I don’t think this should be considered plagiarism though because the “Simpsons” is just a TV show, and the song from the show is so short that it shouldn’t even be considered a song, he may have done it subconsciously, but the episode came out 8 years ago so I don’t think they should press charges.
1.)The definition of plagiarism is the close imitation or unauthorized use of someone else's work and thoughts not of your own and using them as your own personal work.
2.) One example of a truly plagiarized song is Vanilla Ice's song “Ice Ice Baby”. He plagiarized the song from Bowie and Queen's song “Under Pressure”. The main beat and instrumentals part is obviously plagiarized. Vanilla Ice tried to deny it but eventually had to settle with Bowie and Queen and give them song writing credit.
3.) One example of a coincidental relationship between two songs is Tom Petty's song “Mary Jane's Last Dance” and The Red Hot Chilli Pepper's song “Dani California”. As one talk show host claims, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers definitely plagiarized the song. They claim that the chord progressions and the entire theme of each song are the same, along with some of the lyrics. However, a musicologist says that they are hardly similar. Yes, the opening parts for each have similar grooves and the chords and melody patterns are similar, but it all stops there. The question really lies in the chord/melody plagiarism. It is hard to prove it in court because they are so basic and pretty standard; it would be hard to argue just that as a base.
Meagan Elliott
Period D
Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s work, represented as one’s own (Dictionary.com). In song, it involves the process of taking another artist’s lyrics or instrumentals, without that artist’s approval.
One truly plagiarized song, I believe, is Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice, Baby”. The background instrumentals and beat match, almost exactly, Queen’s “Under Pressure”. Vanilla Ice added one more beat in the music in attempts to not plagiarize, however, when compared, the two are almost the exact same. Vanilla Ice clearly stole the music from Queen; it is evident solely from listening to the first ten seconds of each song.
I believe that Joe Satriani’s “If I Could Fly” and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” are only coincidently similar. Coldplay’s lyrical melody similarly matches up to Satriani’s instrumentals. I watched a video that combined Coldplay’s lyrics to Satriani’s music and while at some parts it matched, others it was out of sync. It seemed to me that it was only a coincidence that they are the same. It seems weird that someone would steal the beat if a song and use it as their lyrical melody. I think that because of the differences, it is impossible to make a case of plagiarism between the two,
Taylor Saltmarsh
1.Plagiarism: noun the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
2. Vanilla Ice and Queen. Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and Queen’s “Under Pressure” are very similar. The plagiarized part that Vanilla Ice took from Queen is the beat from “Under Pressure” and they have almost the exact same music.
3.“If I Could Fly” and “Viva LaVida” have been under speculation lately. Supposedly Coldplay’s vocals in their number one song is similar to the song “If I Could Fly” instrumentals. In my opinion the two songs are different and it is really hard to purposefully mimic guitar notes in to vocals, and I think it was an accident.
1. Plagiarism is "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work" (Dictionary.com)
2. The song "Stereo Love" was a copy of a song Eldar Mansurov composed in 1989, called "Bayatilar"
3. In the very beginning and in the chorus of "On the Floor" the music sounds very similar to that of the song stated above, "Stereo Love". I personally think that the melody of the song definitely came from "Stereo Love" which was proven plagiarized. Both songs are very much different in their own ways in the end.
Courtney Williams
1.Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
2.The song “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga was said to be plagiarized by Madonna’s song “Express Yourself”
3.The background music in the song Born This Way is the same sound as Madonna’s song. It was said to be a rip off of her music, her brother heard the song and told Madonna how much the song sounds alike. She is an idol to Lady Gaga and could be just a tribute to the Queen of Pop.
1) Plagiarism - (n) the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
2) One case that may seem like plagiarism, but is not, are the songs “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and “Dani California” by Tom Petty and Red Hot Chili Peppers, respectively. However, both songs were produced by the same man, Rick Rubin. It is just a mere coincidence as the melody could have been in Rubin’s head when he was producing the song.
3) One case that I believe is plagiarism s Joe Satriani’s song “If I Could Fly” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”. Satriani’s vocals were extremely similar to the hooks on “Viva la Vida”. In my opinion, it is a blatant case of plagiarism.
Juliana Ahern
1) Plagiarism: the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. (Dictionary.com)
2) The song “Sweet Blasphemy” by Black Veil Brides and “Kings Without Crowns” by House of Glass have very similar lyrics. For example, in verse two of “Sweet Blasphemy”, some lines are “We are young and we are strong/Through strength and self we’ve become/ Something more than they can be.” and in “Kings Without Crowns”, the second verse is “We are one and we are strong/Through pain and strife we’ve become/ Something more than kings and queens”. Both songs also make references to “bleeding crowns”. The reason no one got accused of plagiarism because the song writer of House of Glass wrote the song with BVB before he left the band, therefore both bands own the song.
3) “If I Could Fly” by Joe Satriani and Cold Play’s “Vivia La Vida” are coincidentally similar.
1. Plagiarism: Using the copy righted works of another and claiming them as your own.
2. John Lennon's song "Come Together" hes been accused of plagiarizing Chuck Berry's song "You Can't Catch Me". Although the instrumental structure of both songs differ, Lennon was accused of stealing the vocal scheme of Chuck Berry.
3. The songs "Rusted Over Wet Dreams" by Emmure and "Smoke ya later" by the Acacia Strain have very similar openings to one another. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=dlRKPqmBJiM&feature=related -Emmure's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DSWl4eFLE - The Acacia Strain's
1.) Plagiarism: the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language or thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.
2.) British pop singer Diana Vickers released a song titled “My Wicked Heart” in 2010. The beginning of the chorus has the exact melody to the chorus of the famous Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Under the Bridge.” Vickers admitted that she listened to the song shortly before writing the chorus and instantly realized the obvious resemblance.
3.) The songs “If I could Fly” by Joe Satriani and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” share a similar melody at certain parts, but I think this was merely coincidental considering the fact that they have different rhythms. The note aspect of the similar parts is easy to understand, but Satriani’s rhythm on “If I could Fly” is a little longer and more complex than the melody in the Coldplay song. There is always the possibility that Coldplay did plagiarize Satriani, but I find this to be one of the more obscure accusations of plagiarism in the music world, especially considering the closely related melodies would have been transcribed from guitar to vocals, respectively.
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