Cat Stevens to Coldplay: It sure sounds like my song

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090504/music_nm/us_catstevens_1

See, this proves it. Coldplay are so generic that like ten different people can sue them for one song.

I'm still surprised Kraftwerk hasn't sued them for ripping off the hook from "The Model" note-for-note. Then again I've heard Florian Schneider is rich, he probably doesn't care - or want to bother himself with legal time sinks.

And then there's this guy:

eUhFLiw6h6s

This was admitted as a publicity stunt.

Dude, I was about 12 when I wrote the opening guitar lick to "Superman's Dead" by Our Lady Peace. I mean, note for note, same key, same tempo, everything. About 3 years later, that song was on the radio. Their guitarist must have been listening outside my bedroom door. BUT, I accepted the fact that there are only so many notes to work with and moved on with my life.

And yes, the only reason I remember that damn song/band is because they stole my {censored}.

Writing obvious melodies over barely less-than-cliche chord progressions will result in extremely similar-sounding songs. Who knew?

A couple years ago I wrote a song with a main hook that basically used the bass notes and a single chord to pick from. A year later I went to a concert with a band mate and heard my exact lead part, note-for-note, FX, everything save for the last bass not was an F instead of a C.

Dammit...you'd think with as much time as I waste on the internet that I would know that. At least I realized the

Sting's 'We Can be Together'(tonight)... Paula Abdul; 'Opposites Attract'

"Who's 'Zoomin' Who"????"

I wrote a song back in the late eighties that had a chord progression nearly identical to the chorus of Fastball's "The Way" - which is bit more involved than your standard I IV V, so I was quite stunned.

I was driving to a gig, and it came on the radio...I had to pull over and say WTF?!?!?

My melody and melodic phrasing was different, but still - same chord progression, same key, and same tempo.

I wrote a song back in the late eighties that had a chord progression nearly identical to the chorus of Fastball's "The Way" - which is bit more involved than your standard I IV V, so I was quite stunned. I was driving to a gig, and it came on the radio...I had to pull over and say WTF?!?!? My melody and melodic phrasing was different, but still - same chord progression, same key, and same tempo.

I live in Austin, so if you need any "services"... just let me know.

Now that I think about it...maybe they were walking by my window, and heard me play it.

After all, the verses of the "The Way" are basically a straight lift of "Besame Mucho".

Then again, when I was writing my song, I was totally channeling Roy Orbison.

There's a stylistic similarity, but IMHO they're still very different songs and yes.... I like all of them! I like "We Can Be Together (tonight)" the most. Aside: I remember the then clever use of the Synclavier in that. Then "Who's Zoomin' Who," classic Narada, then "Opposites Attract." Yes, I admit it, I even like a Paula Abdul song!

I was walking through Old Town Pasadena minding my business and whistling a very elaborate song.

1 year later Van Halen comes out with Eruption.

More than just a coincidence...

That's true. He did. And they did. And it is.

I helped a guy record a demo of his songs and he told me that he did not write songs - he found them. According to Victor Wooten's book "The Music Lesson" nobody actually writes music because it already exists.

That being said, we have to credit the people who get these songs out - even though we may have "found" them once ourselves and not really done anything with them.

Would "My Sweet Lord" have resulted in a lawsuit if Hari had released it today?