Today is National Look Alike Day, but I say - let's call it 'National Sound Alike Day'! I would like to honor this day by talking about songs that sound like other songs. It can happen. There are only so many chord combinations out there. Heck, I was writing a song for my niece's birthday the other day and then I realized that it was a Maroon 5 song! What is hard to understand about these songs though is that someone didn't figure it out before it hit the radio. You've got to play the song for people before you record it, then play it multiple times during recording. Next, you have to play the recording before it makes it on the album. How do these things get overlooked? Or maybe they don't and artists just think they can get away with it. Hmmmm...
Probably the most famous sound alike is between 'He's so Fine' by the Chiffons and 'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison. 'He's So Fine' hit the radio in 1963 and became a lackluster hit. 6 years later George Harrison slipped away from a press conference and starting riffing on the guitar trying to fit chords to the words 'Hallelujah' and 'Hare Krishna'. Later on, members of his band joined in and lyrics were developed. Harrison recorded a version on his album 'All Things Must Pass' and was the first single from the album which was released on Nov. 28, 1970. By Feb. 10, 1971 he was being sued. Fast forward through almost 10 years of litigation and the federal court ruled that Harrison had 'subconsciously' copied the song. They said that 3/4 of the song's success was from the melody of 'He's so Fine' and 1/4 of the success was from George Harrison's name and his new lyrics. So he was ordered to pay a majority of the royalties to Bright Tunes - the owner of 'He's So Fine'. Ironically, The Chiffons went on to record 'My Sweet Lord' to capitalize on the publicity from the case.
Here are some more recent sound alikes:
What do you think about these sound alikes? Are there other modern ones that I've missed?
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