For those of you that are new – I call stealing something in the name of art liberal borrowing.
For those of you that knew – what didn’t you tell the new people?
My latest discovery comes in the form of Hey Rosetta’s Red Heart. Though it’s not as cut-and-dry cut-and-paste as some of my cases, I think you’d be remit to not admit a blatant similarity to Better Than Ezra’s In the Blood. Take a listen to the opening melody structures and meet me down below:
Okay it’s more like a liberal liberal borrowing. Or maybe one just reminds me of the other. Kind of like how the opening of Churchill’s Change reminds me of Dean Martin’s Sway:
It’s been a while again, folks, and I’d like to present to you a few more occurrences of homagesliberal borrowings. If you are unfamiliar with my concept of liberal borrowing, click liberal borrowing (not this one, the previous one).
The first few I’m going to breeze through because they’re already older songs, and other people have thought the same or the artists acknowledge the similarity.
SOME NIGHTS BY fun. (do I really have to write it that way?) = CECELIA BY SIMON & GARFUNKEL
My friend swore up and down about this one, and being the defender of originality that I claim to be, I just didn’t really hear it… until this video:
He also thinks fun.’s We Are Young shares common ground with The Beatles’ Hey Jude. I told him to find me a sample; he’s still looking.
I WON’T GIVE UP BY JASON MRAZ = DELICATE BY DAMIEN RICE
When I first heard I Won’t Give Up, I wondered why I felt like I knew its melody but not the words (by the way, does Jason Mraz realize he looks like that now?):
WASHINGTON NATIONAL’S LOGO = WALGREEN’S LOGO
I’m late to this, but I only noticed because my Detroit Tigers made it as far as they did. Otherwise, I don’t watch National League games at all. But answer me this – notice anything? ‘Cuz Walgreen’s did.
For anyone who hasn’t seen The Dark KnightRises yet, I won’t give any spoilers. But let it be known… I thought it was meh. The ending is the only thing that saved it… and the funny thing is it ripped off another movie.
So this film was made up of…
…a cool vertical airplane destruction scene…
…an extreme tragedy on a football field…
…explosives chasing our hero and being disposed of by our hero…
…and the ending of this Academy Award-winning film.
It’s been a few months since I’ve championed originality in music, or as I call it whilst demonizing (rock and roll!) it – liberal borrowing.
Of the latest two occurrences, one I should have caught a while back. The last time I mentioned Ryan Star on this blog was to pick on his name (go on – click it… it’s one of my better posts).
Needless to say, I embedded the video for his song Breathe, and I never noticed that it’s opening guitar solo sounded oddly familiar…
Ryan Star’s Breathe
Ringo any bells?
John Lennon’s Woman
I would consider it an homage if it was about the same thing. But it’s not. So it’s…
LIBERAL BORROWING!
As for my latest find, I overheard this song playing overhead in a sports bar:
Lee Brice’s Hard to Love
Any other song’s intro come racing to mind?
Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car
What’s the verdict here – liberal borrowing or homage?
My original post title went through a few quick revisions. This one almost made the cut (but was cut for being questionable):
Glory Trains
Anymaxweinberg, here we meet again. It’s another liberal borrowing claim, this time against Pat Monahan and his cronies.
Tell me what you think about the opening of Train’s latest (probable) hit, Save Me, San Francisco:
It sounds like the softer guitar version of the opening to Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days (starts at 38 second mark):
Okay, so maybe the first two noted are transcribed, or one guitar strum is skipped, but bounce back and forth between the songs. Ignore the drum beats and listen to the guitar.
I’m calling it. Are you?
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Speaking of the glory days saving me, why don’t they use effects like the ones in these old songs anymore?
The opening chimes from Hall & Oates’ I Can’t Go For That:
The drumbeat breakdown in New Edition’s If It Isn’t Love (starts at 2:49 minute mark):
Being a man of few words (especially when I’m behind on posts), I’m going to let these two posters go toe-to-toe with the works they were liberally borrowed from inspired by.
Dream House
Analysis: cool perspective illusion, not your typical "floating head" poster
M.C. Esher
Analysis: cool perspective illusion, not your typical "stairs that go to nowhere" drawing
lib•er•al bor•row•ing /ˈlib(ə)rəl ˈbärō-iNG/
1. The act by which an “artist” uses another artist’s work as a part of their own (usually musicians)
2. Stealing
I’ve written about this subject for more than several occasions, and it still intrigues me how often it occurs. What’s great about this latest discovery is it might restore some of my street cred, since usually the findings are about Katy Perry, Pink, or Avril Lavigne.
Is it just me, or does Theory of a Deadman’s Lowlife sound a shit-ton like Social Distortion’s Ball and Chain (at least it’s verses)? Is it an homage? Do they claim it’s a sequel? Or is it liberal borrowing in full effect?
