Beatles lyrics and melodies borrowed from other songs

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by crimpies, Jun 29, 2013.

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  1. crimpies

    crimpies Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Please feel free to add to this thread with specific examples of bits the Beatles 'borrowed' from other songs.

    e.g.
    Run For Your Life - "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man" borrowed from Baby, Let's Play House
    Come Together - "Here come old flattop, he come groovin' up slowly" adapted from You Can't Catch Me
    Isolation (John Lennon) - "I don't expect you to understand, after you've caused so much pain" adapted from Oh I Apologize (the B side of Money (That's What I Want))

    John, naughty boy! :tsk: Anyway I think I found another one tonight. New to me anyway!

    Eddie Holland* - Because I Love Her (written by Berry Gordy#) (United Artists single, 1959)
    *of Holland-Dozier-Holland, aka the writers of Please Mr. Postman
    #Berry Gordy also co-wrote both Money and Oh I Apologize, so John was somewhat of a fanboy



    [​IMG]

    The song starts with the lyric "Somebody please, please help me" which bears a striking resemblance to the Beatles song Help! both in the lyric itself and its delivery.

    Check out the YouTube link above and tell me I'm not imagining it. John sure had a way with (other people's) words!

    Update: The phrasing on Help! might be closer to The Valadiers version of Because I Love Her, found on The Complete Motown Singles Vol 2: 1962. I can't find the song on YouTube but I've uploaded the first 25 seconds to Sendspace: http://www.sendspace.com/file/4slext

    Update 2: I always thought John was referencing Help! at the 1:10 mark of Going Down on Love - now it's clear to me he's referencing Because I Love Her and Help!. Very clever John, that's why we love you. :thumbsup:
     
    Yorick likes this.
  2. nikh33

    nikh33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Liverpool, England
    Kathy's waltz by Dave Brubeck- go directly to 1.00 in, it's 'All My Loving'
     
  3. crimpies

    crimpies Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Oh wow, that's great!
     
  4. leeroy jenkins

    leeroy jenkins Forum Resident

    Location:
    The United States
    Tried twice - don't hear any resemblance. Have that album, and have never noticed it.
     
  5. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    It doesn't last long, but it's there. Arnie
     
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  6. MasterGlove

    MasterGlove Active Member

    Location:
    Argentina
    In the intro of "Anthem" by Ringo, you can clearly hear the first drumbeats from "Glass Onion"

     
  7. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
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  8. crimpies

    crimpies Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Between 1:02 and 1:08, the piano melody is identical to All My Loving - "Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, tomor" - fantastic!
     
    MLutthans likes this.
  9. crimpies

    crimpies Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Immediately preceding that do I hear the marching from the unused intro to Yellow Submarine (from the Real Love single)
     
  10. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    One more nicked by John: The first 2 notes of "Instant Karma" come from the first 2 notes of "Some Other Guy".
    John's admitted it too at the 0:21 mark:


    Arnie
     
  11. Jayce

    Jayce Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    IIRC, "Bungalow Bill," according to Ringo, borrowed from a song called "Stay as Sweet as You Are."

    I don't have a link.
     
  12. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I assume the song he was thinking of is actually called "Don't Ever Change". Covered by The Beatles for BBC Radio. I think some similarities to "Bungalow Bill" (nothing overt) can be heard.

     
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  13. My Home Townes

    My Home Townes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Montclair, NJ
    Always thought "In My Life" was based off of "Tracks of My Tears." Intro is similar. I believe Paul in "Many Years From Now" admitted such.
     
  14. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Jackie Lomax's ad libbing at the end of "Sour Milk Sea" was the inspiration for "Get Back". And of course George got the first line of "Something" from James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves".

     
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  15. AFOS

    AFOS Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brisbane,Australia
    The Beatles have admitted this ...4th time around anyone?

    Anyway Sun King was inspired by the sound of Albatross.
     
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  16. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Hey, I was talking about the musical part possibly nicked from the Dave Brubeck song for "All My Loving". I was NOT commenting about my love-making prowess! ... ;) Arnie
     
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  17. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England

    No, that's not the one. It was a song by Ray Noble.
     
  18. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    Michelle - I love you, I love you, I love you from Nina Simone's take on I Put a Spell On You
    I Feel Fine - guitar riff sideways from Bobby Parker's Watch Your Step
    both acknowledgements by Lennon

    This one's my guess. It's an old gospel piano riff heard many times that opens Lennon's God. I think he was most likely to have heard it on Ketty Lester's Love Letters.
     
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  19. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    John really loved those old obscure 45's, especially those done by R&B girl singers. Arnie
     
  20. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    It may be a contentious one, but 'And I Love Her' has similarities to 'The Honeymoon Song'. The Beatles were familiar with the latter song, having played a version on BBC radio. All the elements that are missing on the early 'Anthology' take of AILH can be traced to THS. The newly composed middle eight of AILH borrows from the middle eight of THS (C#m - G#m - B), and the newly added riff comes from a very similar one in THS too.
     
  21. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    John in "I Am The Walrus" also got the "I'm Crying" line and descending riff from Smokey Robinson & The Miracles' "Ooh Baby Baby". Arnie
     
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  22. bktouchstone

    bktouchstone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastern Washington
    Lyrically, I believe there is at least an homage in the chorus of Lennon's "Nobody Told Me" to the chorus on the Shirelles "Mama Said." NTM: "Nobody told me there'd be days like these" vs MS: "Mama said there'd be days like this." To further the homage Lennon ad libs an append to his chorus "Most peculiar Mama!"
     
  23. halfjapanese

    halfjapanese Gifs moider!

    On the first day of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, George questions whether the shouted portion of Paul's part of I've Got A Feeling isn't identical to Otis Redding's Hard to Handle. "Isn't that from that? You know like, really, exactly note for note?"

    In a 1977 interview with Crawdaddy, George said, "On Drive My Car I just played the line, which is really like a lick off Respect, you know - the Otis Redding version. I played that line on guitar and Paul played [or 'laid'] that with me on bass."

    Obvious trio: La Marseillaise, In the Mood, Greensleeves in All You Need is Love.

    The Ballad of John and Yoko - Lonesome Tears in My Eyes: There's a nice vocal isolation of John singing the last two bars that hammers it home. (15 seconds)
     
  24. dasacco

    dasacco Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachussetts
    How about "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and "Stewball"?

     
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  25. fallbreaks

    fallbreaks Forum Resident

    I couldn't find Ray Noble's version of Stay As Sweet As You Are in a quick search of youtube, but here's Nat King Cole's version:



    Obviously the tempo is quite a bit different, but the chorus melody right from the beginning (0:15), is very similar to 'Hey Bungalow Bill, what did you kill, Bungalow Bill.'
     
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