Songs that sound similar to others

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by rock76, Aug 5, 2005.

  1. rock76

    rock76 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Northwest MEX
    I just thought about this thread by listening to Baccara's "Yes Sir I Can Boogie" which, to my ears, it's "Don't Leave Me This Way" (by Thelma Houston) with different lyrics.

    Any other songs you remember that fit in this category?
     
  2. AudioEnz

    AudioEnz Senior Member

    Let me be the first to mention My Sweet Lord and He's So Fine
     
  3. reechie

    reechie Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore
    I kept singing "You Keep Me Hanging On" when U2's "Vertigo" came on.
     
    Drifter likes this.
  4. johmbolaya

    johmbolaya Active Member

    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    Pink Floyd-The Great Gig In The Sky
    Elton John-Rocket Man
     
    Frankh likes this.
  5. AudiophilePhil

    AudiophilePhil Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    The Kinks ----You Really Got Me
    The Kinks ----All Day And All Of The Night
    The Doors ----Hello I Love You
     
    Sean, Hombre, Fullbug and 3 others like this.
  6. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    "All Day and All of the Night" and "Hello, I Love You" is a classic example.

    "Daisy Jane" by America and "Let's Wait Awhile" by Janet Jackson.

    More recently: "Cowgirl in the Sand" by Neil Young and "Californication" by Red Hot Chili Peppers.

    My favorite: "Hang On Sloopy" and "Fever" by the McCoys. Both songs start with the exact same drum rhythm and have the same first two notes on the guitar. Utterly indistinguishable from one another until the first minor chord of "Fever."
     
  7. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    "Wild Wild West" - Escape Club. The melody of the verses is identical to the melody of Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up".

    "Wild Wild West" - Will Smith. The chorus that the female voice sings is identical to the chorus on Stevie Wonder's "I Wish".

    "Cover Girl" - New Kids On The Block. The melody of the verses is identical to the melody of the Music Explosion's "Little Bit O' Soul".

    "Greatest Love Of All" - Whitney Houston. The bridge is identical to Gordon Lightfoot's bridge in "If You Could Read My Mind". Other parts of the song are very similar to Boz Scagg's "We're All Alone".
     
  8. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    You forgot to mention The Kinks ----Destroyer :)
     
    musicfan37 and Shaddam IV like this.
  9. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    How 'bout "Werewolves Of London" by Warren Zevon (R.I.P.) - the chord structure (and, for that matter, key of D major) are too similar for comfort to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama."
     
    Chris R and LilacTeardrop like this.
  10. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    oh yeah - shadows of knight
    i'm a man - yardbirds
     
  11. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    Uh oh...I can sense a mashup coming on. :help:
     
  12. Andrew T.

    Andrew T. Out of the Vein

    Location:
    ....
    Phil Collins - "In the Air Tonight"
    Genesis - "Man on the Corner"

    Phil Collins - "I Missed Again"
    Genesis - "No Reply At All"
    (Back when I first heard them on radio I thought these were the same song!)
     
  13. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    How about George Thorogood's "Bad To The Bone". It's basically a rewrite of "I'm A Man" by Bo Diddley.
     
  14. theoxrox

    theoxrox Forum Resident

    Location:
    central Wisconsin
    How about "So Fine" by The Fiestas mating with "Searchin'" by The Coasters, having different lyrics added and (IMO) ending up as "Elvira" by The Oak Ridge Boys?
     
  15. cincyjim

    cincyjim Senior Member

    Location:
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    I've always thought the first few bars of "Take It To The Limit" by the Eagles are very similar to the first few bars of "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes.
     
    Joel1963 and samthesham like this.
  16. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    In fact, the Oak Ridge Boys also covered "So Fine."
     
  17. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    That's funny . . . so did I . . .
     
  18. I always thought the melody of the verse of Hall & Oates "Family Man" was a blatant rip-off of The Hollies' "Bus Stop." IMO.
     
  19. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    I just remembered another one. The melody of Leo Sayer's hit "When I Need You" is identical to "Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat". Cohen should have received royalties for that one!
     
    bataclan2002 likes this.
  20. And if that isn't the riff from "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in The Kinks "Catch Me Now I'm Falling"...
     
    Borgia and Adamski777 like this.
  21. quentincollins

    quentincollins Forum Word Nerd

    Location:
    Liverpool
    "Bad Moon Rising" - CCR
    "Cross Tie Walker" - CCR

    A cheap shot, maybe, but they may as well be the same song.
     
  22. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Yes to #2 and #3, nonsense to #1 and #2. First two chords of the riff are the same, and little else.

    About a hundred times more energy in #2 than #1...a much better guitar solo...much better drums (and actually played by a member of the band!).

    Don't get me wrong...I like "You Really Got Me." It's just always bugged me that it gets all the ink, when "All Day and All of the Night" is clearly the superior song in every way.
     
    Bill likes this.
  23. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Though the songs themselves are dissimilar in chord patterns and structure, the cop of the distinctive alternating root-fifth bass part of "Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)" by The Hollies themselves for the subsequent "Courage of Your Convictions" and "The Day That Curly Billy Shot Crazy Sam McGhee" is just too blatant to ignore.
     
  24. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Mariah Carey's "Emotion" sounds like Cheryl Lynn's "Got To Be Real" AND "Best Of My Love" by the Emotions.

    Tone Loc's "Wild Thing" is very close to "Jamie's Crying" by Van Halen.

    "Isn't It Time" by the Babys sound a bit too much like "Feels Like The First Time" by Foreigner.
     
  25. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    It was very common in the earlier days of the Top 40 for an artist or group to put out a very similar-sounding song once they'd scored a big hit.

    This only rarely worked. Among the more obvious examples of it failing:

    Just Like Romeo and Juliet/Like Columbus Did -- The Reflections
    Sweet Talkin' Guy/Out of This World -- The Chiffons
    Vehicle/Superman -- The Ides of March


    Many others, I'm sure...
     

Share This Page

molar-endocrine