Musicians Who Admit Some Sort Of Plagiarism/Borrowing?

If you check out "Behind the Scenes: LA Woman", Ray says he took the bass line from Ray Charles' "What I Say", and then blurted, "We stole from everybody"

 

“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poetsmake it into something better, or at least something different.” - T.S. Elliott

 

Sounds like Tchaikovsky who said (supposedly) that an artist doesn't borrow he steals!

But I disagree. I like originals. If it sounds like something else, and wasn't done maliciously, no harm.

 

Lennon admitted copping "Run for Your Life" from "Baby, Let's Play House."

 

I think that, at this point, it's difficult to make something that doesn't sound at least similar to something else, even if you've never heard it before.

 

"Oh, yeah, in folk and jazz, quotation is a rich and enriching tradition. That certainly is true. It's true for everybody, but me. There are different rules for me. And as far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him? Who's been reading him lately? And who's pushed him to the forefront? Who's been making you read him? And ask his descendants what they think of the hoopla. And if you think it's so easy to quote him and it can help your work, do it yourself and see how far you can get. Wussies and pussies complain about that stuff. It's an old thing - it's part of the tradition. It goes way back. These are the same people that tried to pin the name Judas on me. Judas, the most hated name in human history! If you think you've been called a bad name, try to work your way out from under that. Yeah, and for what? For playing an electric guitar? As if that is in some kind of way equitable to betraying our Lord and delivering him up to be crucified. All those evil mother****ers can rot in hell." - Bob Dylan

 

John Kay was very open about stealing Tighten Up Your Wig from the Junior Wells song Messin' With The Kid and even mentioned it in the lyrics:

Just before we go, I'd like to mention Junior Wells
We stole his thing from him, and he from someone else
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he plays the blues like few before
May he play forevermore

 

Ritchie Blackmore admitted nicking riffs for a DP song in an interview I saw.

 

Most obviously Noel Gallagher

In the exclusive interview, Gallagher is challenged to admit lifting the main riff from Bowie's song "All the Young Dudes", a hit for Mott The Hoople in 1972.
"Absolutely," is his reply. "Course. I've had two songs out of that now: 'Don't Look Back in Anger' and 'Stand by Me'. And he's still not sued me yet."
No regrets as Oasis admit they stole tunes

and I have a feeling there are more than few more self-confessed examples from Noel.

 

Becker and Fagen of Steely Dan. Becker even stated once they were "the robber barons of rock and roll." Listen to Song For My Father by Horace Silver and you'll hear Rikki Don't Lose That Number.

 

That being riffs from It's a Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling for "Black Night."

 

Neil Young "Borrowed Tune"
I'm singing this borrowed tune
I took from the Rolling Stones
Alone in the empty room
Too wasted to write my own

 

Sounds familiar so probably that.

 

Child In Time, actually.

 

Oops...I meant Child In Time

 

Steve Miller with Rock'n Me: Rock'n Me - Wikipedia

 

Dan Fogelberg tells the story that Same Old Lang Syne started out as a musical joke based on Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

 

The Chiffons were notorious for stealing Beatles melodies

 

Paul Weller said that he had the lyrics for Start!, but needed a tune and took The Beatles Taxman.

 

They mentioned that a Keith Jarrett piece inspired "Gaucho." Jarrett took legal action and ended up receiving co-credit.

 

Smells Like More Than A Feeling

 

This is a pretty interesting interview by Dick Cavett with Paul Simon where Paul speaks frankly about writing Bridge Over Troubled Water. Being a songwriter myself, I can definitely identify with grabbing little pieces of songs from a different parts of others and stitching together something new, and totally original (I fully realize that Paul has been accused, rightly, of plagerism before). He admits to taking pieces of Bach, Swan Silvertones and an unnamed source for the lyrics. He actually uses the phrase, "I stole it" regarding the lyric. . . but only half serious. Start at 6:00 for song discussion:

 

Me!

 

On Public Radio's "Fresh Air", Ray said he stole from John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Thing" and incorporate parts into a Doors song (I forget which). The neat part was he then proceeded to play the original version, the Coltraine version, and then played the parts he "stole" and how he merged the "token parts" into the Doors song.

An Archival Interview With Ray Manzarek, Keyboardist For The Doors

 

However, Blackmore also borrowed the riff for "Black Night" via Ricky Nelson's "Summertime" cover , and added an important break which IMO actually improved the riff.
After many years of knowing Black Night, it's funny that when I finally heard Ricky Nelson's cover, the Summertime riff sounded way too repetitive. Funny.