10 Beatles Hits That 'Rip Off' Other Songs
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- čas přidán 17. 05. 2024
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The Beatles were certainly innovators and trailblazers, but they also did their fair share of borrowing from the musicians who had come before them. Most of the time these liftings were harmless homages, but on occasion wearing their influences on their sleeve wound the fab four up in legal troubles!
SOURCES:
Dibai, S. J., “Bobby Parker: The real fifth Beatle?” (2007): onenoteahead.blogspot.com/2007...
Miles, B., Many Years From Now (1997)
Everett, W., The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology (1999)
Turner, S., A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (1994)
Interview with Bobby Parker: • Bobby Parker Interview
Bobby Parker on MSNBC: • Bobby Parker on MSNBC
Harry, B., The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia (1992)
The Quarrymen, “Baby, Let’s Play House”: • The Quarrymen - Baby, ...
The Beatles Anthology (1995): www.wingspan.ru/bookseng/ant/0...
Neman, M., “One Step From The Blues”, Record Collectors Magazine, issue 381 (2010)
Leigh, S., Love Me Do to Love Me Don't: Beatles on Record (2016)
BBC, “Nat King Cole influenced Beatles hit” (2003): news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainm...
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0:00 Introduction
0:26 Come Together Vs. Chuck Berry
1:52 Saw Her Standing There Vs. Chuck Berry
3:10 Revolution Vs. Pee Wee Crayton
3:48 I Feel Fine Vs. Bobby Parker
6:27 Lady Madonna Vs. Humphrey Lyttelton
7:28 Yesterday Vs. Nat King Cole
9:13 Hey Jude Vs. John Ireland
10:06 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Vs. Jimmy Scott
11:02 Run For Your Life Vs. Elvis
11:52 My Sweet Lord Vs. He's So Fine
14:03 Solocontutti
14:44 Patreon
If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.
I stole that line.
From Pete Best?
If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.
I stole that line, and I stole this line too, and I also stole this line
Funny
Aoooooo
Rob; you stole it from Igor Stravinsky who stole it from Abraham Linclon
Paul McCartney: “A bass riff hasn’t got to be original.”
Vanilla Ice: “Word to your mother.”
Ice Ice Baby
omg im laughing so hard at this..... wasnt there like a HUGE COURT LAWSUIT OVER THE BASS RIFF RYTHEM... lol cause the riff was the same but off by like half a beat lol
Thank you. Saved me a comment! Lol
Hahah!!
Beatles songs had way more going on around the bass line so they could pull off using similar bass lines, all music is rehashed anyway - just try playing a 12 bar blues song in key of E and not sound exactly like Pride and Joy by SRV, who rhythmically sounds exactly like every other blues guitar players that ever came before him.
Style and originality is only difference.
Ice Ice Baby was 90% stolen bass line from Under Pressure (Bowie and Mercury) BUT
It has hell of a lot of style and originality and in the end I think Vanella got totally screwed.
The “I’m Talking About You” bass was based on the rhythm and shape of Henry Mancini’s Peter Gunn theme two years before. It was huge and covered widely so probably every musician heard it.
and after the B 52's Planet Claire, using a Peter Gunn Bass Riff was simply a public domain riff idea
Loads of stuff I didn't know here. Thanks for this. Hey Jude is a real leap. But Yesterday is fascinating. Other ones that I've enjoyed hearing the origins of (rhythmic mostly) are Mr Bassman -> I've just seen a face and Daydream -> Good Day Sunshine. I think Paul would often hear a song and think 'Oh I'd quite like to write one like that." Love that about him. The trails that Lennon left behind are often more quixotic. I think that's the first time I've ever used the word quixotic and I think I'm going to do it again. Quixotic.
Small update: I looked up "Quixotic" and it does not mean what I thought it meant.
Check out Fleetwood Mac’s albatross and sun king from abbey road
🤣🤣🤣
Perhaps “abstruse” or “enigmatic” would better fit your intent here.
Paul McCartney: "A bass riff hasn't got to be original."
Vanilla Ice after ripping off Under Pressure: 👀
The Under Pressure riff was sampled for Ice Ice Baby. Sampling didn’t exist in the Beatles era.
@@colinbaker3916 How did sampling not exist? It’s literally just playing someone else’s music.
@@jonde4445 It’s using the actual recording of someone else’s playing. While you can say George Harrison stole the riff from Watch Your Step, he still had to learn to play it himself, rather than press record and playback.
@@colinbaker3916 that's direct sampling. You can sample without using the original recording
@@applehack97 Were you around in the sixties? The term - however you want to use it - didn’t exist. The likes of Paul McCartney and Keith Richards spoke of stealing riffs from, say, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. They never even called it sampling when they stuck existing radio recordings on to I Am The Walrus or Revolution 9.
The riff for “I saw her standing there” was used by just about every bass player for just about every 12 bar rock song in the 1960s......I know because I used it myself....you could fiddle around with it but it was the go-to for working on.
its 1st 3rd 5th and back.. you can hardly go wrong, and you can hardly avoid it.
Just a side note. The Beatles song and Chuck Berry song were 16 bars rather than 12, which is even illustrated at 2:21. Still a fair point.
Exactly
@DOGS LOL blues borrows from folk.. and it stops there cause its the backbone of all music. 1, 4, 5.
You can't copyright the fundamentals of music, which makes bass riffs difficult to sue over since they tend to anchor the chords on the tonic and dominant, or they have an arpeggiated walking bassline. In this case, they do appear to be an actual singular riff that could be copyrightable, but everyone uses them so.... But Paul's right, people don't really sue over basslines, so "they don't have to be original". That said, he still managed to create quite of few original basslines.
Like a teacher once told me. “The secret to success is taking something someone already did and making it better.”
Take a sad song and make it better
Outstanding. I really appreciate the way you break down the songs, show the notes, have the original recordings. One of the very best videos of this kind.
I feel Chuck Berry deserves more acclaim and acknowledgement in mainstream media. He is literally a GOD of Rock music.
He IS because a nobody says he is ? and LITERALLY no less. ! BTW you are plagiarizing Paul McCartney who has given that credit to Chuck Berry a zillion times. While at ALL level the GOD of rock music is a white boy named Elvis Presley.
Berry never gave credit to his pianist who wrote most of the music to his songs. He also was very much a one trick pony and did influence great songwriters such as Lennon, McCartney, Jagger, Richards - all of whom were and are superior composers to him by a long, long way.
@@voodooinblue3450 With all due respect all these "great" rock acts dipped into Chuck Berry's music in order to get their first hits; Stones with "Come on", Beach Boys with "Surfin USA" and "Fun Fun", Beatles with "Saw her standing", all early hits and all lifted from Chuck Berry. Rock music would be NOTHING without him, but I feel he only occasionally acknowledged, not quite a universal household name like his disciples.
@@IndiesoulMusik I completely agree that Berry's influence was huge over these groups, esp the only ones that really counted - Beatles and Stones.
The Beach Boys and the Animals were greatly influenced too but their paths soon grew short. The Animals went out in a small puff of "Who cares?" as they didn't have a real composer and the Beach Boys creativity died after Pet Sounds with Brian W withdrawing.
Berry was incredibly important to the start of rock n roll but imo has had more than his due credit. Behind the Beatles, Presley, Dylan and Stones he was ranked the most important musical figure in popular music at the end of last century and again the man never gave credit (even fought it thru court) to the man who co-wrote the bulk of gear credited solely to him.
Lennon opening with what he did on Come Together was a tip of the hat to Berry same as Jagger when swiping "I can't get no satisfaction" ... ("I don't get no satisfaction" from "30 days").
However, tho this youtuber would probably assert that Jagger/Richards "ripped off" "30 days" simply because of a five word phrase, Berry's influence over the song was zip beyond that.
Berry would never have been able to write it as it was too far outside his range as a songwriter. Dylan once quipped to Richards and Brian Jones that he could have written "Satisfaction" - which begs the question "Why didn't you then?" and the same could be thrown at Berry for "Come together".
"Come together" is clearly Berry influenced but by the time Lennon wrote it, both he and McCartney along with Jagger/Richards (to a slightly lesser extent) had reshaped the composer paradigm of music which Berry had long been left behind from, save for his surprise novelty hit "My ding a ling" circa '72.
Berry influenced them with writing but only to a point, Holly was just as influential and is known even less than Berry these days imo.
And Holly was varied in his approach and covered different areas of music which is what gave the likes of Lennon/McCartney and Jagger/Richards to write with the depth to which they did - and Berry didn't - because he couldn't or at least if he could, he never presented it in his 60 plus year career.
Berry could never have written "Lady Jane", "Midnight Rambler" or "Continental drift", "Strawberry Fields forever", "She said she said" or "Blackbird", but L/M and J/R could write Berry influenced songs such as "I saw her standing there", "Back in the U.S.S.R", "Come together", "Star star", "Connection" and "Flight 505" in their sleep.
And although I agree that Berry's influence cannot be underrated, to say rock n roll would be "Nothing without him" is taking that point way too far for mine. Elvis, Buddy and Little Richard would argue the point I'm sure if alive. Especially the latter two who were songwriters as well as performers, unlike Elvis. His name shows as co-writer for "Heartbreak hotel" but it's well known it was added as nothing more than an incentive by the real writers for him to record it and "Love me tender" is a bunch of "cat sat on the mat" lyrics set to an old Civil war song "Aura Lea" melody that had been written almost a hundred years before. And again, Presley had nothing to do with the composition of music or lyrics.
(Sorry the Presley bit was aimed at someone who I can't find now posting that Elvis wrote songs.)
After all that, I agree that Chuck is a rock god. Just don't agree that he is quite as important as you state.
@@voodooinblue3450 I see your point but I feel Chuck Berry is portrayed often either as a tragic caricature, novelty act or as a scandalous figure certainly not revered on the level of Elvis or even Jerry Lee Lewis often gets more respect and both he and Elvis have links to underage girls. Chuck Berry wasn't a one trick pony either, listen to Memphis Tennessee or Almost Grown. For a man like Elvis who never wrote a tune in his lifetime and couldn't play any instrument particularly well, to be still hailed KING OF ROCK is what is truly scandalous.
Chuck Berry also sued the Beach Boys for "Surfin' U.S.A." ripping off "Sweet Little Sixteen." And as I recall it really is almost a direct copy.
yes it is a copy with different lyrics. latterly the beach boys credited chuck berry with the song. if you look it up now it has his name on it.
Almost, not, it's literally the same tune.
I believe “Surfin’ USA” is now credited as Wilson/Berry.
@@theonlyguiltymaninshawshan7909 I had a 33 of "Endless Summer" where it was actually just credited Berry.
@@fnjesusfreak seriously? No credit at all to Wilson? That surprises me.
Fantastic work putting this video together. Comparing and contrasting the sheet music was excellent!
Harrison’s musical ability made it all the more likely that he could hear a song and remember it, subconsciously, but not overcome the memory leak almost all of us have of forgetting the experience.
My piano teacher friend tried to write a piano piece when he was young. He'd not heard Chopin's nocturne in c sharp minor (op posthumus) before and somehow he composed exatly the same chord progression of the beginning of Chopin's piece. Then he was told the truth by someone. Knowing this story I agree with George Harrison's fear.
Your Piano Teacher Friend never heard Chopin’s Nocturne in C Sharp Minor? I don’t believe you
@@pseudoprodigy he was child in the 60's when there was no internet and probably the piece itself wasn't so widely known as today after the pianist movie. I believe what he said, why would he stuff my brain with such lies?🤝
@@jozsefnemedi8472 That’s like saying I’m a history teacher but I’ve never heard of Gettysburg or Waterloo? And the excuse is there was no internet so how could I have known.
@@pseudoprodigy Not really.
@@arthurias7693 I have a bridge to sell you
The beatles clearly ripped off oasis
That's how far ahead of their time The Beatles were.
Yawn
😸😸😸
@@hansvandermeulen5515 😸😸😸
And The Ruttles
Nicely summarized David!
I struggle with modes in that I have a problem creating the chords to create the tension that will feel good resolving to the root of the mode.
It’s great watching your analyses. Thanks to Open Ear. It bares the weaknesses so I love being challenged with tonality questions. Have a good holiday season.
"Something" also directly lifts the first line of James Taylor's"Something In the Way She Moves." However, Taylor had no problem with it since the Beatles had given him his first recording contract on Apple, and he and Harrison were friends.
I've never researched it, but I heard that it was actually Peter Asher at Apple that heard Taylor performing locally and signed him. The Beatles involvement at that time was merely as the owners of Apple. For those that don't know all the incest here, Peter Asher was the brother of Jane Asher, McCartney's longtime early girlfriend. Jane convinced Paul to assist her brother's duo, Peter and Gordon, by writing two massive hits for them to record, both of which climbed high in the charts, but were never recorded by the Beatles.
That's just a phrase, with no resemblance melodically though.
@@TheAerovons Actually, not even the phrase is the same. Taylor's says, "Something in the way she moves (or looks my way or calls my name)", while Harrison's says, "Something in the way she moves ME (attracts me like no other lover)", which has a different meaning.
@@theflash1425 No, George simply sings "Something in the way she moves."
@@TheAerovons Actually, we're both right. If you listen to the song, the first time he sings the line, he says, "Something in the way she moves", but when he repeats the line a measure later, he says, "Something in the way she moves me." I could have sworn he said the same thing the first time, but you made me listen to it, and damn if you weren't right!
I remember writing an awesome song in college, bringing it to my bandmates, and having them say, "That's Stand By Me by Ben E. King." They were right.
There's a song by one repper that has exactly the same bass melody.
Weve all done it .. :(
so hard to be original, especially when starting out
LOL. When I was 7, I came up with a parody of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Proud of myself, I sang the song to someone at school, who corrected me at one point. I thought, “you can’t correct me; I wrote this.” Turns out the parody already existed, almost identical to “mine”. What on earth was I dreaming when I thought I came up with it?
Ringo reported, he'd presented
several times songs he'd "written",
only to hear from the others that
they already existed :D
I had the beginnings of a great song I was really excited about only to realize later that the melody was Raspberry Beret.
Most classics are songs inspired by other songs subconsciously or consciously. People aren't born with music. But they are born with the taste and the ability to perceive music in various individual ways.
Yes, definately
Another potato defending theft
@@impacc4182 Hi Tomato!
@@impacc4182 lol.
Yes,much like an oral tradition.This is very evident in the Blues.
Recently I heard the amazing updated mix of I'm Only Sleeping. It stuck in my head and some other song kept coming to mind that sounded like it. I finally was able to recall some of the lyrics and found the song: Along Comes Mary, released in March 1966. John wrote I'm Only Sleeping in April 1966. I had heard, I believe it was the video of Paul, where the Beatles listened to a lot of music, including classical compositions to get something to branch off from.
Updated version?? by whom???
AND there's NO animal as an UPDATED VERSION .
It is an +interpretation+ and the ORIGINAL WINS
I don't think hanging one's melody on a single note constitutes a copyright, nor would Lennon had to have heard it first to try the same himself. Single note melodies go back at least as far as Gregorian chants.
@mickavellian The actual ORIGINAL mix first appeared on the US Capitol album _Yesterday and Today._ It is not the same mix as the official version later released on Parlophone.
And I agree - it is still the best mix by far, right down to the fake stereo processing that actually enhanced the track in this case.
you do an impressive job with your vids .... it's a delight to be subbed. Hope you are having a perfect week! thanks for all the hard work behind these vids
Two things:
1. The opening guitar lick to Lennon's "Woman" from "Double Fantasy" sounds like the opening to Rod Argent's "Hold Your Head Up". Then the two songs go in different directions.
2. In the wake of the My Sweet Lord controversy, there was an interview where Harrison wished there was such a thing as a machine you could feed a melody into, and the machine would say something like "Sorry. You can't use that!"
Which we now have!
Different but kinda similar.
I'm a George fan but I don't believe he never heard of HE'S SO FINE. Also both Delaney Bramlett and Billy Preston claim to have been a part of the writing of MY SWEET LORD. Both friends of George claim he knew that he was ripping off the Chiffons. But that was George. He made it a better tune anyway.
@@fredfreddy2338 Honestly just like a lot of these cases, I’d say it’s more gray than definitive. Whether you want to believe it or not, Harrison says in an interview not long after the experience they had him in court playing with musicologists and they found over twenty songs that use the same structure. A great famous example is killing joke and Nirvana, people trashed them for years even now still do for it when there’s over 5-6 songs that use the exact same structure, each not only years before one another but some from artists in different parts of the world who would have had a much less chance of hearing. Now I’m not gonna stand and defend that or even George for that matter it’s just as likely he copied the song and tried to get away with it. But honestly I just think it’s a case of so many others not just the one I listed (which by no means is an end all be all argument just an example) of just not only unconscious similarities but the fact there are only so many notes and so many structures songs are bound to sound similar.
I once wrote a clever guitar riff and played it to my friend. He went on the internet and the riff already was part of a song that wasn't crazy famous and that I have never heard before. I abandoned the riff and song project, but was happy that I was able to hear something I made up and know that it had merit. It wasn't rubbish like most stuff I come up with! I'll keep messy about with the guitar and perhaps I'll find a riff that has merit and is noteworthy, and is original!
Such a shame that My Sweet Lord is always associated with the lawsuit, it's such a beautiful song
Yeah I agree. My sweet lord is way better than He’s so fine
My favorite... Beautiful music.
Harrison bought the song ...
You mean, He's So Fine is such a beautiful song. FIFY
I love George and think of them as 2 very distinct songs. But to say he had never heard He's So Fine before...what? How is that even possible?
In those days, everyone stole from each other. It's still done, today. That's what art is. That's why it evolves.
David Lynch said 20 years ago that art is in fact devolving.
Incredibly thorough and well researched video. Great job!
Thanks 🙏
Chuck got a lot from his piano player, Johnny Johnson,without credit. Keith Richards pointed it out to him.
Johnnie sued having been urged to by a jerk-and....he lost the suit (note the actual spelling of Johnnie)
Kinda like the jerk Howard Stern and his fake musicologist friend, who urged the estate of Randy California to sue Zeppelin over stairway to heaven.
“All music is rehash. There are only a few notes. Just variations on a theme.”
John Lennon
😂.... another way of saying we ain't paying anybody
@@pgroove163 That's true too. But I also think, take any popular composition in any idiom - jazz, blues, folk, all the genres of mass market popular music - and look around enough and you will always find the previous piece that it is most like. It might be in a different idiom and genre entirely and at first seem very different. But it will be there. it has to be.
@@pgroove163 with good reason. Does everybody who’s ever used a blues shuffle pattern have to pay the original artist who created it? No that would be ridiculous
And all books are rehashed. There are only a certain number of words in the dictionary!
That's an over simplification though and almost debases music and music writing.
Thank you David, great job as always!
Regarding "Yesterday", in addition to the resemblance to "Answer me, my love", there are those who say that the musical structure of "Yesterday" has a certain resemblance to the romantic Mexican song "Bésame Mucho" (1932) by Consuelo Velázquez, which - they say - was inspired by an aria from Enrique Granados' "Suite Goyescas", known as "La Maja y el Ruiseñor" (c.1910) (a certain passage, around minute 3).
The Beatles used to play a funny version of "Bésame Mucho" sung by Paul in their early performances (before they were famous) as part of their repertoire, so there's a chance that some of that composition may have stuck in Paul's head, and then eventually morphed into "Yesterday".
What do you think?
I am a musician and although I dont have a professional career in music, i can safely tell you every single musician takes and borrow from their influences. It's only a big story when the borrower is blatantly making profit off the original at the expense/neglect of the original.
If musicians didnt do this man would still be banging two sticks against rocks.
I came here to make exactly the same comment, so thank you.
Exactly!
Yup
@@CS-xt5qe Professional songwriters largely wrote the songs, borrowing styles from here there and everywhere (!). Studio musicians played on the album tracks (see Bernard Purdie) and The Beatles came in and did some singing. It's what happened with nearly every pop band in that era (including The Beach Boys) but people were led to believe the fab four were different. The Beatles myth of 200 penned songs in 7 yrs is just ludicrous given their schedules, lifestyles, and relative lack of musical knowledge.
Ecclesiastes 1:9
9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Everytime I'm done with one of your episodes I get inspired to write music. Thank you for the inspiration David.
Thank you!
Or in this case "inspired" to "write" music. 😉
@@chiju Just make sure it's your own original music!
Inspired to lift notes from famous songs😯
So, you admit that you're inspired to steal.
The ole "it came to me in a dream" trick
😂😂
Paul: oh no my new song from my dream might be a rip off let me sit on it for weeks and tell everyone I know! 😇
Also Paul: John I love the new tune but that’s chuck berry’s song... let’s slow it down with a swampy vibe so he can’t tell 😈
So Paul made wise and honorable decisions in both cases.
He was sleeping, y'know?
@@stillaliveplus1forme ob your one of those people
I find it very hard to believe that George Harrison had never heard He's so Fine; the Beatles were steeped in early 60s American R&B.
It was a big radio hit as well. He may not remember it but no way he never heard it. These people ate music for breakfast....
By steeped you mean, like Led Zeppelin, seeing an opportunity to exploit black music for their own gain.
@@ingvarhallstrom2306 Of course he heard. George got the idea for My Sweet Lord from Bramlett in December 1969, as Bramlett not played He's So Fine on his guitar.
He obviously did, but forgot. It happens often. Running a song by some astute music listeners can help.
@@edgarwalk5637 George heard Bramlett play He's So Fine on guitar in December 1969. He wrote My Sweet Lord that same month, so he didn't have time to forget what he heard. Especially when many people warned him about plagiarism.
totally agree & appreciate your attitude about
the concept and essence of musicians sharing music
to create & evolve more 😎
It's all fluid man.....
thanks! nice job
Fascinating. I never knew about many of those. Considering there are only 12 notes and in pop music, mostly three chords, it's amazing that songwriters are able to produce new, unique songs.
Not really. There are probably trillions of unique melodies just using those 12 notes, not to mention rhythm!
@@ldgaming4213 Rhythm isn't always enough to keep people from suing you for "stealing" look what happened to Cold Play!
There aren't really only twelve notes, there are twelve notated notes in standard Western tuning. There are also many, many other notes between the notes, blues players know how to find them.
Seven, surely? C D E F G A B.
@@epipick c c# d d# E f f# g g# a a# b
“Steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you a king”
I'm gonna use that in a song!
led zeppelin in a nutshell
... just kidding!
Good artists borrow,
great artists steal.
Don't detract from their greatness.
Bob Dylan What's a Sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this.
As the great Tommy Emmanuel once said, "Everybody steals from Chet"
Great video. The Beatles are great and inspired a lot of people but The Beatles were inspired and borrowed/lifted from others. It's important to document.
Great video. Very well put together. Good job! Thanks & greets from a snowy Berlin. Chris L
It’s not theft, it’s the ubiquitous ebb & flow of talent.
🤣................just give me some truth
Flo & Eddie?
Another saying for theft
Then why aren’t all musicians rich and famous?
@@ps-yk8su For the same reason that all of Wall Street's top financial wizard$ couldn't get together and write a #1 classic jukebox rock hit to save their lives.
Its all a big Fonzie scheme...
Isn't this how all art works? You build on existing stuff, give it your own twist and release it to the world.
Take from one place, that's stealing. Take from several, that's influence.
@@JamoboBorg somebody takes your car so you gotta walk, that's stealing! Copyright infringement is not, neither is plagiarism. You could still be sued for either of those things, but calling it stealing is to redefine that verb although that verb is often used in that context.
That's the case in science, not in art! Science is much, much easier than art (and I say that as a representative of engineering science) ...
And give them the credits/ deserved monies.
Musicians don't make art for free, though. Pay those whose credit is due to them
Every one does it. I was listening to my favourite artist's new album the other day and it was full of templates, the tried and trusted melodies and riffs that loads of people have used.
As someone who has written songs as a hobby for the past 30 years, Every time I'm on to something and realize that I'm coping another artist, I say to myself, "Ah! I'm coping this from "so and so!" We all do it. Influences are powerful; all artists are impressionable; it's how we are wired. In such instances, those of us with integrity ask ourselves, "what is it about this piece of music that is so special?... What are the elements that make it so appealing to me?" And ultimately, how can I use those elements to pay homage to, or present a "tip of the cap" to the artist who inspired it, in a tasteful way without being super obvious and cheesy? You can't just do that ALL the time, but I think every artist is allowed to use some of the same colors and techniques, if there is a reasonable amount of originality and uniqueness in their expression. That's what makes or breaks, (for instance) a good COVER after all.
I've heard you only need to change a piece of music by 20%, leagally, to avoid copyright issues? It's probably more rewarding to avoid blatantly copying other material all together if possible. (Unless you CAN'T write, and are playing in a cover band, which is also totally fine.) Many people earn a living that way. 👍
I'm kind of surprised The Beatles did it so often... but I really don't think it hurts their legacy much. They still would have been iconic even without those bits they stole.
How can I not unhear the subtle differences in these songs now? The Beatles and Chuck Berry are brilliant in their own right. I'm glad he was such an influence.
I think a lot of people overlook the influence Chuck Barry had on the Beatles, and focus instead on the influence of Chuck Berry. Weird.
@@CoCotheTurtle Scottish/Irish music had a big influence on rock n roll and that was part of the Beatles heritage ,so it`s swings and roundabouts.
@@priyaxo8116 There isn't a person named CHUCK BARRY.
@@CoCotheTurtle hahaha I see the typo
There are a lot of Chuck Berry songs that sound exactly like. well, a lot of other Chuck Berry songs. Sometimes the only difference is the lyrics.
"I'd rather see you dead little girl, than see you with another man"? Damn, that's brutal.
Lyrics that scream "Normalized domestic abuse"
John was based af
Ah, simpler times. ;)
Unfortunately all to prophetic
a lot of 60s music didnt age well
it would be fun to play at a club with a buzzer on everyones table, and see if you could make it thru any songs without someone being offended
Sweet Lorretta Martin thought she was a woman, but she was another man BZzZZZZzTTTTT!
Great video once again. Well researched and the technical details are on spot, lucid and clear to the musically unsophisticated. As a musician I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm definitely not criticising David's work (I'm an old subscriber), but I've found that non-musicians can get the wrong idea quite easily about this issue. Lemme just put something out there. Standing on the shoulders and learning from those that came before us is exactly how we learn to be musicians. We're supposed to do that. If you can't play Chuck Berry; don't try and do Rock and Roll. Without Chuck Berry, (in my humble etc.) there is no Rock and Roll. Before there was a music industry the Blues developed and grew into what it became exactly because successful new musicians borrowed greatly from successful old musicians. In a musical sense this is called following a tradition.
In classical music this isn't even an issue. In Bluegrass if you can do a decent Doc Watson rendition of anything classic you get real respect. Ditto all brands of root music. In songwriting it is accepted practice to jam on some great song that you like and improvise your own thing until it doesn't sound like Chuck Berry (et al) anymore. At least I hope you do that, because that's how you get onto the vibe of doing your own stuff well. It doesn't mean that you alter something classic until its far enough from copyright restrictions; (although human nature being what it is, this surely happens all the time...) it means that great new music is great exactly because it stands on and often overshadows the greatness that came before it.
There seems to be a misconception amongst some individuals that being influenced by the quality that came before is somehow inferior to the original music. Well, no. If you thought that you are mistaken. We can't all be Chuck Berry or Jimi Hendrix or whoever; the best you can be has got to be the best of you; and at the end of the day that could make you the next whoever. That would make you a true original. However, it takes a load work to get there. That entails respecting what came before to the point of letting it influence your own growth as an original musician.
I realise that any copyright lawyer reading this will probably start foaming at the mouth, but hey; this is actually about music and not about copyright per se. Yes there are musos out there who will stoop to any level to get that hit out there...My first guitar teacher told me once that he expected me to be influenced by him; and so should I. After all, why was I paying him to teach me. Thirty years later I'm still chuckling at that old Barney Kessel influenced jazzman. He was my biggest influence to date.
Fascinating, and so much there I didn't know about. Given all the famous Beatles' songs they still created the vast majority of their music themselves - most of their very best work isn't mentioned here.
5:02: “They just smiled and shook my hand...” “...’No’ was all they said.”
What's the reference, I can't place it?
Take a load off Annie!
@@gregberry1812 Ah yes the band, good one, thanks!
Sometimes I spend hours trying to remember what song the tiny little part of the song belongs to!
@@sammaloney1746 I wouldn't know the song were it not for the Grateful Dead.
@@gregberry1812 Well I much prefer the dead when they're doing their original stuff. But they'd a few great covers too all things considered!
The intro to All You Need is Love is a total ‘ripoff’ of the French National anthem! Obviously someone owes some money to Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle! Lol
It's in public domain lol
Written before copytwright laws
Its the example of open citation. Love both great pieces of art! Merci bien for naming Rouget de Lisle.
It is the French national anthem stupid!
In the fade out you can hear the brass playing 'In The Mood' which George Martin thought was out of copyright, it wasn't..
This is a very thoughtfully put together video and well researched. The truth is all musicians are influenced by other musicians. Boy George and George Michael both said they copied Motown songs for their ideas. If anything it shows what great songwriters the Beatles really were.
What part of a Bealte tune is based on the bassline of Tuxedo Junction and another part of that coming from the chord progression and melodic 'feel' of Moonglow? Hint: Erroll Garner
It’s rare for me to hear something These days that I didn’t know about the Beatles and this video was full of them
Great video!
Thanks!
totally agree -very informative
As a huge Beatle fan I must say damn good stuff sir .. Whatsmore I can't help but think this is the history of the world .. People will always borrow ideas from other people and regurgitate it in their own way .. Usually making it better .. It's like they're saying that's good but I can make it BETTER ..
Isn't there a line on Hey Jude that goes something like that? You are right, and while it's a different field this is also what happens in technical inventions.
The much-celebrated Apple iPod and iPhone didn't spring fully formed out of a vacuum. Also its probably no accident that the idea of 'inventions' is also a musical concept - it's used in classical music to describe when a composer take a a pre-existing musical idea or theme and then embellishes or develops it into a new composition - an idea not entirely unknown in jazz!
Really ? So what songs or sounds did iron maiden ever steal ? The beatles had no talent.
@@mgtowchampion7961 You have no brain if you think that.
@@vrinda5303 just go away and smoke your drugs.
@@vrinda5303 beatles got sued 4 times in court stfu.
Thank you for your great video, it shows clearly the Beatles were "also" inspired by many so other bands and artists...Three great influences that shaped The Beatles' music include Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and The one and only King, Elvis Presley. While all three of these musicians impacted The Beatles strongly, Elvis' style, sound, and all-around charisma left a lasting impression on all four of the young, eager members. The Beatles were also influenced by Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, The Byrds, Ravi Shankar and Eric Clapton.
They weren't inspired enuff to be original? The Beatles are trash. Elvis was the biggest theif of them all. Stop the foolishness
You have done your research, sir. Well done. Beyond the melody and rhythm, musicians can change the instrumentation to make a tune unique. With soooo many new tunes composed now every day this will be more common then ever.
I love how a David Bennett video about the Beatles seems just like a normal David Bennett video
“ Want to know a secret, do you promise not to tell” are the opening words to I’m Wishing from snow white. Supposedly, John’s mother would sing it to him at bedtime.
Do you Want to know a secret...That is a "Cover Song" it was not written by John & Paul
an that was plagiarism???
That was Johnny remembering MOMMA
@@davemitch3389 I think you are thinking of "Till there was you" which is is from Music Man.
@@johnharris3657 You are right Sir... I will pull my head out of my ass now!
I think the I Feel Fine riff is completely original harmonically, but borrows rhythms from blues songs they liked, definitely by Bobby Parker and those alike. Parker’s riff kinda just tonicizes I while the I Feel Fine riff sets up a simultaneous relationship between I and IV that sounds so original and new to the the standard blues. Not to mention the amazing chorus that strengthens I. The Beatles were so damn genius.
When 12 bar blues are played, I can instantly sing the you the words of about ten different songs. Dizzy Gillespie used to visit Scotland and in company introduced me as his wife. What could I say ? Yes, you guessed right. Acker Bilk tried the same thing. What a carry on it was., but a fantastic time in my life. I met them through my work singing, both were great musicians.
You left the best part of the My Sweet Lord/He's So Fine controversy...George Harrison eventually acquired the rights to He's So Fine. After the Plagiarism Lawsuit, disputes over damages lingered on into the 1990s, with Harrison’s manager Allen Klein changing sides by buying Bright Tunes, which published He’s So Fine, and continuing the lawsuit after parting ways with Harrison. Harrison ended up being the owner of both songs.
Yeah thanks to stuff like that, he was running out of money and that's the reason the remaining Beatles did Anthology (and why it ended early, George didn't really want to work on Johns unfinished songs).
@@Spaced92 The Anthology was what it was a carry over of the first BeaTles at the BBC (which Sir George Martin chose songs for the most part that sounded like his recordings). Not on the Anthology 1 vol. September Rain the best song on the Decca (hangover) Demo, Paul at his best, the Guitars with some dirt, and Pete Best. Also missing from BBC (yes it had to sound like a studio recording), the Six Songs from the Beatles appearance on the BBC, yes grainy off the air recordings, but significant, their first on the air performance, (March 7, 1962) and the last appearance with Pete Best (June 11, 1962). Roy Orbison's ‘Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream?)’ (no other recording) and ‘Ask Me Why’ first self penned Beatles song to play on the air-waves, and George singing ‘A Picture Of You’. (The other songs were ‘Memphis, Tennessee’
, ‘Please Mister Postman’). The recordings art studio quality, and from the various BBC recordings enough to fill six CD's although some have issues, there's a recording of the Beatles with Ringo of on drums, Roll Over Beethoven (initial voice over by the announcer), that is the Best live version of George singing with unbridled energy (better than the Star Club version) that's is about as close as you can get to how the Hamburg performances must have sounded and in the clubs in Liverpool and on tour, you know the quote by John on the best material (performances) were never recorded. "We were just a band that made it very, very, big that’s all. Our best work was never recorded. Because we were performers - in spite of what Mick says about us - in Liverpool, Hamburg and other dance halls. What we generated was fantastic, when we played straight rock, and there was nobody to touch us in Britain. As soon as we made it, we made it, but the edges were knocked off.
George did all right financially before he passed away at 58...At the time of his death, George Harrison accumulated a colossal $400 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. The musician left his entire estate to widow Olivia Harrison and their son Dhani (who looks like a clone of his father).
Thank you for your interesting and informative comment.
@@seanclark2531 You are welcome.
I agree with the Judge: they are the same song with different lyrics. What are the chances of creating the same exact song never hearing the original?
One of the best songs I ever wrote & sung to many family, friends & future band mates. One day, a guy who really knew his music said... "Dude, that''s the same chord progression & melody to "Mr. Postman!" My thought immediately was "did I INTENTIONALLY copy that?" My answer to myself honestly was HELL NO! I'm a rocker & that's an OLD pop hit! My conclusion was... Put someone in a room by themselves for decades & tell them to write songs. Eventually some will sound just like someone else's out of pure chance!!
Or subconscious borrowing. Even if you don't remember a song offhand, you might not _entirely_ forget it.
That´s because music is finite!
@@felipefernandes9053 And musicians rarely sue. Its a record company or family.
@@AaronOfMpls yup
Perfectly natural behavior.
I am a fan of The Beatles but had no idea of the "rip off" songs except for George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"
I found this video very intriguing.
David, very interesting video. Thank you so much for the great info!
You can't copyright a bass line; nor even a chord progression; only melodies and lyrics are subject to copyright. The bass line in I SAW HER STANDING THERE is very common in rock and blues, even played in bar bands by players who have never listened to these songs.
Maybe in a perfect world. See what happened in the Blurred lines lawsuit. They won cause of a style/groove were similar..
This song was listed as " Seventeen" on Meet The Beatles, I seem to recall.
Like I said in my other comment, you think Nike and Phil Night created the shoe? --- no, but they did add value to it. Same with million other industries, cars, homes, clothing lines, hats, TVs, pools, pool tables, furniture etc.,
It's funny. We Gotta Get Outa This Place has what I think is a certifiable justifiable bass line that was so identified with the song, it would be hard to pretend you made it up if it was in another song. There are many such bass licks. But then again, lyrics, progressions and melody should all be considered before getting all whacky about stealing someone else's music.
you are talking crap dude.. one thing is style one thing is using the same notes
This would make a fun spotify playlist.
LOVE that riff in "I Feel Fine!" So did the Beatles, right?
2 of my favorite blatent examples of incorpporating bits of one song in another.... "Night Of Fear" by Roy Wood (The Move, 1967), the entire recurring bass line of the song is taken from Tsikovsky's "1812 Overture". Later, "Twilight" by Jeff Lynne (ELO, 1981), the recurring opening riff, is from Tsikovsky's "Waltz Of The Flowers". It was actually my DAD who identified that, when I played it for him, one note at a time, on his accordion.
When Superman creators Siegel and Schuster were involved in legal disputes about the ownership of the character, they wrote a story where the villain copyrighted the alphabet, so everyone owed him a royalty -- and Superman couldn't fight it because it was legal!
I agree with Paul about bass lines, just look at drum beats
12 bar blues, 3 chord progression songs and Straight Rock and Roll all have the same DNA. Even lyrics spin into other songs even though they hover over the one particular passage. The result, a better mouse trap. (It's a metaphor Sluggo).
Ha - can you imagine: :You're breathing in exactly the same spot when playing my straight 8ths, ya thieving swine!" That'd be like trying to claim a standard root fifth bass-line in a country progression. Once a bass-line starts to get melodic, it becomes a somewhat different matter. The cat who composed the bass for Billie Jean should have got some money in my view, that line sells the song in a similar way to the way the gtr riff sells Sweet Child O' Mine. Also you're not going to win any friends trying to write new song and totally stealing the bass-line to Come Together. The song may have rested lyrically in part on a old Chuck Berry tune, but Paul and Ringo certainly value-added to that one - they created one of the all-time classic drum and bass combos. George's supportive rhythm part is just that - just colour. The drums and bass carry it.
@@ianbartle456 Yeah, it's considered a John Lennon classic, but I like to joke that it's a Berry-McCartney-Starkey collaboration.
You did great job on this very clear and you put examples side by side
There are only so many notes that people find pleasant to hear. Unless you copy note to note of a song it's not ripping it off. But, if you must insist that the Beatles ripped off any musicians, a lot of musicians have ripped off the Beatles as well. Even more so. Indeed, musicians today are still copying the Beatles' best riffs.
“Good writers borrow, great writers steal.” - Oscar Wilde
@MichaelKingsfordGray Sure, all intelligent people put their real identities online, dear god.
Is this a game to see how many famous people we can attribute that quote to
Well, that's what they did. *Borrow* . Not *steal* .
@@TAJMofficial what a nice comment... Im gonna go for Picasso?
@@TAJMofficial I think he stole that quote
“Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”
“The quote in this form was a favorite of Steve Jobs but he but he was probably (mis)quoting Pablo Picasso who said “Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal” - who in turn might be rephrasing Igor Stravinsky, but both sayings may well originate in T. S. Eliot’s dictum: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.” - The origins of this quote itself is an example of great artists stealing.”
Great comment which I expect will be stolen for use in some mass media presentation .
5tt9y guy yyy,who 87789 006Ed
Oscar wilde said something like that too when he was alive.
None of which makes T. S. Eliot's poetry worth rereading after the first time.
MIck Jagger said this also
The amount of knowledge you display in those videos blow my mind. I really enjoy them. Especially this video. Subscribed and liked!
So to clarify; in the Beatles 8 years of teenage metamorphism to adults; maintaining & freely expressing creativity, fun, passion, love, peace, anger, sorrow, dreams, nostalgia, spirituality,. humanity... all through inspirational music x 205 songs; 10 songs listed sound & were probably inspired by other great music, tunes, riffs & songs.
@magicmusic8, this is why the music today 1/7/2022 sucks,reminds me of the /50's before Elvis. sad but true.
Imagine finally emerging from the shadow of the two greatest songwriters in the world and gaining confidence in yourself as a solo artist, only to find that you unconsciously plagiarised your biggest hit from another song
I still think plagiarised is in accurate for many reasons. But fortunately, nobody's opinion matters more than the listener's experience. I'll wager Cole would be way to cool to gripe about it. Especially if he were to hear how MANY people revere and continue to emulate Paul's "Dream"
@@terrylodercreative Cole Porter? Nat King Cole? Natalie Cole?
@@jnagarya519 Helmut Kohl?
@@ianbartle456 Nah, Cheryl Cole, obviously.
You're an idiot. How does anyone go about proving to themselves, or anyone else for that matter, that they unconsciously plagiarized anything. It can't be done. That's the nature of the unconscious. It's unrecognizable because it's unconscious.
i never thought i'd say this, but i actually learned lots of new information about the beatles here
😁😁
Me too. It got me thinking; my favourite Beatles song is, I Want You (She's So Heavy) Tell me they didn't lift THAT from another musician
@@palliaskamen5722 find out who the musicians were that they lifted riffs or melodies from ..u just might like them just like the Beatles did.
@@pgroove163 yes! That’s really what got me into chuck berry and little richard’s music
Same
Your videos are very interesting and informative. Nice one!
Rip-offs is too strong a word for it when we really all of us have _influences._ Give The Beatles their due as good students of music, not just American but from all over the place. But the greatest strength they had was an amazing originality they could be put to use, even the cover songs they did earlier on, making them even more famous than the originals like if you want to play _Twist And Shout_ their version is the one to gravitate towards. I recall one song by Lennon where he said he had been influenced by Beethoven. Think about it, what other rock band would look that far away from the beaten path. The Beatles could find an angle in any music and then present it in such a way that the world could only be amazed by. And don't forget the actual truly amazing originals that others would later be inspired by, these can never be taken away from The Beatles, a band we have never seen the likes of again.
I would love to see a Video on Queen!
I've always thought that My Sweet Lord and He's So Fine sound like Oh Happy Day, which dates back to the 18th century, although the modern arrangement dates from 1967 which is after He's So Fine.
George said oh happy day influenced his song , not he’s so fine
That's what George was going for, "Oh Happy Day" but he changed it, as he didn't want to copy it, but he ended up changing it so much, it sounded similar to He's So Fine.
Hi David. McCartney have always said, that he dreamed up yesterday. But listen to this Chopin, Waltz in A minor, B 150, Op. Posth, go into the 32nd second, and the 2 following bars goes like "All my troubles seems so far away" from Yesterday. Maybe McCartney and others have not discovered this likeness before.
About My Sweet Lord - it's the second phrase "I really want to know you" that really seals the deal. HOWEVER - as happens with many borrowings, he builds on it and takes it in a different direction, returning to the second, avoiding any tonal closure.
The producer of "My Sweet Lord," Phil Spector, would have absolutely been familiar with "He's So Fine" and should have warned George that there could be a problem. I always wondered why he didn't mention it. Instead of fighting it, too bad George wasn't able to do a settlement similar to what John did with "You Can't Catch Me," by promising to record one or two songs from the publisher of "He's So Fine" (though obviously not *that* song) on his next solo album(s). It would have saved dear George so much of his precious time, all that money, and would have spared him the aggravation. Excellent program, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you!
Because, as we would come to learn, Phil was an unprincipled, nerdy, sniveling and murderous user.
George stated in court that Spector told him he could use the melody. More importantly, the judge ruled that only a run of three notes violated copyright. More importantly, My Sweet Lord is an incredibly produced beautiful song that was the number one record worldwide the year it was released. He's So Fine never ever came close to that popularity.
I know there are some "Roots of the Beatles" albums but I think a good "win-win" solution would be for the record companies to release a double compilation album - one album of The Beatles and the other of the original artists, who should benefit from the royalites. It would make an interesting project.
BTW great vid!
2:02 i was reminded of the rehab song, 'i say no no no'
Actually Yesterday was based in a mexican song called Bésame Mucho, recorded by the Silver Beatles in the Decca session, and a versión can be heard in the Anthology 1. The word "Yesterday" Is close to "Bésame", and next an ascendent scale: "all muy troubles seemed so far away" sounds close to "como si fuera esta noche la última vez" ("each time I bring you a kiss
I hear music divine", in the english versión).
There are very few melodies that aren't similar to some other melody out there in melodyland.
This!
Or rhythm. Duh.
Humphrey Lyttelton was a great man and his quote in this informative vid was very true to his character.
The Offspring song "Why Don't You Get A Job" is the exact same rhythm as The Beatles "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da". You can sing lyrics of the 2 songs right over one another.
Has anyone ever noticed the beginning of “Get Back” and the beginning of “Crazy Arms”by Ray Price ?
“ Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner “ and “ Now blue ain’t the word for the way that I feel “. Same melody.
Get Back is a total ripoff of God Save the Queen. Scandalous.
😂😂
What are you talking about! Complete nonsense!
@@roberthowes5838 it's a joke Bob
That one was like a hand grenade.... I'm going: "This bloke is Bonkers!" and then the light of humor shone it's rewritten light on me and I just ..... smiled... which of course, I had done before. But this time I stole my laugh from Glen Campbell.
Hi! I would really like to see you do on video on Beatles' outros. That's one thing among others they really mastered and pioneered. Genial stuff.
I meant,😁 "Twist and Shout"... -- "a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens". (quoted from Wikipedia). May 3, 2022
Great job David! I love your videos!
Thank toon
That's how FOLK music works: everyone borrows, and hopefully improves, that which already exists.
Blues music,certainly
Yes, unless someone sued as they did with George Harrison then that's it , you can't make a case for something that is similar to another song & you can't now as the songs are over 50 years old anyway..
@@devonmoors "Blues" is also made by folks.
Folk music is not copyrighted because the original composer is unknown. So anyone can borrow an old folk tune and do something with it. Think Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan.
Lol bullshit. Chuck Berry was robbed by several artist for his art. Beatles were culture vultures
I see you are using Izotope RX7 to isolate parts of the songs. Well done. Such amazing tool with so many possibilities.
In 300 years Data from Star Trek will blast out any track from any piece of music ever made from his mouth. Have some patience!
I haven't actually used RX7 myself. In this video I either used stems available on CZcams or, in the case of boosting the bass for "Saw Her Standing There", I used an EQ and then overdubbed my own bass playing! It sounds like a useful tool though so I'll look into it!
@@DavidBennettPiano you HAVE to use it! It will make your video 100% percent better. It's exactly what you need. Look for the "Music Rebalance" tool.
Izotope literally program witchcraft. It's insane what their stuff can do.
@@DavidBennettPiano And it will cost you an arm and a leg. $1250USD last time I looked.
9:11 The subconscious inspiration for Yesterday was Bésame Mucho and the whole Bolero genre.
Actually, Yesterday is a Bolero song.
I was surprised to learn that one of my favorite songs, Bring him home from les miserable, was directly lifted from the humming chorus in madam butterfly
The influence can't be denied in terms of the groove, but Watch Your Step is a pentatonic blues riff and the song follows a standard blues. In contrast, I Feel Fine uses a Mixolydian riff. And then that riff played on G7, D7 and C7 probably creates a bunch of other modes. And then you have a bridge that opens up with a purely major scale, a really clever contrast. The Beatles took the groove of Watch your Step to a different and highly original place.
The similarity comes down to the rhythm, and half a bar of melody. If that was grounds for a copyright claim the whole intellectual property rights system would collapse. Bobby Parker is being highly disingenuous here.
and when played backwards under the overhead projection of a Pentagram, one can clearly hear Stevie Nicks.
During the Harrison court case, it was, also, pointed out that tunes can imprint in minds subconsciously. George is too talented to have to "steal" anyone else's music. As for RUN FOR YOUR LIFE . . . until, as an adult, I got active in domestic violence prevention, I didn't recognize how horrid these lyrics are although they were NOT meant to be taken literally at the time.
Yet Harrison did steal music, his album Electronic Sound is just one example. Just because someone is talented does not preclude them from plagiarism.
@@chesterproudfoot9864 - Good AM. I'll acknowledge I never heard "Electric Sound." So, I'll accept your assessment. The point that some legal scholars made during the GH-Chiffons lawsuit was that "plagiarism" requires a conscious intent to steal. (My husband is a trademark & copyright attorney.) A musician turning notes swirling around their SUBconscious into tunes they write is NOT plagiarism. George found it insulting, but turned the episode into a song. I doubt he begrudged The Chiffons who were not nearly as successful, getting a larger piece of the pop music pie. Best Wishes.
@@mjcamck This Song is a favorite GH tune.
@Critique Everything - You're right. John admitted he had been violent w/ women. He even wrote his regret into "It's Getting Better." The lyrics were, initially, referring to the weather; Paul (the main writer) was inspired during an early Spring morning walk after noticing the warmer temperature. (Temporary stand-in drummer Jimmy Nicole had used the phrase frequently). Later, John added "I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her & kept her apart from the things that she loved. Man I was mean, but I'm changing my scene." He said his guilt caused him to put more gentleness into both his song lyrics and his behavior. Peace & Love to you.
Finally, a comment that shows a mature grasp of this type of musical phenomenon. George Harrison's integrity was through the roof. He was gentle, kind, incredibly inventive and skilled. Let both songs be played and enjoyed for what they were meant to be to the listener.
It's never surprising to me when guitarists come out with the same or similar riffs, because the physical layout of a guitar lends itself to playing notes within easy reach of each other. Songs written on a guitar and piano differ because of the differing layouts of the instruments, i.e. the layout partially determines which notes you choose to use.
Yes that's true, hence the term guitaristic. Only people who play really notice these things I think. Personally I was always struck by the differences between Joni Mitchell's guitar written and piano written songs, even though she liked open tunings...back when I was a fan.
Chuck Berry lifted the Johnny B Goode intro from Louis Jordan's guitarist Paul Hogan on the tune "Ain't That Just Like a Woman (They'll Do It Every Time). Berry freely acknowledged Hogan's influence.