Music Plagiarism and Appropriation

This Paul McCartney penned A-side has a memorable piano part and an infectious bass line that has turned up in several groove-based hits. It is a derivative of classic bass riffs found in songs like Lucille (1957), Brand New Cadillac (1959) and Oh, Pretty Woman (1964)

Lady Madonna has also been used in two very popular Japanese 8-bit games.

First (without permission) in Tehkan's 1984 arcade classic Bomb Jack.

And in 1990 Nintendo ripped off both the piano part and the bass line for the theme song of Dr. Mario.

A blatant lift, but the boring vocal melody ruins the song for me. I definitely prefer The Joker (which also has "space cowboy" and "gangster of love" in the lyrics).

Without McCartney's grace notes, this version of the riff sounds even more similar to early rock 'n roll riffs like Lucille and Brand New Cadillac.

Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale:
1,1,4,5,6,6,10,13
Range: 12 semitones (Octave)

The first four notes are the same as the Oh, Pretty Woman riff, the last four notes are the same as the Lady Madonna riff. But the overall feel is more Beatles than Roy Orbinson.

Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale:
1,1,5,8,6,6,10,13 (grace notes excepted)
Range: 12 semitones (Octave)

Though the groove is far from identical, the entire song feels very similar to Hoodoo Voodoo. Pitch shift this a few steps up and the voices (and the tempo) also becomes strikingly alike.

But we have deviated pretty far from Lady Madonna here. The combined groove of the bass and the guitar might even sound closer to Louie Louie (1957), depending on what your ears focus on.

A bewildering choice for a single that marked the end of Bolan's reign over the UK chart. The song has strong phrases but the 2-beat chorus hook is very weak, yet repeated 63 times during 3 minutes and 9 seconds.

Bolan recorded an acoustic demo in October 1971, suggesting that the melody has earlier roots than Barry Blue's song.

Truck On (Tyke) demo (1971)

A brash rockabilly stomper with an unusual sound for its time. The riff is rhythmically similar too the drums on Little Richard's Keep a Knockin (1957) and Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll (1970).

Just like Cochran's Summertime Blues, the bass plays a semitone riff with 8th notes.

One of many simple but effective riffs by Cochran who had an especially large impact on Marc Bolan and his songwriting.

It's a chord-based V-IV-I-riff, similar to Van Morrison's riff for Gloria (1964)

Recorded in 1976 but not released during Bolan's life time.

In the liner notes of T. Rex Unchained: Unreleased Recordings Volume 7, Martin Barden calls this an "upbeat rockabilly-like 'Jeepster' derivative". I really can't hear it and, in any case, it is a clearly a derivative of something much older.

Written by Peter Shelley (not to be confused with Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks). There is another guitar riff on top, but the background groove is borrowed from Spirit in the Sky.

Alvin Stardust (real name Bernard William Jewry) didn't actually sing on the recording. Pete Shelley himself did before Jewry was hired as the public face of the Alvin Stardust persona that Shelley had created. Weirdly enough, Jewry later seems to have claimed that he even was involved with the writing of the song when Marc Bolan visited the studio.

Sure, just like with Sosse, the lyrics are more carefully crafted than the melody. Nevertheless, nobody would care about the lyrics without the melody. It seems wrong that Torsson gets all the songwriting credit for this one.

Lyrically, this would sit perfectly along songs like Children of Rarn on the eponymous T. Rex album from the year before. Musically too, the acoustic part reminds me of songs like Sun Eye and The Visit on the same album.

T. Rex
Buick Mackane (1972)

The crude riffs of both All Day and All of the Night (1964) and You Really Got Me (1964) are obvious points of comparison. But more than anything else, Bolan must have listened to the friends of his old partner Steve Took before writing this riff-based anthem of nonsense statements.

The riff extends the first E–D–E part of the Hawkwind riff substantially with parts from Buick Mackane. From the G in the final part, it then goes back to E instead of up to A like in the Hawkwind riff. (Bolan waits for the chorus – not heard in the clip above – to use the A chord.)

I'm not madly keen on U2 but this marvelous Bolan pastiche is second only to Cornershop's Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III. It has creative variations of the COTR-riff, Bolan's trademark three descending notes, weird and alluring vocals, and just tons of neat little touches everywhere.

A quite passable glam pastiche which serves up a riff of equal parts You Really Got Me and Children of the Revolution.

The kind of rip-off I dislike the most: contrived mutilation of Bolan's riff just to make sure it isn't exactly the same.

A lovely verse melody that makes me think of the songs like Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Bonnie Bee, and Hot Love. But the more immediate inspiration surely came from Toni Holgersson's song.

The 2 x 2-bar bridge to the chorus recalls the bridge in Gyllene Tider's Flickan i en Cole Porter-sång.

Most people know this riff from Don't Be Cruel, but Stranded In The Jungle actually charted two weeks earlier, so I assume that it also was released earlier. Nevertheless, there must be prior songs using the same riff. I'll add them when I find them.

Just like Lucille, the riff is just one bar of ascending through a Major Sixth chord and then back to the Fifth. But the rhythm is very different – bouncy! – and there are no repeating notes:

(Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale)
1,1,5,5,8,8,10,8 – Lucille
1,5,8,10,8 – Stranded In The Jungle

Identical and also very similar to the riff in King Creole (1958), which uses the same rhythm but replaces the Major Third with a repeat of the first note:

1,1,8,10,8 – King Creole

A plain copy though the slower tempo and different sound make for a less bouncy feel. The worst song on The Slider in my opinion.

Bolan used another “1,5,8,10,8 riff” twice in One Inch Rock and New York City (also the bass riff in Elvis's Big Hunk O' Love). But that one has the same straight rhythm as Lucille, just without the repeating notes. So the feel is quite different from Don't Be Cruel.

Bolan riffs that really do feel similar are Beltane Walk (1970) and, particularly, Thunderwing (1972), which starts off like Stranded In The Jungle but adds a second bar which makes it more lively and less trance-like.

A very influential bass riff of eight ascending 8th notes. None of the riffs to the right are identical copies, but they are all comprised of eight ascending 8th notes. This in contrast to other famous "eight 8th notes"-riffs like the Peter Gunn Theme (back and forth) and the Batman Theme (mainly descending).

There are probably many earlier examples of this kind of riff in boogie-woogie piano pieces.

Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale:
1,1,5,5,8,8,10,8
Range: 9 semitones (Major Sixth)

A fast, menacing riff where the eight ascending notes span just half an octave. More conjunct and less joyous than the other riffs here

This song was made very popular in Nordic countries by Swedish, Danish and Finnish bands in the 60s. Interestingly enough, most replaced the riff with the riff from the theme song of American TV-show Peter Gunn (1958).

Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale:
1,1,4,4,6,6,7,6
Range: 6 semitones (Diminished Fifth)

The most disjunct of the riffs here but, to my ears, still softer and less lively than the Lady Madonna riff.

Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale:
1,1,5,8,11,15,13,11
Range: 14 semitones (Major Ninth)

Grace note excepted, the same rhythm of eight ascending notes. The first six notes are almost identical to Brand New Cadillac, but the two final leaps upwards make the riff sound bouncy and invigorating rather than menacing. It has been plagiarized several times.

Notes as numbers in a chromatic scale:
1,1,4,5,6,6, (grace note), 10,13
Range: 12 semitones (Octave)

Much more well known today than the TV-show from which it originates. An entire generation of video gamers also know the tune from Spy Hunter (1983), a coin-op that was ported to most 8-bit computers and consoles in the 80s.

The riff was also used as the basis for a new tune in another 1983 game – the C64 version of Sierra Online´s Crossfire.

A cover of Vince Taylor's Brand New Cadillac (1959). But, surprisingly, the Swedish band replaced the original eight-note riff with an eight-note riff from another song. Less menace, more swagger, perhaps...

As a matter of fact, all the other Nordic bands that covered Cadillac during the 60s also changed the riff into variations of the Peter Gunn riff.

Though bouncy, the Minor Seventh note makes for a more world-weary walk than the boyish joy of Bolan's run-up to Ride a White Swan.

A much more melodic song – almost bubblegum – whose riff is an obvious nod to McCracklin.

Yet it feels pretty different. Bolan goes one whole step higher and keeps it strictly in major. This puts a youngish spring in the step – it's the walk of a boy, skipping across a dewy meadow in the morning sun.

Like Lucille, Don't Be Cruel and many other 50s riffs, the riff begins with a climb up the notes of a Major Sixth chord.

The descending riff in bars 5-8 is perhaps the most characteristic part of the song and begins with a melody/rhythm reminiscent of the guitar breaks in the middle 8 of Hot Love and Heartbreak Hotel.

The verse starts off very similar to their own Commando (1977).

The 4-bar descending Ramones riff is repeated twice before the verse begins.

And then, the verse, the chorus – the structure of the entire tune – continues to echo Dee Dee's song quite conspicuously.

Produced by David Bowie and similar to other chord-based V-IV-I-riffs by Reed and Bowie, such as those in Sweet Jane, Running Gun Blues and Queen Bitch. Also closely related to the riff in Wild Thing (1966) by the Troggs.

Same rhythm, but V-II-I instead of V-IV-I.

One of the most well-known early Uggla tracks. It was a single but also on the album Va ska man ta livet av sig för när man ändå inte får höra snacket efteråt.

Just like Varning på stan on the same album, it also borrows the descending chromatic piano riff from Mott The Hoople's All the Way from Memphis. (There is also a song about Mott The Hoople on the album.)

Same rhythm as Vicious but reversed order of the chords (I-IV-V) makes this even closer to the riff of Wild Thing and almost identical to the bass riff in Roxette's Dressed for Success.

The verse of the song owes much to Manic Monday or rather to the eaven earlier My Girl Sloopy & Hang On Sloopy, which not only share the same melody but also sport a I-IV-V-riff.

This riff is repeated throughout this song from the Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow album. It is faster but very similar to the first three bars of the verse melody of El Cóndor Pasa. But, just like in She Was Born to Be My Unicorn, Bolan skips the opening perfect fourth.

The riff is not on early demos of the song, but on the final version it is central and also sung by Bolan and Gloria Jones in the end section.

An obscure B-side from an Oklahoma garage band. And by the way, the A-side is called She's a Gas ... Chances are no more than nine people bought this single back in the 60s, but Bolan surely was one of them!

It is not just the simplistic 3 x 3-note melody which is similar to Get It On. The chords vary while the 3-note melody stays the same, and this progression of 3 chords is identical to the chord progresion in Get It On (even the minor chord that really shouldn't be minor?).

I always thought the chorus was the weakest part of Bolan's sole U.S. hit. "It lacks something of the T. Rex I know and love" to quote John Peel's fateful review. Now I know why!

Still, the raised notes of the third bar is an improvement. Not sure about rushing it one beat though. I prefer when he doesn't rush it, like on the oft-derided version on the Marc show ... or like Turn It On.

This is just a two-beat lilt – a four-note motif that barely even qualifies as a riff. I'm sure it has been used in more songs than the ones I have listed here. But these three very different songs certainly all use it to good effect!

Note the frantic piano hammering part in the end of the clip. Maybe a clue that this was Bolan's source for the bass line of Hot Love?

Besides the bass line, please also note the guitar break from the middle 8 which I have appended in the end. It is generally assumed to be a nod to the middle 8 of Heartbreak Hotel, but there is a similar triplet figure in I'll Be Your Hero.

Even slower and even less staccato. Kiss also goes further than Led Zeppelin in milking the riff for all its worth, using it also for the vocal chorus melody.

The year before, Kiss used the same three notes for the Heaven's On Fire chorus. First in reverse, ascending, "takin' you higher"; then descending, "heaven's on fire", just like Misty Mountain Hop and Uh! All Night.

This riff is clearly a derivative of the riff in Get It On (1971). In fact, the entire song is an obvious derivative of Get It On.

The spirit of Chuck Berry is present but the (two) guitars are raunchier and the groove is more danceable, thanks to Steve Currie's funky descending bass line that complements Bolan's off-beat guitar very nicely.

The intro riff is just broadly related, but when it returns later it has become a close kin to the Telegram Sam riff. The song also quotes Johnny B. Goode and Satisfaction.

Nazareth later straight out stole Bolan's very similar Get It On riff for their 1980 single Holiday.

Note that Currie's bass line bears a strong resemblance to the simple piano piece Der Flohwalzer (The Flea Waltz), which is known all over the world by different names. In 1962, when Currie was 15, Russ Conway had a UK hit with a showy version called Lesson One. And in Sweden, the same year, Thore Skogman had a hit with the slightly less sophisticated Kalle Johansson.

Telegram Sam bass riff

Note the similarities to another extremely addictive riff. Yes, Psy's mega hit is a kin of Thore Skogmans Kalle Johansson!

Gangnam Style riff

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Not even the Telegram Sam riff can make me enjoy a song this boring. Great sound on the riff though.

A short and rousing rocker from Stefan Jarl's documentary film Ett anständigt liv.

Note that the steady and decidedly unfunky bass line makes the riff feel very different from Bolan's riff. You could argue, that it is not really the same riff anymore as Currie's bass is an integral part of the Telegram Sam riff.

Even more raunchy (and much cruder) than the studio version. The two versions here are from concerts in Japan and France.

One of the reasons that the riff sounds cruder is that there are two distinct guitar parts on the studio version. Here, Bolan has to approximate both with just one guitar.

Far from plagiarism but I don't think it's a stretch to say that the structure of the song and the melody of the verse owes to Bolan's composition.

The sound of it owes more to the Ramones though.

Two series of "heys" of a single unvaried pitch, evenly spaced on the beats, and interspersed with one or two bars of just the rhythm section – a clear violation of copyright law ;)

To cement the case, I also provide you with Marc Bolan's plan to reissue Solid Gold Easy Action on a limited edition 12" of Celebrate Summer “at the request of Joey Ramone”.

Recorded in 1974 during Bolan's last US tour but not released during his life time.

An emphasis on drums, bass and clavinet as typical of T. Rex during the Zip Gun period.

A Gregorian chant sung at a Catholic requiem mass (mass for the dead) when the body is being taken out of the church.

The first four notes of the chant are identical to the ones repeated during the beginning of each verse of When the Saints Go Marching In, where these notes are by far the most memorable ones.

This version by the Paramount Jubilee Singers is the first recorded version, but the author is unknown and the melody probably evolved in the late 1800s from funeral brass bands listening to In Paradisum at New Orleans churches.

The lyrics have many images that refer to the prophecy in the Book of Revelation.

The same four notes, again and again in this Steve Harris-penned song. And just like When the Saints Go Marching, the lyrics (especially the spoken intro) refer to the Book of Revelation.

One of my least favorite Velvet Underground songs. Mildly hypnotic but also mildly boring.

It is said to have been the model for Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner, but Sister Ray surely has a smoother, less annoying, groove.

Having (partly) read Greil Marcus's Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century, I was expecting something extraordinary when I brought home my first Modern Lovers CD in the early 90s. I was certainly not expecting this :/

I seem to recall another (slightly less) pretentious critic, Charles Shaar Murray, hyping it on the Dancing in the Street documentary too.

The 3-bar vocal phrases of bars 1-4 and 9-12 are very similar to the repeating 3-bar vocal phrases in 1999, Manic Monday and Baby I Don't Care.

All the songs have the same 2-bar I-IV-V-IV chord progression on repeat.

The bass riff here is similar to those in many other 60s songs with the same progression, e.g. Wild Thing and Louie Louie.

Pretty obvious melodic similarities in this song, penned by the band's founder Nick Christian Sayer. It was their biggest hit but perhaps felt a little forced compared to I Want Your Love, their first hit from the year before. I still prefer it to Manic Monday.

Sayer also adopted the riff from Wild Thing and clothed it in the rhythm of Lou Reed's Vicious riff. And, as already mentioned, My Girl Sloopy also has a I-IV-V-IV bass riff.

From the Bridge Over Troubled Water album, released in January 1970, ten months prior to the release of Ride a White Swan.

But the way the riff is played here, it sounds closer to Morrissey's pastiche than to Bolan's hit single, which doesn't use full chords, just octaves and single notes.

Slower, spikier, more self-sufficient and more memorable. A great appropriation which itself has been copied a few times in Bolan pastiches.