Listener Maureen kickstarted the nation on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show this morning with a Wizard song from 1973: 'See My Baby Jive'. Listeners were quick to point out that it sounded like another Wizard song: the Christmas hit 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'.
'See My Baby Jive' spent four weeks at the top of the chart in May/June 1973 before they released 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' later that year (it spent four weeks at number four in the UK chart in Dec 1973/Jan 1974).
If you find a formula that works, why waste it?
It's when songs start sounding like other musician's songs that things get messy - copyright infringement disputes are not uncommon in the music industry.
In January this year, Marvin Gaye’s family settled a portion of their lawsuit over the similarities between Robin Thicke’s 'Blurred Lines' and Gaye’s 'Got to Give It Up', although the main legal battle still continues.
Does 'Blurred Lines' 'borrow’ too much from Gaye's 'Got To Give It Up'? Have a listen below and let us know your thoughts:
Here are a few others that have raised some eyebrows in their time:
The Chiffons ‘He’s So Fine’ vs George Harrison ‘My Sweet Lord’
George Harrison was found guilty of ‘subconscious plagiarism’ after court action was taken by The Chiffons’ record label.
Joe Satriani ‘If I Could Fly’ vs Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida’
Coldplay are believed to have paid an undisclosed sum of money to Joe Satriani after the guitarist claimed Coldplay had ripped off significant portions of his song "If I Could Fly" in "Viva La Vida”.
Queen & Bowie "Under Pressure” vs Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby”
Vanilla Ice settled out of court with Queen and David Bowie for an undisclosed sum after it came to light that he had sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”, without consent or license, for his number one hit, “Ice Ice Baby”
What other songs sound like something else? Let us know.