11 Famous Rock Songs Sued for Plagiarism

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Below is a list of 11 different songs that have been caught being plagiarized. Many songs we do not even know about, or songs that we do know very well, but had no idea they were copied. When listening to the songs together back to back yourself, it is easy to hear the similarities in the songs themselves.

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1. Gordon Jenkins' "Crescent City Blues" vs. Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues"

Johnny Cash, who has the reputation as an iconic songwriter and singer, was forced to pay the composer Gordon Jenkins $75,000 for using lyrics and melody from Jenkins' 1953 track "Crescent City Blues" as the basis for his own 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues." Apparently, Cash changed the song's theme but the lyrics, including the classic opening lines, "I hear the train a-comin, it's rollin' 'round the bend" were similar enough to warrant a lawsuit.

2. Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" vs. The Beatles' "Come Together"

Chuck Berry is one of the few musicians who are responsible for creating the basis of rock n' roll. His music influenced almost every musician who listened. In 1973, Berry's publishing company sued John Lennon, claiming certain lines and melodies for "Come Together" were taken from Berry's 1956 track, "You Can't Catch Me." Part of the agreement between the two musicians, Lennon agreed to record three songs owned by publisher Morris Levy, including a cover of "You Can't Catch Me" for Lennon's 1975 covers album Rock 'N' Roll. This created a long lawsuit between Levy and Lennon, which peaked in the release of "John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits."

3. Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal" vs. Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

One of Rod Stewart's most famous songs was caught taking its vocal hook from Brazilian musician Jorge Ben's 1976 track "Taj Mahal." Ben sued Stewart, and he agreed to give a percentage of the song's proceeds to UNICEF. In his autobiography (via SongFacts), Stewart said, "I held my hand up straight away. Not that I'd stood in the studio and said, 'Here, I know we'll use that tune from 'Taj Mahal' as the chorus. The writer lives in Brazil, so he'll never find out.' Clearly the melody had lodged itself in my memory and then resurfaced. Unconscious plagiarism, plain and simple."

4. Larrikin Music's "Kookaburra" vs. Men At Work's "Down Under"

After hearing the question, "What children's song is contained in the song 'Down Under'?" on a popular Australian game show, Larrikin Music, owners of the copyright for the 1932 children's song "Kookaburra," successfully sued EMI Music and Men at Work in 2009 for infringement. The case went all the way up to the High Court of Australia (their Supreme Court), with the court ruling against the band and awarding Larrikin 5 percent of royalties from 2002 onward.

5. Huey Lewis and the News' "I Want a New Drug" vs. Ray Parker, Jr.'s 'Ghostbusters' Theme

Ray Parker, Jr. scored an Oscar nomination for his theme song to Ghostbusters, but one person not enthused by the song's reception was Huey Lewis. The popular '80s singer sued Parker and Columbia Pictures, claiming the song had a resemblance to Huey Lewis and the News' "I Want a New Drug" from earlier that year. The parties settled out of court, though Lewis' alleged breach of the confidentiality agreement—he discussed the case on VH1's Behind the Music in 2001—led to Parker suing Lewis.

6. Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through the Jungle" vs. John Fogerty's "The Old Man Down the

Road"

After swamp-rock icons Creedence Clearwater Revival broke up in 1972, frontman John Fogerty owed eight more albums to his label Fantasy Records. Fogerty gave up his Creedence publishing rights to Fantasy head Saul Zaentz in exchange for getting out of his contract, but was later sued by Zaentz, who claimed that Fogerty's song "The Old Man Down the Road" plagiarized CCR's "Run Through the Jungle." John Fogerty was sued for plagiarizing John Fogerty. Fogerty won the lawsuit, but was forced to settle a defamation charge out of court by Zaentz for his track "Zanz Kant Danz," a thinly-veiled attack on the label owner that was later changed to "Vanz Kant Danz."

7. Albert Hammond's "The Air That I Breathe" vs. Radiohead's "Creep"

Look carefully at the writing credits of Radiohead's 1992 breakout hit and you'll see Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, the writers of Hammond's 1973 ballad "The Air That I Breathe." The pair successfully sued the band for similarities in chord progression and vocal melodies, earning co-writer credit.

8.The New Seekers' "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" vs. Oasis' "Shakermaker"

Oasis' Gallagher brothers have had their share of lawsuits, but the most high-profile one occurred when 1970s Australian pop group the New Seekers sued the Britpop group, noting similarities between their 1971 hit "I'd Like to Teach the World To Sing," which became ubiquitous after Coca-Cola used the vocal melody in a worldwide ad campaign, and Oasis' 1994 song "Shakermaker." Oasis reportedly settled with the New Seekers for $500,000. Noel Gallagher didn’t seem too phased by it, incorporating lines from both the Coca-Cola and New Seekers’ version in a live performance of "Shakermaker" and ending the song with, "Now we all drink Pepsi."

9. Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" vs. The Flaming Lips' "Fight Test"

1970s singer/songwriter Yusuf Islam (né Cat Stevens) sued the Flaming Lips, claiming that "Fight Test," the Lips' opening track from 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, was too similar to his 1970 song "Father and Son." Lips frontman Wayne Coyne admitted as much in interviews, apologizing to Stevens and telling the Guardian, "There was a time during the recording when we said, this has a similarity to 'Father and Son.' Then we purposefully changed those bits. But I do regret not contacting his record company and asking their opinion... I am ashamed. There is obviously a fine line between being inspired and stealing." Stevens now gets 75 percent of all royalties from the song.

10. The Rubinoos' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" vs. Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend"

When Avril Lavigne released her 2007 hit "Girlfriend," she presumably didn't expect a lawsuit from '70s power-pop group the Rubinoos. Tommy Dunbar, the band's founder, filed suit against Lavigne and "Girlfriend" co-writer Dr. Luke, among others, claiming his band's "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" "bore striking resemblances" to Lavigne's hit. Lavigne's manager told Billboard that the suit "has no basis. There's nothing similar [between the two songs]. Our musicologist says there is no similarities of melody, choral progression or meter," while the singer herself wrote on her MySpace page that she "had never heard this song in my life" and "all songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language." Lavigne eventually reached an “undisclosed settlement” with the group.

11. Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly" vs. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida"

In 2008, instrumental guitarist Joe Satriani sued Coldplay, claiming that the latter's "Viva La Vida" used "substantial original portions" of his 2004 song "If I Could Fly." Coldplay said that any similarities were "entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him." Satriani would later settle with the group for an undisclosed amount, though Coldplay did not have to admit any wrongdoing.

[Source: fuse.tv]

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