Connections

A list of musical bits that, to my ear, echo, evoke, mimic, copy or were directly inspired by other pieces of music.

  • The main tune of “Somewhere (There’s a Place for Us)” from Leonard Bernstein‘s West Side Story (1957) is taken from the second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (1811)
  • The opening riff of Beck‘s “Devil’s Haircut” (1996) is directly taken from Them‘s “I Can Only Give You Everything” (1966).
  • The theme in middle (~25:00) of Stockhausen‘s “Plus Minus #14” (1963) is similar to the motif toward the end of Nine Inch Nails‘ “Closer” (1994).
  • The opening melody of KISS‘ “Great Expectations” (1976) is taken from the second movement of Beethoven‘s Piano Sonata No. 8 “Pathétique” (1799).
  • Paul Simon adopted a line from Bach chorale “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”  for two songs —  the verse of “American Tune” and the “as tears are in” line from “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”  In turn, Bach had taken it from an earlier German composer Paul Gerhardt who took it from Hans Hassler.
  • The chords and vocal melody Lana Del Ray‘s “Get Free” (2017) is lifted straight from Radiohead‘s “Creep” (1992). In turn, Radiohead was accused of lifting the chords from “The Air That I Breathe” (1972) written by Alan Hammond and also recorded by The Hollies.  The chord sequence is also used in the title song “Red Swan” from the third season of the anime series “Attack on Titan”
  • Pink Floyd‘s “Dogs” (1977) sounds a lot like Hawkwind‘s “City of Lagoons” (1976) which in turn seems to borrow from Pink Floyd‘s “Welcome to the Machine” (1975)
  • The piano progression following the ‘chorus’ in Radiohead‘s “Karma Police” (1997) is extremely evocative of the piano in the Beatles‘ “Sexy Sadie” (1968).
  • Fight music from Star Trek: The Original Series (Amok Time, 1967) written by Gerald Fried sounds like the opening tune in Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite (1915).
  • The verse on Emmylou Harris‘s “To Daddy” (1977, written by Dolly Parton) resembles the verse from Janis Joplin‘s “Me and Bobby McGee” (1969, written by Kris Kristofferson). Have to mention that Parton and Kristofferson recorded together, as did Harris and Kristofferson, and of course as did Harris and Parton.
  • The guitar riff from Fountains of Wayne‘s “Stacy’s Mom” (2003) is quite similar to the Cars‘s “Just What I Needed” (1978), but as with much of FoW‘s work, it is out of homage.
  • Franz Schubert‘s “Eight Variations on an original theme in A♭ major for piano duet” (1824) has echoes of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, 2nd movement (1813).
  • The drum into to Little Richard‘s “Keep a Knockin’” (1957) was directly lifted by John Bonham in Led Zeppelin‘s “Rock and Roll” (1971).
  • Prokofiev‘s Sinfonietta (opus 5) (1905), about one minute before the end, contains a theme reminiscent of the main theme of Beethoven‘s 7th Symphony, 1st movement (1813).
  • The opening guitar notes on Dolly Parton‘s “We Used To” comes straight from Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven,” which was famously the subject of plagiarism litigation from Spirit‘s “Taurus.”
  • The octave-jumping bass line of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s “Mr. Beat” sounds like the octave jumping bass line in the middle of Genesis‘ “The Waiting Room.”
  • The verse melody in Fountains of Wayne‘s “Barbara H” sounds a lot like the main melody from Kraftwerk‘s “Neon Lights.”
  • The drum beat from The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s “Supertramp” resembles Ringo’s line from the Beatles‘ “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
  • The tune of Dolly Parton‘s “Sugar Hill” sounds very much like Neil Young‘s “Love Is A Rose.”
  • The intro chords from Barry Manilow‘s “Could It be Magic” are lifted from Frederic Chopin‘s Prelude, Op. 28, No. 20.
  • The swaying motif in the theme from the movie Interstellar (Hans Zimmer) resembles the “swan call” theme from the Allegro Molto movement of Jean Sibelius‘ 5th Symphony.  Also, Philip Glass‘ Koyaanisqatsi.
  • The chords and pace of John Lennon‘s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” appears to be taken from Johnny Ace‘s “Pledging My Love,” covered by many others.
  • The guitar flourish at the end of each fourth bar in Led Zeppelin‘s “Your Time Is Gonna Come” is identical to that in Traffic‘s “Dear Mr. Fantasy“, released a year earlier.
  • The choral pentatonic-ish progression in the beginning (~3:00) of Louis Andriessen‘s De Staat (1976) reminds me of the chords used in much of the first side of Mike Oldfield‘s Hergest Ridge (1974).
  • The organ and bass riff from Charlatans‘ (UK) “The Only One I Know” is a straight rip off from Deep Purple‘s “Hush.”
  • The Charlatans‘ (UK) “Here Comes a Soul Saver” has a rising riff lifted from Pink Floyd‘ “Fearless“
  • The main riff from Argent‘s “Hold Your Head Up” (1972) sounds a lot like the main riff from James Gang‘s “Take A Look Around.”
  • The main synth/guitar riff from Elastica’s “Connection” is nicked from Wire’s “Three Girl Rhumba.” Yes, there was an out-of-court settlement but you also have to allow for homage given the similar sound of the bands.
  • The resolving chord progression in the last bar of the melodic line of Pat Metheny‘s “Hermitage” closely resemble the same in Thelonious Monk‘s “‘Round Midnight.”
  • The lyric “Have a Day/Celebrate” in a repeated 6-maj7-8 line from the Polyphonic Spree‘s “Section 1 (Have a Day/Celebratory)” is nearly identical to the lyric “Fly Away/High Away” from Elton John‘s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”

I’ve excluded the obvious and well-known cases where song bits are lifted from others, such as George Harrison’s theme from “My Sweet Lord” having been taken from the Chiffons’ “He’s So Fine.”   There’s a whole Wikipedia article on allegations of plagiarism, many of which went to court, which you can read.  And a YouTube channel.