Songs That Sound Like Other Songs

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Sometimes, the intro to a song immediately calls to mind another song. Sometimes, a song that you never heard before seems familiar.

Ever shake your head over songs that sound like other songs? Ever google a pair of songs that sound soooo much alike that you can't believe they're different until you look at the music?*

*Of course, my ear is not very good, so, I need to look at the music.

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I hear this song for the first time time. Apparently, Golden Smog has been around the block a couple of times and played at Obama's rally. The live version has a shorter and less intricate introduction than the recorded version of "Love and Mercy" that I heard streamed live on the web:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWozySjyunI

However, when I heard it, I immediately thought of this classic from The Byrds, "Chestnut Mare."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUYkL8l6VLk

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Hingehead had a thread like this a while back that had some great examples (http://able2know.org/topic/120545-2) but very few people posting.

I'd love to see more so I'm going to follow along!

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@boomerang,

I figured someone would have had a similar thread. Music threads are popular here.

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Autumn in New York and Moonlight in Vermont. The beginnings of those two songs are almost identical.

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@plainoldme,

How about all of Christopher Cross' songs? LOL

Edit: What a name - Chris Cross!!

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@Roberta,

They are close.

Here's Louie and Ella doing Autumn in NY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50zL8TnMBN8

The same famous pair do Moonlight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50zL8TnMBN8

Until I listened to Ella open them up, I didn't realize that both songs dip to a lower pitch for the second note after starting rather high.

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@Mame,

I have to give you credit for listening to more than one of his 'songs.' Wink

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@plainoldme,

Two (or four) that come to mind.

"My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine"

George Harrison got sued for copyright infringement for it.

http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm

Compton and Green's "Make them Laugh" from Singing In the Rain is a direct rip-off of "Be Clown" a song written by Cole Porter for the 1948 film The Pirate.

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@kuvasz,

kuvie -- Donald O'Connor did "Smile,Darn you, Smile."

But, "make Em Laugh" and "Be A Clown" do sound the same.

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@plainoldme,

sorry, youtube vid of singing in the rain part of "make them laugh" would not embed, and this one was listed as "make them laugh.'

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@kuvasz,

Here's Make 'Em Laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K78em71zhLA

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@plainoldme,

I associate Make Em Laugh with Judy Garland wearing that clown makeup she sometimes adopted.

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@plainoldme,

That's Garland doing "be a clown." Compton and Green, and the producer on "Singing in the Rain," Alan Freed readily admit that they "stole" the tune from Cole Porter.

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@kuvasz,

And Alan Freed ought to have known! Wink

BTW, just came back from seeing "Nowhere Boy," the John Lennon bio-pic. It was quite good. Worth seeing.

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