The Beatles: The 'Rip Off' Songs (My Personal Favourites)
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- Опубліковано 1 кві 2024
- The Beatles are one of the most imfluential bands in history, but this video takes a lighthearted look at The Beatles own 'borrowing' from their influnces and the bands around them.
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DISCLAIMER: This video features materials protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act. Clips are used with commentary for educational purposes.
#thebeatles #ranking #classicalbum
Speaking of stealing… When asked about the first Zep album, John Lennon said “I’ve heard where it all comes from.”
There's a reason Zep is known as the greatest cover band of all time.
Zep were merely following the blues tradition of borrowing and riffing. FFS even Rachmaninov wrote music inspired by others.
@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle Led Zeps lawyers should have used that argument in the lawsuits! "..your honor, my clients were merely Borrowing & Riffing Mr. Willy Dixons song who it should be noted properly B&R it from someone else" And as far as Dazed & Confused goes Led Zep were merely Borrowing & Riffing the rhythm, lyrics and even song title from Jake Holmes FFS.
This is probably another fake quote, many seem to get attached to Lennon.
I read Ringo was imitating the drum solo from ‘In-a-Gadda-da-vida’ when he did the drum solo for ‘The End’
The Albatross - Sun King influence is a really cool one
I've just recently found your channel and have been enjoying it. Your knowledge and articulateness in presenting your opinions are impressive. I'm not much of a prog or metal fan, but other areas of classic rock that you cover are definitely my cup of tea.
The Beatles are my favorite band and I enjoyed this video. The Beatles were always pretty much up front about their "borrowing". As you say, it is a tradition among blues, R&B and rock artists. I remember a musician (I can't remember who) who met Lennon in a NYC recording studio and admitted to him borrowing a riff or something and Lennon quoted Picasso that "amateurs borrow, professionals steal".
Led Zeppelin are among the most blatant "borrowers". There's a book of interviews with Jimmy Page. In one of the interviews this topic came up and Page laughs and says he told Plant that he should cover up for the lyrics and he, Page, would take care of the music. Plant fell down on the job and didn't alter the lyrics sufficiently for a classic blues song (I can't remember which one at the moment) and they had to pay up.
With respect to the lawsuit over Come Together I think you may be conflating two separate suits. Morris Levy, who controlled the company that owned the publishing to Berry's You Can't Catch Me sued Lennon over his stealing a line from the song for Come Together. Their second lawsuit was over Lennon's LP Rock 'n' Roll. Lennon stupidly entered into a contract with Levy to release the album knowing full well that he had an exclusive contract with Capitol Records. When Capitol was successful in shutting down the ADAM VII record, Levy sued Lennon. The settlement included Lennon agreeing to record a few songs for which Levy controlled the copyrights. Lennon tried to get away with recording a piss-take of Ya-Ya for Walls and Bridges, with young Julian on drums. Levy rightly objected and Lennon included some songs on the Capitol version of Rock 'n' Roll that satisfied the agreement.
I think a mention for Ringo is needed for 'Come Together' the Bass and Drums dovetail perfectly for me.
OMG! some of the similarities are very surprising?, well picked up & well done!, great video.
On that "Watch your step" lift, also see the Yardbirds "I'm not Talking." A good riff, that one.
It's all just octaves and fifth notes, they always work. 'I Feel Fine' had some finer subtleties though. But yeah. 'I'm Not Talking' is phenomenal.
and deep purples rat bat blue
Good video Barry. Well argued and put together. Too many close calls on those Melodie’s for me to think they are coincidence. All the best. Dave
T-shirt of my favourite album 🌟( along with DSOTM of course)
Was there ever an eyebrow raised at the Jam’s ‘Start’ for its ..er… homage to the Taxman’ riff? Or Bad CO’s ‘Don’t let me Down’ v The Beatles song with the sane title AND strikingly similar melody line for the same words? Excuse the head-flip !
I clearly recall a contemporary review of the Jam's Start, stressing that, while a good song, much of it was lifted from the Beatles' Taxman.
I first heard about the Bobby Parker track from the Southbank Show titled ‘John Lennon’s Jukebox.’
i’ve always thought “bus stop” by the hollies was influenced by the strumming guitar chords of “things we said today”.
I clicked to see if you would mention Bobby Parker Barry and you didn't disappoint. Watch your Step is a terrific track & one that gets a regular rotation on my playlist.
Great video and it’s taught me something that I did not even know. Thank you
The Lovin Spoonful's Daydream is a direct ripoff of 1934s Got A Date With An Angel.
Speaking of a major league rip off- how about the Eagles ripping off Jethro Tull’s “We Used to Know” and using it the exact same chord progression in Hotel California????? They even toured with Tull when “We Used to Know “ was included in their set. To quote Sting -“ everyone rips every one off.”
Thank god for inspiration...without it non of us would've chose our musical path.
My honorable mention goes not to a melody but a lyric. When George composed his first b-side, "The Inner Light", he apparently lifted that lyric almost verbatim from an outside source.
The melody of the first couple of lines of the verse of Think For Yourself seems very close to Dylan's Positively 4th Street.
Love this episode! Great subject
The piano riff from 'Lady Madonna' was lifted wholesale from a 1960 British jazz tune called 'Bad Penny Blues' by Humphrey Lytellton and his Band. 'Because' is apparently Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' backwards. The Beatles always improved on their influences though.
Definitely wasn't 'lifted wholesale'
Lady Madonna exploits the same *idiom* as does Bad Penny Blues, but there is no copy of any musical phrase. It certainly isn't "lifted". And "Because" was *inspired* by the Moonlight Sonata, but it isn't really the same, backwards or forwards.
Another fantastic video! Thank you!
Not Beatles but try these 2 on:
Steely Dan-Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
Horace Silver-Song For My Father
---
The WHO-Overture (1 minute mark of the track)
Lemon Pipers-Green Tambourine
Fascinating article: thanks, Barry 👍🏻
Taxman Batman are interchangeable.
Thanks Barry, really interesting and some good research. I'm a bit wiser after watching that.
Absolutely fantastic ❤😊
Greetings Barry✌️ -In the case of Come Together, Gangster Morris Levy in some fashion was trying to extort John Lennon Not so much for the song You Cant Catch Me, but for a few lyrics, which I think is not the same as for example He So Fine/My Sweet Lord
Have you ever noticed the similarity of the guitar and sometimed bass line between Beatles While My Guitar Weeps and Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4?
Watch Your Step - immediately I hear Deep Purple's Rat Bat Blue. I understand they were partial to lift the occasional lick or riff.
How about "Lady Madonna" from "Bad Penny Blues" ?
If John Lennon said "Before Elvis, there was nothing", where the hell did Elvis get his swag from? Go figure. As much as I love a lot of Beatles tracks, it's safe to say that they did rip off quite a few tracks. Great video, Barry.
Hah! I had a quick glance at the title and mistakenly thought this was going to be a review of the songs with the greatest amount of Beatles influence. I was all primed to look for songs from “Eldorado”, “Klaatu”, “#1 Record”, and maybe more than half of “Imperial Bedroom.” I guess all of that is for another video on another day. 😂. Thanks for another great video.
Actually the “pastoral English hymnal tradition” - mentioned at 1 min, 3 secs - is most evident in the music of Motörhead - seriously …. 🤓
Imma Beatlemaniac since 1964. I found out in 2023 that Paulie wrote I Feel Fine and I was gobsmacked.
He didn't. That was mainly John. Do you can unsmack your gob ;-)
@@strathman7501 - thank god.
I mean, sound is not copyrightable is it? I'd be more insulted as a professional muso by outright aping of my style than with a few notes/ chords. Paul ripping off Lil Richard's howl, Robert P aping Elvis's hiccup style is more hypocritical than Geo ripping He's So Fine, i.m.o.
There is a huge difference between incorporating another song and directly re-recording another song.
Chuck Berry's people didn't feel that and took Lennon to court... But you are of course right, some artists sale a little close to the wind
Even Mozart 'borrowed' other people's stuff.
He did. And half of his iconic Requiem was written by other people. Handel was famous for it, being known as the Prince of Plagiarists.
My God I never knew…so many rip offs…that’s it The Beatles legendary status is in tatters 😂😂😂
Making a video about (possible) theft while wearing a Crime Of The Century shirt, eh? Well done.
Indeed
I still adore the beatles. They did try to be different.
Surely a bigger rip off of the Bobby Parker number is "Rat Bat Blue" from Deep Purple's Who Do We Think We Are album?
And funnily Whitesnake's Ready 'n' Willin' is considered a rip off/lift/copy of Rat Bat Blue. The Parker estate has some claims to make.
'Hey jude' and :yesterday" both a copy of 2 itailian songs from long ago,the melody/tune that is,not lyrics of course!!
I cracked the 'Yesturday' mystery, he didn't dream it, it's quite clearly influenced by 'Answer me'. And my late friend penned a song called ' the time has come' for Adam Faith, the Beatles song 'Bad to me ' is very similar to it, Paul even told my friend he was a great songwriter before they were famous.
Well done. Over the years a lot of poeple have suggested that Answer Me could have inspired Yesterday. It shares the general idea, and notably Paul's lyric line "now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday" might be an echo of "yesterday i believed that love was here to stay" from Answer Me. But there's no close musical similarity. What there is, is a hint of an influence, and far from proving that he "didn't dream it" this is just what you might expect from a vague memory filtered through the dreaming mind of a creative writer.
@@strathman7501 I'm a songwriter, it doesn't sound like it but it clearly resembles it in other ways.
@@northernengland Pardon me, I have no interest in duelling with musical credentials at ten paces. If you are truly a creative songwriter then you don't need me to tell you that semi-conscious and unconscious influence is the norm rather than the exception, and dreams lie on that spectrum. In speculating that McCartney unconsciously recalled and was influenced by Answer Me is in no way whatsoever inconsistent with McCartney's account of having found the tune in a dream. Your apparent presumption that he must have deliberately mimicked Answer Me, and your accusation that he "didn't dream it", implying therefore that he lied, have no basis in fact or in common experience of how the creative mind works.
@@strathman7501 only John Lennon states on a video that songs were written to be like some other songs, my point is that the Beatles DIDN'T invent pop music.
Good video mate. I think most of these examples are fairly tenuous. There is a difference between influence and theft. It is Rock n Roll after all...
The most blatant ‘rip off’ is the guitar intro of the single version of “Revolution.” Just put on “Do Unto Others” by Pee Wee Crayton and have a listen.
Wow
I listened to it & I think "rip-off" is a very strong word for it.
This subject is ridiculous to start with.
It's remarkably similar. Actually, it's identical.
Supertramp - Crime of the Century?
C'mon, they weren't THAT bad. :-D
Listen to the second verse of Fats Domino's I Want To Walk You Home, a song Paul was certainly familiar with - "I Want To Hold Your Hand..."
all those millions of songs out there obvious that some will some the same i would say its more about influence than stealing example look what jimmy page did to jake holmes dazed and confused made it into a epic
There are only so many notes and only so many chord progressions. I doubt that the Beatles consiously took from your examples but in the topsy turvy world of rock n roll anything is possible.
They sort of did though. I'm no Beatles expert but if you watch Get Back, they're constantly playing little bits taken from other songs they knew, to see if they would fit well with the songs they were writing. Perhaps not done intentionally, but they were definitely aware of where these musical phrases came from.
The argument that there’s only a certain number of notes worked for Ed Sheeran’s blatant rip-offs.
Good thing there’s no resemblance between O Pretty Woman and Day Tripper…
Cross-pollination over rip-offery maybe.Imitation being the highest form of flattery ?
Shows what Lennon knew... 'before Elvis there was nothing'. Of course there were no great composers like Leonard Bernstein, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, a plethora of great classical composers not withstanding the one great art form America gave the world...jazz. The likes of Ellington, Davis, Coltrane, Kenton Levy wrote pieces that have stood the test of time. I confess i'm not a Beatle fan but some of the comments attributed to Lennon beggars belief.
I think he just meant elvis was the birth of rock n roll and everything that followed
💯 I made my own comment.
@@bonscott6353 i'm sure you are right. Just that Lennon had bit of a history of making questionable comments. Nevertheless his place in musical history is assured.
He was talking about Rock and Roll .John also said , Rock and Roll should be called Chuck Berry Music . John also said he wished he could play guitar like B . B . King . You're obviously not a Beatles fan , if you think the Beatles were influenced by Jazz . God Almighty .Before they became famous they looked like 4 Elvis Presleys . Blind Freddy could see who influenced them .FYI , America gave the World , Blues , Gospel , Soul , Rock and Roll , Motown , Country , Folk not just Jazz .
@@ChrisM-fz6xx at what point did i say The Beatles were influenced by jazz? However i did actually say i was not a Beatles fan. Suggest reading comments properly before responding.
Look. These guys figured out a way to play rock n roll quite well by 1962 or so. They also could immitate and change around songs add their own easy I love you, you love me lyrics and call the song their own. They later ripped off many many songs from the 50s They had this gimmick. The cute luverly lads shit...
They got away with it and made millions. It was easy enough to do😮 The Beatles; over over estimated pop group of the 60s.
.
Crime of the Century is a perfect record. Maybe I'll take the long way home today. Supertramp got popular and never made a perfect album ever again.
The one that bugs me is "Yesterday" being a blatant re-imagining of "Answer Me, My Love". What annoys me the most is that McCartney has never publicly admitted it and continues to say that he woke up with the melody in his head. It seems clear to me that he had heard it growing up and it popped back into his head. Granted, he may not have known it at the time, but I would like him to give the deserved credit to Nat King Cole.
It's a very tenuous connection - nearly 60 years on & no one has sued!
@@graniterhythm53 It's the same melody and much of the same lyrics!
Here’s one for you. Humphrey Lyttleton instrumental “ Bad Penny Blues “ . Paul really is genius at even lifting the feel of a song. Paul really borrowed the feel of Bad Penny Blues from Lyttleton. I won’t even mention the songs title the Beatles recorded, written by Paul. You’ll all know the song within the first four bars - or less - …
Everybody’s standing on the shoulders of the past.
Inspiration or robbery...where does the limit go...?
Worth noting that law suits because of “rip offs” is mostly done by record companies smelling money when someone like The Beatles took inspiration from others. Think the musicians themselves mostly saw it as a tribute.
There are exceptions though. Older artists such as Chuck Berry or Little Richard were very protective about their compositions. Probably because they, being African/American artists had been ripped of themselves by the business in that more racist society of the 1940’s/50’s...
Hmmm, most of those are pretty tenuous links.
never got the beatles, still don't
OK
Thanks for letting us know mate
Love the Beatles (I was 10 in 1967) but they did produce some stinkers. "Maxwells Silver Hammer" and "Ob La Di Ob La Da" Take away the dodgy lyrics and these are just nursery rhyme tunes. Terrible album fillers!
Ob La Di is a work of pure genius!!
@@Bizzle65 Well, these things are subjective.....
Not sure about that. The Beatles had a playful side too and would draw on Victoriana and Music Hall. Ob La Di is a lovely song actually.
A bit late to the party here, but are you saying there are some Beatles dweebs claiming everything the Fab Farts wrote was original? FFS!
Man, your hand movements are distracting
You are correct - All My Loving was an EP in the UK:
A1. All My Loving
A2. Ask Me Why
B1. Money
B2. PS I Love You
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_My_Loving_(EP)
Some more details.
This was fairly common for what we would now think of as "AOR Hits" (before the concept was invented) getting UK EP releases. It usually was several months after their respective albums. It made them available to fans in a less expansive cost.
From the Please Please Me album:
Twist and Shout --> Twist and Shout (EP)
I Saw Her Standing There --> The Beatles (No. 1) (EP)
From the With The Beatles album:
All My Loving --> All My Loving (EP)
From the A Hard Day's Night album:
And I Love Her --> Extracts from the Film A Hard Day's Night
From the Beatles for Sale album:
Eight Days a Week --> Beatles for Sale (EP)
From the Help album:
Yesterday --> Yesterday (Beatles EP)
From the Rubber Soul album:
Nowhere Man --> Nowhere Man (EP)
Drive My Car --> Nowhere Man (EP)
Michelle --> Nowhere Man (EP)
CHEERZ FROM CINCINNASTY OHIO YOUR CONTENT IS ABSOLUTELY STERLING WITH NO TONGUE IN CHEEK
I'm from Nasty Nati as well!
nice one