Friday 20 February 2009

And the Grammy goes to A--no, B...no, it goes to C...

I happened to hear the following three songs within a couple of days and I was astounded. I probably shouldn't have been, given that I've heard all three of them hundreds of times. I'm sure most people have, also. Hopefully, you'll find it mildly interesting if not astounding. Shiny objects astound me.

Play this snippet and think about what song it is:

You're probably right.

Now play this song:

What do you think? Cover of song #1?

Now play this last one:

Yet another cover of song #1?

Here are the full songs, easily identifiable.







If you're mildly retarded (or under 40), they are:
a) Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry
b) Fun, Fun, Fun by The Beach Boys
c) Roll Over Beethoven by The Beatles

Tomorrow, I'll post about the remarkable similarities between celery and anis. I'm kidding...I don't think I can post anything that interesting. But if you've never tasted anis, I highly recommend it. It's good enough to be fruit...or cake.

2 comments:


  1. Kenny LaBorde · Musician at Music industry
    There aint no justice in this. Ive been a working musician all my life, playing thousands of copy tunes. So I know a little about music and chord progression. I play drums and there are only so many beats in a style of music that trancends genre. I teach drums, and I can have anyone playing band worthy in a week, how? Because the first thing I teach is whats known as 4 on the floor. It trancends all genres because any song played in a 4/4 progression. is this beat. basically 3/4 s of modern music is this beat. as far as the dont believe me just watch part, Ive never heard of the artist who sang it or his song and would use this line without knowing he used it too. Ther are only so many chord progression and beats, and I dissagree that Bruno had intent or malice writing his song which in comparison, is ten times more song. If the others songs were the root of his, why werent theirs a hit? Its because his has a distinct hook, and so is the most popular song in the world. Im all for integrity in music but this crosses the line of integrity by taken general terms of the english language and a limited number of possible beats , and saying that any one has a right to own a time progression or a cliche....( this is from another post, but I hear the same songs as well but know them all as different songs, and could recognize them easily.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your thoughtful post.

    I am torn on the copyright issue. While I'm all for an artist protecting his sources of income, I think it is ludicrous that even a few notes can constitute copyright infringement. Worse still, in my opinion, is that a copyright can be in effect for over 50 years. How about allowing others to build on or improve an existing song in order to make their own fortune? I think ten years is a far more reasonable length of time for the life of a copyrighted song. That would fuel more creativity in the music business.

    ReplyDelete