Elvis songs that sound like other ones

[Neil.]

The fella in the other thread mentioned the fact he thought something from Cream's Disraeli Gears album sounds like London's Brilliant Parade. Perfect subject for a new thread, I thought!

Elvis deliberately or unconsciously nicks stuff from time to time: any songs remind you of those by other artists? (I'm not saying our hero ain't capable of coming up with his own amazing melodies, mind you - he's staggeringly talented with a tune even if you take away the magpie tendencies!)

To start the ball rolling:

Busy Bodies - a speeded up version of Procul Harum's Homburg

Baby Plays Around - Baby You're The Best by Carly Simon (Or is it called "Nobody Does It Better"?). Just that line, really...

Fadeout of Party Girl = fadeout to You Never Give Me Your Money by those Beatle boys.

Some people say that Tokyo Storm Warning sounds a bit like Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown by The Stones, and I guess I see what they mean!

[verbal gymnastics]

There's loads - which Elvis readily admits. You Belong To Me/The Last Time (Rolling Stones) and Rockinghorse Road/Wild Thing (The Troggs) are the first couple that come to my head.

[DeathWearsABigHat]

first one that's springs to mind is the "oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh" bit at the end of the middle eight of Blue Chair which is a direct lift of the "oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh" bit at the end of the middle eight on "Anna (Go To Him)" by Arthur Alexander (also covered by the Beatles)

[Mikeh]

Episode of Blonde sounds like a Tom Waits song - not sure which one - but it is spoken word (does Tom Waits actually "sing?") and has those Latin horns in the background! I think its on Beautiful Maladies.

[Mikeh]

There are some well known deliberate lyrical quotes - You keep me hanging on, from Accidents will Happen. Some things you never get used to, from Hi Fidelity.

[BlueChair]

And of course some obvious musical ones are "Love For Tender" ("You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes), "Temptation" ("Time Is Tight" by Booker T. & The MGs), "Sweet Pear" ("Don't Let Me Down" by The Beatles - at least the guitar riff at the intro)

[thepopeofpop]

[Baby Plays Around - Baby You're The Best by Carly Simon (Or is it called "Nobody Does It Better"?). Just that line, really...

I wouldn't have thought it was that similar, other than the use of the word "Baby" and the whole 'same number of syllables' thing. A better example would be "Tramp The Dirt Down" echoing the melody of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". It's not exactly the same but is reminiscent. I think that's a deliberate bit of irony on EC's part as he obviously that thought the answer to "Isn't She Lovely" was a resounding "NO" when it came to Margaret Thatcher.

Fadeout of Party Girl = fadeout to You Never Give Me Your Money by those Beatle boys.

Absolutely, but I'm not sure why he used it. I mean it works, but everybody who hears it just says "Oh, Abbey Road". The end of "Invasion Hit Parade" seems to evoke the intertwining guitar riffs of The Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". It's not a direct lift like Party Girl, but it is similar.

Some people say that Tokyo Storm Warning sounds a bit like Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown by The Stones, and I guess I see what they mean!

Only so far as Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown sounds like a Chuck Berry song! Bruce Thomas nicks the Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown bass runs for the end of "You Belongs To Me". Bruce also knicks the David Bowie "Hang On To Yourself" riffs for the end of "Little Savage" (which does have an intro that's somewhat similar, but not identical to, the Bowie song) but played at a slower tempo, of course.

"New Lace Sleeves" is written very much in the same vein as Joni Mitchell's "Shades of Scarlett Conquering" which came out around the time EC was writing New Lace Sleeves. The resemblance is very subtle, but listen to the end of Joni's song and compare it to the riff and the beginning and the end of EC's song and you'll see what I mean.

There's loads of other songs where you can detect that kind of influence - it sounds like EC listened to "Like A Rolling Stone" before he wrote "How To Be Dumb" It's not exactly the same but there is a "family resemblance". The same rule applies to "Brilliant Mistake" and Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue".

Another interesting question would be which other songs lift ideas from Elvis' songs. Like Mitchell Froom using the "I'll Wear It Proudly" keyboard part at the end of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over", for example. And apparently that keyboard part was Elvis' idea!

[ReadyToHearTheWorst]

Episode of Blonde sounds like a Tom Waits song - not sure which one ...

Temptation

Another obvious 'lift' would be Poor Fractured Atlas, where the keyboard motif is Bach (?), by way of The Shangrila's Past, Present & Future.

[And No Coffee Table]

Another obvious 'lift' would be Poor Fractured Atlas, where the keyboard motif is Bach (?), by way of The Shangrila's Past, Present & Future.

Not Bach. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."

[Miclewis]

"Inch By Inch" borrows a lot musically from The Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping"

The melody from "Tramp the Dirt Down" is comically derived from Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely"

[noiseradio]

The end of "Two Little Hitlers" is "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie.

The theremin bit on Bedlam is a dead ringer for "Baby You're a Rich Man" by the Beatles. And there are a few notes together at the end of the first line of every verse of "Ntohing Clings Like Ivy" that sound for all the world to me like the notes at the end of the first line of every verse in "She's Leaving Home" by the Beatles.

I think "Baby Plays Around" (those words only) and "Baby You're the Best" are pretty much note for note.

[thepopeofpop]

I think "Baby Plays Around" (those words only) and "Baby You're the Best" are pretty much note for note.

No, the melody is different. I'm at work so I'm not in a position to transcribe the two songs right now, but for a start: in "Baby Plays Around" there are actually two different melodies for these words, depending on which part of the song you're talking about. One of these melodies is very different to the melody in Nobody Does it Better, and the other is closer to Nobody Does it Better - this is the melody that occurs just before the middle eight (that's the bit that starts "I Try To Be Strong, Hold On to My Pride"). However, I still maintain that it's different, but I will need to work it out to be sure.

Of course, didn't EC say that Cait wrote most of this tune herself?

[Neil.]

Some great suggestions! I've never heard that story about the "Isn't She Lovely" melody being used in Tramp The Dirt Down. Great joke, savage irony!

Good point about Brilliant Mistake resembling "Tangled Up In Blue" - and I also think the verse melody "He thought he was the king of America..." sounds like the strings break in a Marvin Gaye song - I can't remember which, but I can hear it now in my head.

Totally agree about the Rebel Rebel riff being lifted for Two Little Hitlers, and Don't Let Me Down riff being used in Sweet Pear.

This ain't quite the same as a direct lift, but Just A Memory is a classic faux Dusty Springfield song (except that when she covered it in the 80s, she did it in a style completely different to the intended Sixties Dusty sound). The title itself comes from the line in "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" - the line "Left alone... with just a memory..."

[DeathWearsABigHat]

Neil wrote:
and I also think the verse melody "He thought he was the king of America..." sounds like the strings break in a Marvin Gaye song - I can't remember which, but I can hear it now in my head.


never noticed that before but yes, it's exactly the same first notes as the string melody from Abraham Martin & John.

[charliestumpy]

There are plenty of EC choons which he has credited to others ...

Concerning the 'Pump it up' other current thread, this apparently EC tune is currently to be heard IMO in some other top-20 female song, and does recur in some EC songs - I don't know if anyone did the basic great 'Pump' tune before EC's track.

I am still recovering from the late George Harrison being successfully sued by the Chiffons representatives for 'My sweet Lord' supposedly ripping off 'One fine day' ...

Everybody is mutually indebted.

[ReadyToHearTheWorst]

... the late George Harrison being successfully sued by the Chiffons representatives for 'My sweet Lord' supposedly ripping off 'One fine day' ...

I think the Chiffon's song in question was He's So Fine and yes, there is a slight similarity, but George was royally stuffed for it.

Back to Elvis though - Prince refused permission for Pop Life samples to be used in The Bridge I Burned (yet the official release still hints at it). Years later, EC gave Bernstein a credit (and 10%!) on Button My Lip simply because Steve played a small fragment from America.

The price you'll pay to keep the lawyers at bay!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Not Bach. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."

The Bach is on Only Flame In Town where Steve's keyboard break lifts very nicely from Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring.

Pretty well all of Get Happy!! can have its DNA traced from 60s soul/R'n'B with the odd one-off thrown in like the country of Motel Matches and the ska of Human Touch. You'd have to be a hell of a specialist to actually attempt this, but I'm sure you could pluck a song like 5ive Gears In Reverse and cite two or three songs it draws most obviously from.

[thepopeofpop]

... the late George Harrison being successfully sued by the Chiffons representatives for 'My sweet Lord' supposedly ripping off 'One fine day' ...

I think the Chiffon's song in question was He's So Fine and yes, there is a slight similarity, but George was royally stuffed for it.

He was indeed. George's song has many different parts to it, only one of which resembles "He's So Fine" and also, it could be argued that "He's So Fine" does not contain sufficient originality in the place. If something is fairly generic then it isn't really possible to plagiarise it. Earlier someone pointed out the similarity of "Tokyo Storm Warning" to "Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown" which I noted is basically a reworking of Chuck Berry; in the same way as the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA" is a reworking of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little 16" (well, OK not as blatant as that but still). The Beach Boys can't sue you for recording a song musically similar to "Surfin' USA" because the music wasn't original when they did it. A song with a backing track that resembled "Wild Thing" would never be the subject of a plagiarism suit because the music is too generic and obvious (which is how EC got away with "Rocking Horse Road").

In the case of "He's So Fine", it would have been a defence to suggest that the melody that George Harrison supposedly knicked is completely obvious and predictable in the Chiffon's song (it's just about all based on the chord tones) and probably not original. It could have been demonstrated that George's "version" is much more interesting and novel, if only George's defense team had the slightest understanding of musical composition. In fact the judge in the case allowed that the Chiffon's melody, aside from one grace note, was completely generic! Harrison's melody did not feature the grace note - the one thing that made the Chiffon's melody unique. Consequently the case was balderdash and should have been thrown out - you can't (for example) record a song with the opening phrase from Beethoven's fifth and then claim copyright on that musical phrase just because Beethoven is now public domain.

Interestingly enough - the case has never been settled! Although a judge found against Harrison in 1976 - this finding was the subject of an appeal and the case drags on. Consequently George Harrison never paid out a cent in his life (except to his legal team) for "My Sweet Lord".

Anyway, Elvis has never denied being influenced by (or even "knicking from") other artists.

[Neil.]

Hi all - don't wanna be misunderstood: I don't for a second think less of Elvis for quoting other songs lyrically or melodically - he's quite open about paying tribute to loved songs and artists in his own songs, and it takes nothing away for his own astonishing ability with a melody, as I said at the start of the thread.

Here's another one - is Starting To Come To Me a close relative of Bob Dylan's Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts?

And d'you reckon the instrumental break on Complicated Shadows is a nod to Jumpin' Jack Flash?

[noiseradio]

I think "Baby Plays Around" (those words only) and "Baby You're the Best" are pretty much note for note.

No, the melody is different.
Of course, didn't EC say that Cait wrote most of this tune herself?

At one point, they're sung in the exact same intervals. The rhythm is slightly different. But not only are they strikingly similar at one point, I thik this was on purpose.

[Neil.]

Regarding "Baby Plays Around": it's the bit where he sings it before going into "I try to be strong; hold on to my pride..."

I'd say it's note for note there.

[noiseradio]

As would I.

[E*C*RIDER]

Oh good spotting everyone. . .

I really enjoy way EC uses the allusions to (and illusions of) other music in his work, so thanks for all sharing a few new ones. Hmmmm... try this at home:

listen to and enjoy 'Broken Promise Land' by Allen & Elvis,
then play 'Jump Sturdy' by Dr John

Stand back and laugh

[Neil.]

Also, the whole of After The Fall is an incredibly accurate Leonard Cohen pastice.