Surprising Historical Plagiarism: Below are two interesting cases of musical plagiarism. Excerpt from an article featured in Rolling Stone magazine entitled "Songs on Trial: 10 Landmark Music Copyright Cases".
The Beach Boys vs. Chuck Berry (1963)
"Surfin U.S.A.," by the Beach Boys (1963) vs. "Sweet Little Sixteen," by Chuck Berry (1958)
The Case: The California boys often incorporated rock & roll & pioneer Chuck Berry's songs into their early concerts. But 1958's "Sweet Little Sixteen" set Beach Boy's composer Brian Wilson into overdrive. Inspired by Berry's rapid-fire references to various American cities, he recast the song as a paean to a fun-in-the sun sport. Wilson penned a new set of lyrics listing off the hot surfing locales across the Pacific coast. Wilson said he intended the song as a tribute to the rock guitarist, but Berry's lawyers used another term: plagiarism.
The Verdict: With the threats of lawsuits looming, Beach Boys manager - and Brian Wilson's father - Murry Wilson agreed to give the publishing rights to Arc Music, Berry's publisher. However, Berry's name wouldn't appear on the songwriting credits until 1966.
Why it Matters: Although the genre was built on a handful of standard three-chord progressions and blues licks, the "Surfin' U.S.A." incident was one of the first major plagiarism scuffles in rock history.
George Harrison vs. The Chiffons (1976)
"My Sweet Lord," by George Harrison (1970) vs. "He's So Fine," by the Chiffons (written by Ronnie Mack) (1962)
The Case: Harrison became the first Beatle to have a solo Number One on the Billboard charts with his ode to piety "My Sweet Lord." The subject matter was as far from early-Sixties Brill Building pop as one could get, but musically the verses bear a strong resemblance to the Chiffons' 1962 hit "He's So Fine," written by Ronnie Mack. Mack's publisher, Bright Tunes Music Corporation, filed a plagiarism suit in February 1971, but the case wouldn't go to trial until 1976. In the intervening years, the Chiffons themselves would record a version of "My Sweet Lord" to draw attention to the upcoming trial. Harrison claimed that he actually based the melody of the song on the public-domain hymn "Oh Happy Day," but admitted the similarity to "He's So Fine" in his autobiography, "I Me Mine."
The Verdict: The judge ruled that Harrison was guilty of "subconscious plagiarism." The penalty phase was delayed until February 1981. He was initially ordered to pay $1,599,987, but this was lowered to $587,000 when his former manager Allen Klein purchased Bright Tunes Music and negotiated the sale of the song to Harrison. Litigation continued until March 1998, making it one of the longest legal skirmishes in American history. "I don't feel guilty or bad about it," he continued in his autobiography. "In fact it saved many a heroin addict's life. I know the motive behind writing the song in the first place and its effect far exceeded the legal hassle."
Why it Matters: In addition to introducing the phrase "subconscious plagiarism" into the popular lexicon, the ruling set a precedent of harsher copyright standards and ushered in a wave of infringement suits.
Book Recommendation:
By Michael Crichton
The famed author of Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Stain, and Westworld (tv series base off it) writes a pretty good travelogue detailing his evolution from studying to be doctor at Harvard Medical School, to differing points in his life which called for the need to travel to escape his routines and familiar patterns and gain a fresh perspective of himself and the world. He tracked gorillas in Rwanda, climbed Kilimanjaro and Mayan pyramids, trekked a landslide in Pakistan and swam amid sharks in Tahiti. The book keeps it real (almost shockingly real at times) and is not so much about external travel as it is about inward development and discovering himself. He takes a journey of exploring mysticism over a number of years consulting with psychics, learning to read auras, deeply meditating, reaching trance-like states, and more. As a reader some of these experiences can be viewed with a degree of skepticism but he addresses this as well, advocating for only forming an opinion after direct experience and to approach any new experience with a curious mind without forming judgements. The book explores the raging debate between science and mysticism, shows Crichton's evolution from a skeptical scientific mind with some holistic medical tendencies, to a man visualizing Auras, receiving an exorcism and channeling in trance medium sessions. Ultimately he comes to the conclusion there is great value to be gained in both, but science and rational explanation should not count out the possibility of altered states of consciousness and can not answer fundamentally unexplainable phenomenons. Overall its a great book by a great author who writes a very personal account of exploring spiritualism, self-development, travel and adventure.
Some Highlights:
- Him directing Sean Connery in The Great Train Robbery asking him to have a more masculine hand gesture. "You're saying I look like a poof?" visualized in Sean Connery voice kinda funny
- Camping in Kenya there is a scene with a silhouette and close elephant to their tent that is very reminiscent of the T-Rex in the Lost World film. Enjoyed reading what I assume was the inspiration for that.
Topical Music:
Chuck Berry - Sweet Little Sixteen vs. The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA
The Chiffons - He's So Fine vs. George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
Jurassic Park Theme Song
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