The blurred line defining plagiarism

   So, this whole “Blurred Lines “verdict has really gotten under my skin and made me confront some truths, and ma I say if the jurors thought Blurred Lines sounded similar to Give it Up, that in all the years I have been writing and recording music I have never walked into a studio with session players without a song for the band to reference, meaning specifically, I’ve never thrown chart at a band without saying “it goes kinda like________” and letting the players do their thing.    Now that the precedent has been made that a song can’t go “kinda like_______” without fear of repercussions, I’ve decided to quit songwriting in an effort to make the world a more honest place and above and beyond that I’ve decide to drop a dime and point fingers and implicate---I mean warn---my former songwriting peers about their impending legal woes and past moral and artistic transgressions.

    So lets begin. 

Starting with Blurred Lines, has anyone else ever noticed that the melody in the B-Section of the song “borrows” at least ten notes in succession (the former definition of plagiarism prior to this case) from the Keyboard melody in the song  All For Love recorded by Color Me Bad, which was itself stolen from the Black Crowes Jealous Again and then later lifted by Gretchen Wilson a for a TV commercial she did for the show “Saving Grace,” and yet again by Josh Thompson in his breakout hit Beer on The Table.  Josh, Gretchen, Color Me Bad, you should all color yourselves ashamed and pay Chris Robinson.  Chris, you can keep the settlement until we figure out who you stole that melody from and then everybody’s  Karma will be clear.

     I’m not kidding.

     If “Blurred Lines” infringes on the groove and feel of “Give it Up” to the extent that Mr Thicke and Mr Pharrell owe the estate of Marvin Gaye then Sheryl Crowe better cough up some $$$ to Jerry Rafferty ‘cause if “Blurred Lines” approximates “Give it Up,”   Then Ms Crowes “All I Wanna Do” blatantly steals the groove from “Stuck in the Middle With You.”  For that matter, Ms Crowe should make reparations to Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks for the numerous times she has “borrowed” from them and she can give Mick Jagger and Keith Richards some ducats for “Everyday Is a Winding Road”  robbing the track from “Sympathy for The Devil.”  Indeed, Ms Crowe should put all her assets in trust while musicologists sort out all the transgression she’s made upon her predecessors intellectual property.  This could take a few years, don’t leave the country, Sheryl.

     Speaking of sound-a- likes,  Lenny Kravitz, you need to throw some money at Paul McCartney for all those bass lines you borrowed from your first record and you can pay the estate of Jimmy Hendrix for your haircut.   And speaking of Beatles-thieves, Neil Finn, I love you but I hope you have some Euros set aside for legal shit (just how many B-Sections have you borrowed from Lennon and McCartney) and while we’re at it the Gallagher Bros, Jelly Fish, Jon Bon Jovi (I’ll Be There For You  is “Don’t Let Me Down—Duh) and yeah RADIOHEAD??  you’ve all helped yourselves to John and Paul’s personal shit and---as much as I can’t stand Yoko myself---you gotta pay up.

    I know these sound like recent transgressions, and you’re right, this kinda shit has gone on forever so while I’m thinking about it, if there are any descendants of Antonio Vivaldi still alive you owe the estate of any of the descendants of JS Bach (or is it the other way around?) same goes for the descendants of Claude Debussy, the grandchildren of Maurice Ravel are awaiting reparations….(oh wait, that’s right Ravel was into dudes???)…nevermind.

   Everybody owes Bob Dylan in some way.   None more blatantly than Eddie Rabbits stealing “Driving My Life Away,” from Dylan’s “Subterranean  Homesick Blues”.  Hayes Carll, you’re a favorite, but you know you got “KMAG YOYO” from that song as well  Speaking of people like Hayes, Levi Lowery, you should know that some of us had heard Charlie Daniels “Uneasy Rider” years before you wrote “All American,” but essentially both songs are Dylan rips and between “Subterranean” and “Like  A Rolling Stone” I’d say Ol’ Bob pretty much invented rap back in the 60’s  and for that I want Kanye West to show how much he gives a shit about “artistry” by paying his debt to Bob, and I mean debt literally. 

     I myself have focused on writing Country songs over the last couple decades and country is what I know and I know it well and at the risk of alienating some friends and co-writers and former publishers I’d like to assert that, in the Country Genre, with a few exceptions, anyone who’s had a hit song the last three years owes Florida Georgia Line half of whatever you earned on your track.  I know, I’m not a fan of the back-and-forth-between-the-root-and-third melodic formula either, but so far as I can tell, those guys came up with that formula and you are STEALING from them!!!

     And while my mind is thinking country, let’s Brooks and Dunn pay Foster and Lloyd, ‘cause if ever there was a rip of groove and chord change “Boot Scoot Boogie” has its fingerprints all over “Crazy Over You,” and if B&D aren’t liable then Alan Jackson is for “Good Time.”  Same key, same tempo, same changes, same exact groove…..oh but the lyrics are different you say?  Didn’t the court just establish that as irrelevant?  ‘cause if you think it IS relevant I have a couple infringement case of my own I’d like to put before the jury and I think they’re pretty solid cases if that’s how we’re looking at it….I mean cases of my own, of people stealing my actual Ideas and writing songs based on concepts that I developed first….that’s plagiarism isn’t it?

   But no, according to the jury, you’re not allowed to sound like someone else, so again, while my mind is on country I’d like to warn Sammy Kershaw of his impending debt to the estate of George Jones and suggest that Easton Corbin start a new career in Canada where George Strait can’t touch him legally. 

     Easton, I really think you’re awesome, I’m sure the Canucks will too.

     In the rock realm, KIX can compensate AC-DC, Guns n Roses can repay Aerosmith who can in return repay the Rolling Stones, who can in return pay Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters… Whitesnake can reimburse Led Zepplin, as can a litany of other acts including Kingdom Come, RUSH (for that first album) and Triumph for their ridiculously coming-close to “Whole Lotta Love.”   The Scorpion’s should compensate Jimi Hendrix for “Fly To The Rainbow.”  Every Guitar player from just about every big-haired 80’s bands owes Eddie Van Halen.  Nuno Bettancourt, Warren DeMartini, you are thieves, Lou Graham you stole your voice from Paul Rogers, and Ted Nugent-- this may be non-nsequitor-- but while I’m thinking about guitar players, YOU SUCK.

        I don’t mean any of this shit too seriously.  Then again, I can’t take the verdict on “Blurred Lines” seriously either.