Say what you will about Coldplay, they know how to write a good melody. In the middle of 2008, they released “Viva la Vida”, a tune so catchy it made its way to the number one slot of both the U.S. and U.K. charts, a first for the band. When you find yourself dancing in silhouette in an Apple commercial, you have achieved something notable.
There is a rub, though. That opening melody was catchy enough to attract the attention of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani who, hearing a striking similarity to a riff in his earlier composition “If I Could Fly”, decided to sue Coldplay for plagiarism. Here is the part alleged to have been stolen:
But why stop with Coldplay? If Mr. Satriani would cast his net a bit wider, he might have the potential for an even larger payout. To begin with, he might take a hard listen to Brooklyn indie band Creaky Boards’ “The Song I Didn’t Write”. As if the title weren’t damning enough, here’s an excerpt:
And while Satriani is at it, isn’t Euro-satirist Gunther just asking for trouble with his “Teeny Weeny String Bikini”?
But I would not suggest he delve too deeply into the musical archives or he might discover “Frances Limon” from Argentine rock group Los Enanitos Verdes which – oops! – predates Satriani’s own noodling by a few years:
It gets worse for Satriani’s case. Digging back to 1981, we find “Hearts” by Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin:
And a decade earlier, Cat Stevens released “Love/Heaven”:
I will not burden you with the music-theoretical details, but the fact is the vast majority of Western music relies on chord progressions that make ascending and descending melodies all but inevitable. One can quibble about similarities of ornamentation and rhythm, but these all boil down to variations on one of the most common melodic structures in music. And lest we think this pattern is unique to recent pop music, I give you a jazz standard with the same general idea, “Everything Happens to Me” written by Matt Davis in 1940 and performed here by Chet Baker:
Perhaps there is a Renaissance music scholar out there who knows of an eerily similar lute melody? Fortunately for Mr. Satriani, any copyright on that one will have long since expired.
UPDATE: Commenter Tim points out another similar tune, “Pounding” by Doves (circa 2002):
UPDATE 2: Still convinced the melodies are the same? Check out the transcribed melodies and a stereo overlay of the phrases in question.
Related TOE posts:
- Coldplay vs. Joe Satriani :: A Melody Comparison
- Scientist – Coldplay [Wicker Park Soundtrack]
- Les Paul and Mary Ford Perform “How High the Moon”
- Songsmith Remixes Radiohead
- The Story of Chet Baker
I’ll let Kozinski plead my case: “Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it . . . Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it’s suppose to nurture.”
Wow! What a great piece of musical scholarship! After listening to all those examples, it seems to me that Stariani’s version is the LEAST like the Coldplay song. Maybe everybody ought to get together and sue Satriani!
While the examples you give do have the same chord progression as Viva La Vida, none of the melodies are exactly the same. In satriani’s case the melody is identical for 4 bars. As I see it, he has a claim.
Number 1, Coldplay has had no problem borrowing from bands in the past and including their permission and “thank you” on their liner notes. They did this with Kraftwerk on their last CD.
Number 2, in order for Coldplay to “steal” this from Satriani, Joe would have to prove the band listened to his music, and frankly listening to Satriani and his idiotic and goofy guitarmanship is a crime in and of itself. Why he dodges the criticisms that so often hit people like Kenny G is beyond me.
great post
As a transcribed melody, none of these fit. So that you know, I’ve actually done it
Except:
Satriani and Coldplay.
The exact notes of a melody are what counts. Not relatively the same, but identical. Sure the phrasing is slightly different in spots, but there are particular slurs and pushes found in Coldplay’ s that are particular to Satches phrasing.
The difference is Satches third chord. It’s a logical substitution for the one found in Coldplay’s cut. Theirs is just the easier one to get to, compositionally speaking.
But I digress…
Great research wnu! I think I’m more impressed by the article than the song similarities.
I am not an audiophile by any means, but each one of these song bits sound so much alike it’s almost depressing. So much for originality.
I was a fan of Satriani back in the day and I will admit I do listen to Coldplay, but wouldn’t a better expenditure of energy and money be a collaboration? The music world could use a bit more of something, anything different.
If not good, at least it would give us something different to listen to.
Even if the melodies were note-for-note identical, I still wouldn’t think legal action is warranted. The styles are different, the instrumentation is obviously different, and this portion constitutes a pretty insignificant chunk of Coldplay’s song overall. But I bet if I were Satriani (or Cat Stevens or Marty Balin), I’d be less forgiving.
ositorojo, I like your idea of a collaboration. It would be the best of all worlds: vindication for Coldplay and exposure/payday for Satriani. I think they should bring in some of these other artists and do a “We Are The World” sort of video.
Compositionally speaking, Western music is limited in notes and progressions that are logical (read:pleasing to the ear). There are as many differeneces between Satriani & Coldplay as there are between Satriani and the earlier ones (cat Stevens, etc. ) So, Satriani suing Coldplay would open the door for Los Enanitos to sue Sat. They were actually the most alike in melody/chord similarity AND instrumentation/rhythm. Almost identical guitar phrasing, while Coldplay’s doesn’t even have a guitar in tge foreground.
That is all.
You can go on about bands borrowing from other bands all you want. They always have and they always will. And just because you happen to have no respect for a particular artist is irrelevant to this discussion. 4 bars of melody….. thats all that should concern this discussion.
George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord/She’s So Fine
Ray Parker’s Ghostbusters/Huey Lewis – I Want A new Drug
Both Harrison and Parker lost these cases. Parker settling out of court.
Again…….. 4 bars of melody.
Your examples focus on a three note interval pattern, not a melody. The melody of Viva La Vida and If I Could Fly are much more closely related than any of these examples.
Never forget that this is about money and prestige. If Coldplay were a little club band, Satriani wouldn’t care because they wouldn’t be making money off of the composition. There’s also the prestige of being nominated for a Grammy.
Also, be clear that songwriting has little to nothing to do with instrumentation and arrangement. A melody, whether played by kazoo, guitar or cat piano is still a melody, and still protected by copyright.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEGGFJLpbu4
Given the thorough analyses, I can just picture the evil supervillians Coldplay wringing their hands and cackling gleefully while a supercomputer breaks down Satriani’s music note by note and spews forth their next big moneymaking hit.
WHY ARE YOU SO EVIL COLDPLAY?
Ok, then Joe Satriani should copy one of the Coldplay songs, may be “troubles”. I’m sure he will play this song great with a nice guitar solo besides the talentless guitarist of Coldplay. All he has to do is copy it, change the name, put it in the next album and claim that the song is his own. That will be fair enough for “Coldplag”
To TNL: Coldplay actually sent a letter to Kraftwerk, asking permission to use that song in their song. they did not plagiarize the song. unless you consider asking and getting permission Plagiarism… and to point something out, Joe Satriani did not even talk about suing coldplay until about six to eight months after Viva la vida came out. It just seems as if joe was waiting for the right moment….
[...] been sued for supposedly stealing part of the song from guitarist Joe Satriani. This wonderful post, breaks down the common melody at work in the song and the myriad of others, many before [...]
the examples above are all good but not as blatant as “viva la vida”
As a musician I can see why satriani is not pleased.
If anyone has a claim against him then they should bring it on, of all the songs listed above I think only 1 is similar enough to justify a claim..
Coldplay’s viva la vida is blatantly identical , what is puzzling is the melody ..
I don’t think coldplay voluntarily ripped satch off however there is a doubt … you only need to listen to a good melody once or twice and that will stuck in your head
PS: I like Satriani and I like coldplay but their music is boring, short of 2-3 songs in one album the rest are pretty much dull and sound like 1000’s of unsigned british bands
Does this suit have any merit, given the fact that neither act qualifies as “music?”
Shouldn’t the absolute lack of artistic merit on both sides matter?
Doesn’t matter how ‘close’ any of these are, the fact is that the Satriani song and Coldplay song are alllllll the same notes, all these examples are similar but different.
As a transcribed melody, none of these fit. So that you know, I’ve actually done it
Except:
Satriani and Coldplay.
The exact notes of a melody are what counts. Not relatively the same, but identical. Sure the phrasing is slightly different in spots, but there are particular slurs and pushes found in Coldplay’ s that are particular to Satches phrasing.
The difference is Satches third chord. It’s a logical substitution for the one found in Coldplay’s cut. Theirs is just the easier one to get to, compositionally speaking.”
Thank you, sir, I’m glad to see someone gets it! So many people here seem to be utterly missing the point and completely blurring the issues of “similarity” and “infringement”. Some of those examples were rhythmically very different from the ones we’re talking about.
As a musician, I am offended by Satriani’s lawsuit and everyone that agrees with him.
wnu is obviously saying that all music is in some way derivative of another. The concept of “originality” is obsolete. No one can write new stories. They can only tell them in different ways.
Walt Disney did not come up with the ideas for Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, but he provided the ingenuity to retell them in an interesting way.
I am in no way a fan of either Coldplay or Satriani, but if I had to choose, the Coldplay song is a much more interesting listen.
Soon, someone will figure out that Hang On Sloopy and LaBamba and Louie Louie and Twist and Shout all ripped off some old guy playing in the Delta circa 1940.
[...] meer, klik hier. Categoriën: Muziek Auteur: Marrek Laatst Gewijzigd: 08 Apr 2009 @ 01 59 PM Permalink [...]
We’ll now it gets interesting. In papers issued to the courts on monday Coldplay DO NOT deny access or even lifting from Joes song. They say ” the similarities are so little ,that damages are not warranted ” and that Joes song “lacks originality and therefore not subjected to copyright”.Which is along the lines of the article above.In copyright law you can only go for the melody unless the chord structure is the melody ( smoke on the water) basically what you hum after hearing the song. Joes is claiming “substantial portions were used” but that seems a bit exaggerated .Joes and Coldplays melodies are very similar but not exact as people are stating. Same at the beginning ,different in the middle, same at the end.Enough though to call them “strikingly similar”. Identical circumstances in a the case ( baxter v MCA) resulted in the finding from a jury along the lines of” although we believe artist A copied from artist B.we believe that the piece in question is in the public domain therefore not protected by copyright.”the guy got off. In this case that would be Coldplay.
What that means , if there are enough examples of that melody out there ( and we have plenty of examples so far) Joe cannot lay claim to it as can no one else .It is then deemed “in the public domain” and free for all to use. If presedense is any thing to go by Coldplay are home free .
btw, I understand the above-poster’s Louie, Louie post, but fyi & fwiw, the Miami Herald years ago did an article showing that the three-note sequence opening up Louie, Louie came from a Cuban cha-cha arranged & played by Rene Touzet, which makes sense since the sequence is a pretty literal quote from Guantanamera, the unofficial Cuban Nat’l song. Couldn’t find the article, but Wikipedia confirms, & I did find this Rene Touzet youtube “History of Louie, Louie”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EerYrT-5VVc
thnxs again wnu–this is my first visit here; I’m an aficionado and (very) amateur musicologist, not a musician.
it reminds me of “honesty” by billy joel. a much less cheesy song. also check out the beginning chord to “a hard day’s night” it’s the same as the ENDING chord in “people are strange” by the doors (sans the glissando). also, in a chase scene in the movie “dirty harry” lalo schiffrin does a rhythmic guitar passage that seems to have been used by led zepplin in “the immigrant song” or vice versa.
basically its money grab attempt from a washed up guitarist.
good luck with your gold digging Joe.