- 2 months ago
They borrowed, they copied, they "took inspiration," but they still created masterpieces! Join us as we count down our picks for the borrowed songs we still absolutely love! From George Harrison's spiritual anthem to Nirvana's grunge classic, these tracks may have legal baggage, but they remain undeniable hits in our hearts.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for songs that we absolutely
00:10love even though they're clearly rip-offs.
00:1320.
00:18Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
00:20Jet When Jet released the song Are You Gonna Be My Girl,
00:23it was such an enduring success that they could comfortably live off the royalties for
00:28the rest of their lives.
00:291, 2, 3, take my hand and come with me because you look so fine that I really wanna make
00:34you mine.
00:35But here's the problem.
00:36The song clearly took from the drumbeat and bass approach that Iggy Pop featured on his
00:40classic track, Lust for Life.
00:41Here comes Johnny, yeah, yeah.
00:45However, it turns out that both of these songs are heavily indebted to You Can't Hurry Love
00:51by The Supremes, which was famously covered by Phil Collins.
00:54Listening to these three tracks back to back to back, there's no denying the similarities.
00:59Thankfully, though, all three are fantastic tunes.
01:03You're catering up, girl, you just have to wait.
01:0819.
01:09Cigarettes and Alcohol
01:10Oasis
01:11Oasis were never afraid to borrow from their predecessors.
01:14Is it my imagination?
01:18In fact, lead singer Noel Gallagher has been pretty open about his tendency to reinvent other
01:23people's riffs and melodic ideas.
01:25The band's legendary single, Cigarettes and Alcohol, is a prime example of this.
01:30Is it worth the occupation?
01:34It's so similar to T-Rex's 1971 hit Bang-a-Gong, Get It On, that there's no way that Noel didn't
01:41take major influence.
01:42Get it on, Bang-a-Gong, get it on.
01:47Gallagher is a well-documented fan of T-Rex, so there should be no confusion over this one.
01:53T-Rex's glammed-up 70s rock sure does sound fresh with the 90s update, though.
01:58There's no denying that.
01:59You got it, you got it, you got it, 19!
02:0418.
02:05Folsom Prison Blues
02:07Johnny Cash
02:08Johnny Cash had dozens of classic songs over the years, but no one track got him in as much
02:14hot water as Folsom Prison Blues did.
02:16I hear the train a-comin', it's rollin' round the bend.
02:22Cash unquestionably lifted the first line from Gordon Jenkins' Crescent City Blues, and added
02:27it to his own song without crediting Jenkins as a composer.
02:30I hear the train a-comin', it's rollin' round the bend.
02:38This, unfortunately, led to a pretty expensive payout of $75,000 from The Man in Black, as well
02:44as a much-deserved official credit for Jenkins.
02:53The lawsuit didn't happen until 13 years after the song's initial creation, when it
02:57was re-released on Cash's seminal album, Live at Folsom Prison.
03:01Thankfully, Gordon Jenkins got justice in the end.
03:05And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.
03:1117.
03:12Hello, I Love You
03:15Within the Doors' catalogue, Hello, I Love You is definitely one of the lighter and
03:19breezier songs.
03:20Turns out, it wasn't entirely of their own creation, though.
03:27Ray Davies of the Kinks didn't really seem to care that much about any legal resolution,
03:32he just wanted the band to admit that their song sounded like his all-day and all-of-the-night.
03:37Jim Morrison was quick to agree that the songs were incredibly similar.
03:47Eventually, there was a legal battle, and a settlement was reached, and it doesn't appear
03:51as though there are any hard feelings on either side.
03:54These things tend to happen in music, we guess.
03:5616.
04:03Radiohead
04:05If Radiohead retired directly after the release of their debut album, Pablo Honey, there's
04:11a good chance they'd still be reeling in the cash thanks to their single, Creep.
04:15When you were young before Couldn't look you in the eye
04:22Or at least they would have, if they weren't forced to sign away some of the songwriting
04:26credits to Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood.
04:29But I'm a creep
04:34Creep sounds way too much like the duo's track The Air That I Breathe to be a coincidence.
04:39The track is a bonafide pop classic, most famously covered by the Hollies in 1974.
04:44All I need is the air that I breathe
04:49Thankfully, Radiohead definitely did not have a creative peak with their first attempt,
04:54going on to release several of the most critically acclaimed albums in music history.
04:59I don't belong here
05:0215.
05:03Come As You Are
05:05Nirvana
05:06Kurt Cobain was just about as upfront as it could be about anything and everything.
05:11Come As You Are
05:15So when Nirvana were set to release Come As You Are as a single from their iconic album
05:20Never Mind, he admitted that he was nervous because he had accidentally ripped off the
05:24song 80s by Killing Joke.
05:26Listening to the two tracks, the similarities are uncanny.
05:35Supposedly, the members of Killing Joke were pretty irritated by this, and understandably
05:39so, but a lawsuit never fully materialized.
05:42The band later commented that they felt Nirvana handled the situation poorly.
05:51But still, in terms of quality, both songs managed to stand up independently of each other.
05:56It's better when I don't have a gun
06:0114.
06:02Given To Fly
06:03Pearl Jam
06:04No band wants to be stuck in a long and drawn-out lawsuit over the type of innocent creative mistake
06:09that can happen to anyone.
06:10It could've turned into them, but it turned off
06:16For Pearl Jam, they happen to accidentally steal from one of the most prolific musical plagiarizers
06:21in history, Led Zeppelin.
06:26So the idea of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page lawyering up, because the band's hit Given To Fly
06:31sounds like Zeppelin's Going To California, would be a bit rich.
06:38Plant himself seemed to take the whole thing in good faith, and even joined Pearl Jam to sing
06:43their song before segueing into Going To California.
06:46No ugly legal battle needed here, folks.
06:4813.
06:55M.O.R.
06:57Damon Albarn and Blur were actively paying tribute to the great David Bowie and Brian Eno
07:03when they took the chord structure from Boyz Keep Swinging and created M.O.R.
07:08The song never tries to hide its influence, but that doesn't mean that Blur initially credited
07:19the duo correctly.
07:21When you're a boy, you can wear a uniform.
07:25Bowie and Eno's names were only added as songwriters after the song was released, a retroactive
07:30addition that ensured these two music icons would earn their fair share of royalties.
07:35The songs are so unmistakably linked that not crediting either Bowie or Eno would've been
07:40a little ridiculous.
07:4112.
07:42I Saw Her Standing There
07:48The Beatles
07:50The 1960s were certainly a different time when it came to borrowing musical ideas.
07:54Just look at Come Together and its similarities to Chuck Berry's You Can't Catch Me.
07:58Paul McCartney made absolutely no attempts to hide the fact that he stole the bass riff from
08:07I'm Talking About You, also by Chuck Berry, and used it to drive the rhythm behind the Beatles
08:12I Saw Her Standing There.
08:13She Wouldn't Dance With Another
08:17Berry, who had also taken heavy influence from another artist or two in his heyday, didn't
08:22seem to mind all that much.
08:23I'm Talking About You, Nobody But You
08:29To this day, it remains one of McCartney's most memorable bass performances, even though it's
08:34not actually his own.
08:4111.
08:42Dazed and Confused
08:44Led Zeppelin
08:45Led Zeppelin were never afraid to go shopping for melodic ideas from their predecessors.
08:50Been dazed and confused for so long it's not true
08:55We could've easily featured Stairway to Heaven or Whole Lotta Love here, but when Jimmy Page basically
09:00stole Jake Holmes' song Dazed and Confused for Led Zeppelin's debut album, he could've
09:05at least credited him.
09:10Unfortunately, Page had no intention of sharing songwriting royalties, even though he didn't
09:16even change the track's original name.
09:18After Holmes tried to reach out to Page in the 80s, he received no response.
09:22In 2010, he finally started a lengthy legal battle for his well-deserved credit, which was
09:27finally resolved in 2025 with a settlement, 58 years after he originally released the song.
09:3410.
09:38Love Me Tender
09:43Elvis Presley
09:56Elvis Presley's legendary 1956 hit single, Love Me Tender, is one of the most perfectly
10:02constructed love songs of all time, a delicately sung and beautifully written ode to the author's
10:08beloved.
10:09But this song wasn't just plucked out of thin air.
10:11At least, not in its entirety.
10:13Its melody is actually identical to the old Civil War tune, Aura Lee.
10:17To the point where its composer George R. Poulton was actually credited on Presley's updated
10:30version.
10:31Call it a modified or even an improved take on the song if you'd like, but Love Me Tender
10:36has roots that stretch far beyond 20th century music.
10:539.
10:54Stay With Me Sam Smith
10:56Oh, won't you stay with me, cause you're all I need
11:08Any songwriter will tell you that plagiarism isn't always intentional, and in Sam Smith's
11:14case, they claim that any similarities between their 2014 smash hit Stay With Me and Tom Petty's
11:21iconic I Won't Back Down are merely a coincidence.
11:28In fact, Smith says they never even heard the song before they were forced to hand over
11:36songwriting royalties to Petty and his co-writer Jeff Lynne.
11:39It's hard to deny that the melodies are similar, but it did raise an interesting debate over
11:45what is considered plagiarism in music.
11:47We know we love both songs, and who knows, maybe Smith is right and their choruses just
11:53happen to sound the same.
11:54I guess we'll never know for sure.
11:588.
12:03Viva La Vida Coldplay
12:13Coldplay well and truly burst out of their indie rock with the pop stomper Viva La Vida in 2008.
12:19A huge commercial success for them, even by the band's lofty standards.
12:23But according to the legendary guitarist Joe Satriani, Chris Martin and company lifted the
12:28vocal melody of the verse directly from his instrumental track, If I Could Fly.
12:40This one is hard to defend.
12:42You can hear just how the chord progression and guitar solo mirror Martin's opening lines.
12:47In fact, this song has been attacked from all angles with accusations of plagiarism, with
12:53everyone from Yousef slash Cat Stevens to the Italian 18th century composer Alessandro Perisati
13:00being pointed to as potential sources for the melody.
13:04Never an honest word, but that was when I ruled the world.
13:127.
13:13Bittersweet Symphony
13:14The Verve
13:211990s Britpop didn't get too much better than The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony, but even
13:26though it remains one of the most beloved songs of the decade, it's not exactly an entirely
13:31original piece.
13:32Sure, The Verve received permission from the record label Decca Records to use a sample
13:37of an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones song, The Last Time.
13:46But not doing the same with the song's composition rights owner, former Stones manager Alan Klein,
13:52turned out to be a hugely expensive decision.
13:55The Verve ended up being forced to lose out on all royalties from the song, estimated to be
14:00a figure in the millions, before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards eventually signed over the rights
14:05to The Verve in 2019.
14:076.
14:08Life on Mars
14:17David Bowie
14:18It might seem odd, but long before he was a globally recognized superstar, David Bowie
14:32was a struggling songwriter working for a record label rewriting foreign hits in the English
14:37language.
14:38After his translation for the French song Come to Habitude was rejected by Frank Sinatra in
14:43favor of Paul Anka's My Way, Bowie got some revenge.
14:47He borrowed the song's chord progression and created one of the most memorable songs of the
15:0470s, Life on Mars.
15:06Call it plagiarism or good old-fashioned payback, but there's no denying the similarities.
15:12Both My Way and Life on Mars are 10 out of 10s in our book.
15:175.
15:18Surfing USA
15:27The Beach Boys
15:32The Beach Boys were most certainly one of the most original and innovative bands of their
15:39time, but that didn't mean that they were immune from accusations of plagiarism.
15:43Their 1963 hit, Surfing USA, very clearly is greatly influenced by Chuck Berry's 1958
15:50ode to young girls, Sweet Little Sixteen.
15:525.
15:535.
15:54Lyrical content differences aside, they're basically the same song.
16:07Beach Boys lead singer Brian Wilson rejected the idea of conscious plagiarism, but he was
16:12eventually forced to list Barry as a songwriter on the track, and it's pretty easy to see
16:17why.
16:195.
16:205.
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16:225.
16:235.
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16:255.
16:265.
16:275.
16:285.
16:295.
16:305.
16:315.
16:325.
16:335.
16:345.
16:356.
16:366.
16:376.
16:386.
16:396.
16:406.
16:416.
16:426.
16:436.
16:446.
16:456.
16:466.
16:476.
16:487.
16:497.
16:507.
16:517.
16:527.
16:53by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
16:55She grew up in the Indiana town, had a good-looking mama who never was around.
17:00To be fair, while the exact chords used differ, the tone and drive of the verses are strikingly
17:07similar.
17:07But Petty, who had been around the block at that point in time, was quick to play down
17:12any rumors of legal action, giving the peppers a pass while saying that these things happen
17:16in rock and roll.
17:18A noble gesture indeed.
17:20She's not a priestess, I'm your priestess, yeah, yeah.
17:28Number 3.
17:29The Lion Sleeps Tonight, The Tokens.
17:32In the dark, the quiet dark, the lion sleeps tonight.
17:39One of the most famous and heartbreaking stories of song theft of all time is undoubtedly the
17:45tale of Solomon Linda and Umbube.
17:47This song was improvised and recorded by Linda in South Africa in 1939, where he then sold
17:53its rights for the equivalent of about $2.
18:04Fast forward 20 years, and the song has been adapted for international audiences into The
18:10Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens.
18:12generating millions of dollars for people who had nothing to do with its creation.
18:17Linda, on the other hand, was living in poverty and would die in 1962, 46 years before he received
18:24his songwriting credit, and his estate eventually earned royalties for his work.
18:29Number 2.
18:39Down Under, Men at Work.
18:50Men at Work's legendary 1981 hit, Down Under, noticeably uses the melody of the Australian
18:56nursery rhyme, kookaburra, as part of its flute arrangement.
19:08According to the band, this was done as an in-joke and tribute to the tune and its aussie roots.
19:13The rest of the song is totally original.
19:16However, a record label called Larrikin Records, which owns the rights to kookaburra, ended up
19:22successfully taking Men at Work to court for a slice of the royalties the song had earned.
19:27Fans of the band were outraged that a very obvious nod to a well-known melody was considered
19:32to be a theft of property.
19:34But according to plagiarism laws, Men at Work were still at fault.
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19:52If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
19:57Number 1.
19:59George Harrison lost many battles to be heard during his run with the Beatles, but when each
20:17member dove into their respective solo careers, it was clear that Harrison came out on top.
20:22His legendary album, All Things Must Pass, is a bona fide classic.
20:26Still, George was forced to admit that he accidentally ripped off the song He's So Fine by the Chiffons
20:32when writing one of his signature hits, My Sweet Lord.
20:36You can really hear why this was one of the most famous plagiarism cases in music history.
20:49The songs are extremely similar.
20:51Does it detract from My Sweet Lord as a listening experience in the slightest, though?
20:56Fortunately, it does not.
21:06What rip-off song do you think surpasses the song it allegedly stole from?
21:10Let us know in the comments below.
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