bungeejumper wrote:John Kongos! Great song. I'd forgotten that one - thanks for the memory.
There are probably thousands of songs that are basically simple chord progressions, but with different rhythms that make them seem like different songs. (And that's leaving aside all the boogies which were only ever one chord to start with.....) Norman Greenbaum's religious mega-hit Spirit in the Sky (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZQxH_8raCI) was a straight steal from just about everything that Canned Heat (that bunch of old druggies) ever recorded.
As the first ten seconds will confirm - don't worry, you're not obliged to put up with the rest of it.
If we're going as far back as John Kongos, or Canned Heat for that matter, Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM) was a straight chord-lift from the old Juke Box Jury theme (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA-rKWM0IIc), but you weren't supposed to notice that because of the reggae beat.
Getting more obscure, 1970s jazz pianist Chick Corea once tried to sue the Martini people over their catchy "Any time, any place, anywhere" advert, because he insisted that they'd lifted his tune from a rather good piece called Tones for Joan's Bones. (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALWPswGJeE - good stuff if you're into that sort of thing.) Until, that is, somebody pointed out that Corea had lifted the tune himself from Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin. Collapse of plaintiff's party, and much derision all round.
BJ