MP3 of the Day
On this day in 2003, The Flaming Lips released the single "Fight Test" from their album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. When they recorded the song some members of the band thought that it sounded a bit like the Cat Stevens song "Father And Son" but didn't think to get clearance from Stevens' record company. When the subject of the song was raised to the band's frontman, Wayne Coyne, in an interview after its release, he claimed that he was unaware of the songs' similarities until producer Dave Fridmann pointed them out. Coyne stated: "I do regret not contacting his record company and asking their opinion. Maybe we could have gone 50-50. As it is, Cat Stevens is now getting 75 per cent of royalties from 'Fight Test.' I am really sorry that Cat Stevens thinks I'm purposefully plagiarizing his work. I am ashamed. There is obviously a fine line between being inspired and stealing. But if anyone wanted to borrow part of a Flaming Lips song, I don't think I'd bother pursuing it." Today we have both songs... Father and Son by CAT STEVENS and Fight Test by THE FLAMING LIPS. You be the judge.
posted by Sean at 1:00 AM
3 Comments:
If "Flight Test" sounds like "Father & Son" then Yusef's lawyers are gonna be busy as heck suing all the "new folk" popsters. Maybe they can just sue all of them for even making folk pop!
They sound pretty similar to me and didn't Wayne Coyne say that Cat Stevens receives 75% of the royalties of Fight Test?
They sound similar, but Yusef's an ass for going ofter a paycheck on this one. The intent of the copyright system is being pushed into a realm that is going to bite artists back when a computer programmer with a lot of drive space decides to start lay down computer generated melody signatures in mass.
Post a Comment
<< Home