Fight Test and Father and Son
There is the old adage "Good artists copy; great artists steal." It is an adage that I personally live by, as almost every song I write is simply a variation or re-interpretation of a song that I really like.
The Flaming Lips, whose album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots serves as one of the most underrated albums of the '90s, contains the song "Fight Test." The entire album is a concept album about a little girl that must go on to face pink robots, and "Fight Test" is sort of a look at how the little girl needs to look inside to muster the courage for this battle. Really weird, but a great song nonetheless. Check it out:
Fight Test:
The song does bear a resemblance to the song "Father and Son," by Cat Stevens (who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam). Islam later sued the Flaming Lips for a copyright violation, and successfully won -- thus entitling him to a portion of the royalties. Hear a clip from "Father and Son" below:
Father and Son:
Personally I question the validity of this lawsuit and of other similar ones; in my opinion, the Flaming Lips reinvented the song enough to call it their own. "Fight Test" has a much more electric and richer sound to it, something that can only be done in light of the advanced recording technology available today that previously was not available. This leads to another point that songwriters should bear in mind: one great trick to copying a song is to take an acoustic song and make it electric, or vice versa. Many great songs from the '60s and '70s are waiting to be reinvented by a modern rock band that have the luxury of adding a lot of layers to the song and giving it a richer production that in previous times was not available.
In the end, the best way to do something new is to repackage something old.
The Flaming Lips, whose album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots serves as one of the most underrated albums of the '90s, contains the song "Fight Test." The entire album is a concept album about a little girl that must go on to face pink robots, and "Fight Test" is sort of a look at how the little girl needs to look inside to muster the courage for this battle. Really weird, but a great song nonetheless. Check it out:
Fight Test:
The song does bear a resemblance to the song "Father and Son," by Cat Stevens (who now goes by the name Yusuf Islam). Islam later sued the Flaming Lips for a copyright violation, and successfully won -- thus entitling him to a portion of the royalties. Hear a clip from "Father and Son" below:
Father and Son:
Personally I question the validity of this lawsuit and of other similar ones; in my opinion, the Flaming Lips reinvented the song enough to call it their own. "Fight Test" has a much more electric and richer sound to it, something that can only be done in light of the advanced recording technology available today that previously was not available. This leads to another point that songwriters should bear in mind: one great trick to copying a song is to take an acoustic song and make it electric, or vice versa. Many great songs from the '60s and '70s are waiting to be reinvented by a modern rock band that have the luxury of adding a lot of layers to the song and giving it a richer production that in previous times was not available.
In the end, the best way to do something new is to repackage something old.
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