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Very interesting! I consider myself to be pretty in to music - I listen to music most of the day (radio or CD), collect CDs, am interested in a range of music genres and eras... I have heard songs that struck me as having greater similarity than "He's so fine" and "My sweet Lord".... at least on first hearing.
Okay - so the greatest similarity is the melody... here's my scoring (5 exactly the same, 1 not alike in any way):
*MELODY 4.5 Yes, agreed - motifs in the melody are actually the same, however, the entire track is not the same in its melodic organisation.
*HARMONY/CHORDAL STRUCTURE 2 Hmmm... in terms of instrumental I find hard to isolate these - would really need to see them written down.... but yes there are singing girls for vocal harmony in both, but the lyrics and notes that they sing are, at least to me, totally different as is the timing that they join in, in relation to the melody.
RHYTHM 2 In "He's so fine" the beat is clearly emphasised from the beginning of the track - on the 2nd and 4th beat of the 4/4 timing - it then breaks in to an almost reggae type rhythm for the mid section (especially with what sounds like xylophone in the percussion). In "My Sweet Lord" the rhythm is set by the acoustic guitar for the the first half and the emphasis is more on the 1st and 3rd beat over this section. Half way through the track the percussion is brought in and the pace picks up a little and the 2nd and 4th beat are emphasised... So, a wee similarity here but then, how many other tracks in the world have this beat?
TEMPO: 2 and then 3 To explain - "He's so fine" is pretty fast from the beginning, "My Sweet Lord" begins much slower, then picks up pace with introduction of percussion, however, still not as fast paced as "He's so fine".
LYRICS: 2 and then 1 The only vague similarity is that Harrison is talking about "really want to be with you" and "I really want to know you"... and the Chiffons sing about "wish he were mine" and "to be held in his arms" ... but one is a man speaking to the Lord and the other is a woman expressing carnal desires!!! Not the same!!! As the track continues and Harrison's chorus sing a "Hare Krishna" "Gurur Sakshaat" "Parabrahma" "Tasmayi Shree" etc... the lyrics are not the same!!!
INSTRUMENTS: 2 Pretty much only as similar as any two bands when compared - guitar and drums feature in both. However, "He's so fine" is predominated by the piano for chords and melody where as this is done by acoustic guitar in "My sweet Lord". "He's so fine" has additional instruments like and xylophone? and shaker, the drums sound different as well.
IN addition - "My sweet Lord" has a lead-guitar rif that features in introduction and through the track which is totally unique to this track and nothing similar appears in "He's so fine".
Here's what I think - Harrison's melody is, on closer listening, strikingly similar... agreed. I agree with the suggestion that it was UNCONSCIOUSLY copied... After all, is how many songs would they have been exposed to and have influence their music subconsciously at each composition?! There are only 13 notes to play with, and plenty of commonly used chord sequences, there is bound to be some melodic overlap between composers at some time. To me, the tracks are so different in many ways other than the melody, that one has to really sit, listen and carefully analyse in order to appreciate that the similarity in melody is more than just vague.
I am not sure how harsh the penalty was, but feel, while it is necessary to enforce and uphold the law as an example to others to take more care with copyright, I would personally be a bit lenient / gentle with the penalties for this!
Like I said earlier, I can think of a number of more strikingly similar tracks that I would have issue with if I wrote the original!!
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