how socially acceptable in music is it to steal a line

Plant stole that line from Robert Johnson, who doubtless stole it from someone earlier.

Years ago my daughter heard me playing Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues" with that line in it and hollered "Is that guy trying to copy Robert Plant?" I said "Yeah, honey, he was copying Robert Plant about 40 years before Plant got around to singing it."

That's all quite traditional in blues, where the same lines and verses pop up over and over. It's good to have a big grab bag of that stuff you can pull out when you need it. It's mostly "mix and match."

And what about the Kid Rock song that has same guitar riff as Sweet Home Alabama?

The same solo, and he's singing: "Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long" :roll:

The song is playing a lot in Montreal on the rock station and I'm not very OK with that..

He took a song with a HUGE success, took part from it and put it in a new song, that sound very similar to the original one, but it's not consider as a remake..

And what about the Kid Rock song that has same guitar riff as Sweet Home Alabama?

The same solo, and he's singing: "Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long" :roll:

The song is playing a lot in Montreal on the rock station and I'm not very OK with that..

He took a song with a HUGE success, took part from it and put it in a new song, that sound very similar to the original one, but it's not consider as a remake..

Sometimes people "sample" other's work as part of theirs. I think that quite often, some sort of royalties are involved. Or, in the case of Vanilla Ice or The Verve, law suits. Basically, it's taking a riff or something that someone else did and either using it as part of something else or standing on other's shoulders and making something almost entirely new and different from it. I'm sure there's good and bad. Also, if it's obvious enought to you and others up there, I bet royalties or some sort of permission was granted.

the good ones borrow. the great ones steal.

i came up with that myself. :wink:

And what about the Kid Rock song that has same guitar riff as Sweet Home Alabama?

You mean the one that also lifts the riff from "Werewolves Of London?" I'd love to get a look at the songwriting credits on that particular track!

Lifting other people's riffs has been going on as long as there's been music - the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA" lifted the riff and lyrical theme of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" and that one ended up with the courts ordering the BB to pay Chuck part of the royalties, and also give him credit as co-author.

Funniest instances I can think of - Nick T. once pointed out the court case which involved John C Fogerty versus John C Fogerty - although that was his old record company saying that "The Old Man Down The Road" was a blatant rip-off of "Run Through The Jungle." JF had to prove they were two different songs in court - he won that one. And back in early '73, the riff from the old Yardbirds hit "I'm A Man" - itself a version of an old blues song - was used by two totally different artists at the same time - the Sweet -

- and David Bowie -

and this particular battle of the bands ended up with the Sweet at #1 in the charts and Bowie at #2 in the same week!

:D :D :D

Vic

I doubt there is much that is truly original. In the world of writing fiction, there is a belief there are only seven basic plots and everything derives from them.

If you use "American Pie," "Bye bye Miss American Pie" or "Chevvy to the Levy" in a song without permission you'll be hearing from Don Maclean's lawyers because he has the lines registered as Trademarks - gets round the time limitations of copyrighting

A :-)

the good ones borrow. the great ones steal.

i came up with that myself. :wink:
"that's hot" I stole that from Paris.

usually in music, everyone knows of the original source. when 'borrowing' occurs I look at how creative the borrower was.

If you use "American Pie," "Bye bye Miss American Pie" or "Chevvy to the Levy" in a song without permission you'll be hearing from Don Maclean's lawyers because he has the lines registered as Trademarks - gets round the time limitations of copyrighting

A :-)

I wonder if he got anything from the movie that was titled "American Pie"?

Dalron, what are the seven plots?

Apparently the list of seven plots rather depends whose version you read :)
I've always assumed the list of seven ran something like this:
. Boy meets girl
.The lost heir
.The disguised hero or role reversal
.The hero's quest (with subsets that include David and Goliath, Hero saves world, and Disney's favorite, The lost mother)
.Coming of age (or is that another subset of The hero's quest too?)
and let's round out the list with two plots essential to mystery writers:
.Boy murders girl
.Sleuth solves crime

When I consulted the Internet, I found that not everybody's list of seven is the same as everybody else's. On several sites, I found (with and without attribution), this very different list. The reference is Foster Harris, William. The Basic Patterns of Plot. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959.

.[wo]man vs nature
.[wo]man vs man
.[wo]man vs. the environment
.[wo]man vs. machines/technology
.[wo]man vs the supernatural
.[wo]man vs. self
.[wo]man vs God/religion

Yet another seven are proposed by Christopher Booker in The Seven Basic Plots. London/NY: Continuum, 2005.

.Overcoming the monster
.Rags to riches
.The quest
.Voyage and return
.Comedy
.Tragedy
.Rebirth

Quote Taken from THis Site

Chris

the good ones borrow. the great ones steal.

i came up with that myself. :wink:

might've came up with that yourself,
but i believe the actual line is Good artists copy. Great artists steal.
but it works with the topic, haha

there was also a comment about how original any lyric or line can be,
and although the english language has just a certain amount of combinations and variables within it
so there's a whole other factor to consider

and that list that's above me, i remember seeing that in english class at school
now, it was for a theme or finding the particular setting or the conflict of the whole thing written/read
how else can that be used for something?
or what was the context you were using it in/about/for?

Hey, the English language only has so many words, but the chromatic scale's only got 12 notes. You're never going to compose anything original that's worth a toot. It's all been done before.

Actually, I play secret notes that no one has ever heard of and only I can play. :lol: