hey, don't you think that Richard Ashcroft's song "Break the Nigh With Colour" has the similar verse vocal melody to that of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Greenday?
I've been listening to Richard Ashcroft (and his band, The Verve) maniacally whole summer. I didn't spot the similarity then, but now I see it and I'm loving the moment! Vocal melody, especially the first 3 or 4 notes from each song are almost the same. Then both songs go in two different directions, good for them.
This reminded me of yet another discovery.
When I've first heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams on the radio a couple of years ago I thought: hey, I know this song, it's been done before! Then a couple of weeks later I saw not only me had the same idea. The series of professional mash-ups have been made to show the case, here's one of them:
When I've first heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams on the radio a couple of years ago I thought: hey, I know this song, it's been done before! Then a couple of weeks later I saw not only me had the same idea. The series of professional mash-ups have been made to show the case, here's one of them:
Surprised? Noel Gallagher once said that Wonderwall was the first song he wrote that he found original. Oasis tended to lift inspiration from songs of old but they also became an inspiration for legions of young songwriters and bands. No wonder other artists covered their songs. Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day admitted that he just took famous chord progression from Wonderwall and wrote a song upon it.
Noel's comment? If you listen, you'll find it is exactly the same arrangement as Wonderwall. They should have the decency to wait until I am dead [before stealing my songs]. I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy. Gotta love the man, innit?
Also Travis' Fran Healy (you can hear him singing second verse of the mash-up) took Wonderwall chords and even mentioned the title of the song in the lyrics. Here's the whole song, and it's a great one!
Healy asks what's a wonderwall anyway?And that's a good question. With one possible answer. The Beatles. George Harrison made a soundtrack to the experimental film called Wonderwall in the 60s, and so it's the source of the word used later by Gallagher. No surprise, huh?
God, there's so much to write about this song, I feel the post is starting to be a bit chaotic, I'm sorry about that, but that's always the case when so much musical fluctuation is connected with one song - it gets me excited.
Wonderwall was covered shortly after its release on Morning Glory album by The Mike Flower Pops.
This version reached #2 in the UK Singles Charts, the same feat the actual Oasis' recording achieved 2 months earlier in 1995. The story is that Oasis record company in the US asked Noel if he had actually written the song himself! On the other side of Atlantic, BBC claimed they've found an "original version of Wonderwall" (meaning Mike Flowers one) - a bit of irony, of course.
The other notable cover was recorded by Ryan Adams:
Even Noel himself praised the cover and uses the changed arrangement in his own live performances! Rare thing for any of the Gallaghers to give props to others...
OK, another song inpired by Wonderwall. The band is called Girls Aloud. Now it's the melody of the pre-chorus: Listen especially from 1:03. Sounds familiar?
Once Girls Aloud played it live and found the audience singing Wonderwall lyrics instead of the actual song's chorus. Ooops.
And now, listen. Oasis copied themselves (consciously) many times, and here's one of the best examples. The first single from their 1997 album, Be Here Now. Spot 0:21, the quiet chords in the background. D'you know what I mean?
OK, many more covers have been made. Many more songs were inspired by Wonderwall. But what is probably the most important being the greatest testament left by the song itself is that hundreds of thousands young people started to play guitar because of the song's famous riff. Maybe you're one of them?
PS. I always focus mostly on music. But the lyrics of the song in question need to be mentioned as well. Most of us consider it as a simple love song, but that's not the case according to Noel himself. Of course everyone can associate different meanings with the song, but as Gallagher stated it:
It's a song about an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself.
I like this interpretation.
...cause maybeeeeeey, you're gonna be the one that saves meeeeeeeey
and after aaaaaaaawl, you're my wonderwaaaaaaahaaawl!
Go raibh maith agat :)
and who will save u from yourself? why do u think that Gallagher was thinking about an imaginary friend? well, my opinion is that because people do not appricate what they have and when they realise it, it is usually too late, and they try to protect themselves from the pain of loss by blaming others and pretending that they are someone who they are really not, but the truth is that it will not change the facts. But as one said, everyone dies alone, and it is the moment of truth, in a couple of seconds you will be able to see your whole life in a different way, you realise that maybe you were not always right.
ReplyDeleteMusic is amazing, even when people will not hear it, just the person who wrote it, Gallagher was trying to say something very deep here, it is his escape from reality. So it does not matter when someone uses similar melody to another song if they feel like they nhave a great idea. I mean a lot of times they use it to get popularity for example, which I do not like personally, but there are examples that they just feel that they need to do something great with that music and it is ok with me.
"but there are examples that they just feel that they need to do something great with that music and it is ok with me"
ReplyDeletefor me the example of it would be The Verve and their Bitter Sweet Symphony, they used a sample from orchestral version of The Rolling Stones song (The Last Time) and got sued for it. Very unfair case IMHO, they used old, not very fine piece of music to create something totally unique and transcendental, like the best song of the last 20 years or so.
Deep comment you provided us with, thank you! :)