The 15 Best 'Stolen' Songs of All Time (2023)

It's no secret that some of the most iconic songs of all time have been allegedly stolen. Taken from one artist and appropriated by another, making the new version of the song legendary, often at the composer's personal and monetary expense. The unfair thing about this practice is that the 'thieves' also get all the applause for their musical forgery, leaving the creator on the sidelines. However, this practice has existed sincepopmusic itself and shows no signs of slowing down.

The way these songs found their way into popular culture led to questions about their origins. Plus, how they've become synonymous with the artists who popularized them also fuels the flames of debate. No one questions the songs' place in the popular music canon, but the question of who has parental rights is as perplexing as it is perplexing, often diminishing respect for an artist who otherwise claimed to be a parent.

Sometimes the melodies and songs make their way into the brain of the canonizer subconsciously, and other times the riffs are used as a respectful homage to the creator. However, more often than not, it's just a theft, and the creators have no choice but to involve the judiciary.
"What they say? 'A good artist borrows, a great artist steals,' or something like that," Paul McCartney told Guitar Player in 1990. "That makes the Beatles great artists because we steal a lot of stuff."

This acceptance of the truth, exhibited by McCartney's sardonic nature, is not always the case. There are theories, often perpetuated by defendants, that, like oil, there is only a finite amount of music to go around and that there is no choice but to DJ here and there. While this theory carries considerable weight, it does not take into account the numerous occasions when the similarities between the songs are so obvious that there is no doubt that a theft has occurred.

"There's only one song in the world," Keith Richards told the Independent in 2010, "and Adam and Eve wrote it."

However, we are neither the judiciary nor the musicians, and we humble listeners have been treated to the same songs in different formats on various occasions. So brace yourself as we list the best 'stolen' pop songs of all time.

Top 15 'Stolen' Songs:

15. Lindsey Buckingham – 'Swan Song'

Lindsey Buckingham's work with Fleetwood Mac is legendary, but when her time with the band finally ended in 2018, she didn't rest on her laurels and set about writing her self-titled seventh solo album. The record would go on to delight fans of the soft rock icon, but two members of his paying audience took umbrage over the writing of his song 'Swan Song'.

Jordon Zadorozny of Blinker The Star and Brad Laner of Medicine contacted Buckingham when Zadorozny noted that the song sounded remarkably similar to the duo's 'Mind's Eye', which they had written together two decades earlier. The lyrics were also incredibly similar. In 'Mind's Eye', the chorus is: "Isn't it right to keep me hanging/ Do you have to hold me so long now/ Is it right to keep me hanging/ In the shadow of our mind's eye." 'Swan Song', for its part, says: "But is it right to make me wait? / Is it right to make me wait so long? / Yes, it's right to make me wait / In the shadow of our swan song." ."

Buckingham was working as the group's producer at the time, and the Fleetwood Mac man was determined to have accidentally plagiarized when he found the earlier demo and assumed it was his. Zadorozny assumed that the plagiarism was a mistake: “he has years of integrity, and there is no reason to steal songs from anyone, especially from us. He took our song, demoed it, saved it for a rainy day, and it turned out, 16 or 17 years later, he found that demo and thought, 'This is a cool thing I did in 2000.'” Buckingham has since worked out the bug. out of court and all is well.

14. The Strokes - 'Last Night'

Few songs defined the turn of the century quite like The Strokes' hit 'Last Nite'. the music was full of cool garage rock and helped change music culture in seismic ways, changing everything from hairstyles to outfit changes. However, although the song was being played in newly formed indie clubs to Knotts' tunes, veterans were quick to point out that the song was almost a complete rip-off of Tom Petty's hit "American Girl."

Julian Casablancas, the band's lead singer, later admitted: "People were saying, 'You know the Tom Petty song 'American Girl'?' 'Don't you think it sounds a bit like that?' being like, 'Yeah, we stole it. Where were you? Casablancas' brutal honesty about influencing others is a breath of fresh air, although it could have serious repercussions on your bank account if Petty wasn't a good sport. Plus, the The singer didn't end there, adding: "There are some bass lines on our first album that were 100% stolen from The Cure. We were worried about releasing the album because we thought we were going to get busted."

Fortunately, Petty didn't care for the fact that "American Girl" had been revamped, and actually found her candid comments about the whole incident amusing. "The Strokes took 'American Girl' [for 'Last Nite'], there was an interview with them where they really admitted it," Petty told Rolling Stone in 2006. "It made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK , good for you.' This doesn't bother me.

13. Rod Stewart - 'You think I'm hot'

Rod Stewart did not deliberately steal 'You Think I'm Sexy', but he openly admits to "unknowingly" ripping off Brazilian artist Jorge Ben Jor. While in Brazil, Stewart heard Jor's song 'Taj Mahal', which seeped into his brain and formed the basis of 'Do You Think I'm Sexy'. To Stewart's credit, he raised his hands, settled the matter out of court, and all of his proceeds were donated to charity.

On Apple Music's Deep Hidden Meaning radio with Nile Rodgers, Stewart admitted, “Well, I got it from… It wasn't a conscious nickname. I was in Brazil for the festival, I heard this song and just received it. Unconsciously, I went back to the studio and started singing it and writing the lyrics about six months later. But I raised my hand and said, 'Fair Nick, I'm guilty.' And all proceeds went to UNICEF.

12. Billie Eilish – 'Bury a Friend'

It's impossible to escape the nearly identical melody of 'Bury A Friend' to The Doors' 'People Are Strange'. On Spotify, it's the Doors' most popular song, and it would be surprising if Eilish or his collaborator Finneas had never heard the song before, even if they didn't realize it.

In an interview withOK! Magazine, Eilish revealed how her battle with sleep paralysis inspired 'Bury A Friend'. "I have these terrible dreams," she said. “Sleep paralysis, night terrors. It's like the whole night is scary, and then I wake up. I probably wouldn't have made this song the way it is if I didn't have sleep paralysis and nightmares."

When Jim Morrison wrote 'People Are Strange', he too was distraught because he felt isolated due to his depression. In some ways,'Bury A Friend' can be seen as a modern continuation of The Doorsclassic, making it Gen Z compatible. While I don't think Eilish deliberately stole the melody from The Doors, the inspiration either happened unconsciously or is an odd coincidence.

11. Oasis – 'Shaker Maker'

Refreshingly, Noel Gallagher has been open about plagiarism throughout his career. Though his honesty cost him several writing credits, and on one occasion, Gallagher's habit ended up lining the pockets of soft drink giant Coca-Cola.

The similarities between 'Shakermaker' and The New Seekers' 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing', famously featured in a Coca-Cola ad, were hidden in plain sight. Originally, Oasis wanted to open 'Shakermaker' with the lyric "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony", which is a direct reference to The New Seekers' version. However, copyright issues thwarted his plans.

Despite changing the lyrics, Coca-Cola sought compensation from the group, which resulted in Creation Records settling the matter for a six-figure sum. Bonehead later confessed: “We stole it, so they had a right to sue us. Just. People will steal from other bands but will change the lyrics. We just did the same thing but kept some of the same lyrics. We drink Pepsi now."

10. New Order - 'Blue Monday' (1983)

The influence that New Order's 'Blue Monday' has had on music is enormous. From electronic and dance to indie, their influence is everywhere. It became the most purchased 12-inch single of all time since its release in 1983. However, Manchester locals generally could not agree on the song's origin. Peter Hook claimed that "it was stolen from a Donna Summer B-side", but it's clear that it was actually the A-side of 'Our Love' and the similarities are certainly there to be heard.

Bernard Sumner, on the other hand, maintained that parts of the song were taken from Klein + MBO.'talk dirty', Sylvester's classic record 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)'and that the long, iconic intro was a sample of Kraftwerk's Uranium. keyboard playergillian gilbertHe also disagreed: "Peter Hook's bass line was lifted from the soundtrack of an Ennio Morricone movie." Interestingly, all of these widely disparate influences have substance to listen to.

Supposedly, the true starting point of 'Blue Monday' actually lies in the obscure slice of electronic music of the same name by Gerry and the Holograms, released on Absurd Records in 1979. The group consisted of satirist CP Lee and John Scott.

Fittingly, New Order knew Lee and decided the prank was on him. Possibly for this reason they were never prosecuted, since this joke had an unrestricted cultural impact beyond thenumerous parentsthe band members claim that the song does.

9. Guns N' Roses - 'Sweet Child O' Mine' (1987)

The crossover success of this 1987 hit is huge; covered in Slash's legendary guitar licks andThe powerful voice of Axl Rose, the song still receives regular airplay more than thirty years later. However, many doubted the song's originality, with the band members themselves expressing differing sentiments regarding the song's provenance. Threatened with a lawsuit in 2015, the argument came to light.

In Q, Rose stated that the writing of 'Sweet Child O' Mine' happened quickly. Slash was killing time by playing "this stupid little riff". The other members liked it and shaped the rest of the song around it.

Rose has stated that her main influence comes from somewhere close to home: "I'm from Indiana where Lynyrd Skynyrd is considered God to the point where you end up saying, I hate this fucking band!" he says he. "And yet for 'Sweet Child'... I went out and bought some old Skynyrd tapes to make sure we got that heartfelt feeling."

On the other hand, in the Daily Mail, the Australian singer of Crawl, James Reyne, referred to the parallels between the GNR single and his band's song 'Unpublished Critics'. He adding that GNR was excited to hear a lot of Australian bands at the time. However, GNR bassist Duff McKagan swears he's never heard an Australian track quite like it. Ironically, Reyne refused to sue, saying that he was unwilling to "take power from Guns N' Roses' lawyers," a power that was no doubt funded by this song.

8. Los Bee Gees –'How deep Is Your Love? (1977)

The pop ballad reached #1 in the US and #3 in the UK and Australia, and was also featured on the classic Travolta movie soundtrack.Saturday night fever. He also held the record for the longest continuous top-ten run before it was broken by the success of Boys II Men in 1992.'End of the road'.

os bee geesThe relationship to the song was thrown into question in 1983, when Ronald Selle, a part-time musician from Chicago, filed a lawsuit six years after the song reached the top of the charts. Selle told the jury that the Gibb brothers stole the idea for their 1975 demo titled 'Let it End'.'.

Unfortunately, the judge threw out the case because Selle was unable to prove the group's point of contact with music, along with any real similarities in songwriting. Selle attempted to appeal the verdict, but lost again, as his demos were shown to have similarities to other Bee Gees songs prior to his demos.

7. Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams – 'Blurred Lines' (2013)

Admittedly, we labeled this song a mega-hit, since for months it was all over the place, and the video was successful for reasons other than the song. However, the weight of this enormous commercial success was called into question two years after its release, when a Los Angeles court ruled that the song was, in fact, plagiarized from the Marvin Gaye album.'Got to Give it Up', from 1974. This was a landmark case, as no one claimed ownership of a "slotbefore. Not until Gaye's daughter sued.

Nothe new statesman, Rhodri Marsden stated: “The view that plagiarism is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what composition is. Let's be clear: these two songs are fundamentally different. They have different structures, different melodies, different chords. Had it not been for the similarity of the sparse arrangement (an eccentric figure on an electric piano and a rattle jingling at 120 bpm), the court case would never have happened."

Regardless of Marsden's statement, the case was dismissed in 2018. Thicke and Williams were ordered to pay $5 million in damages to the Gaye family.

6. Led Zeppelin – 'Stairway to Heaven' (1971)

The music that is synonymous with Led Zeppelin has also taken them to court on several occasions. It turns out that "the most popular rock song of all time," the one that every budding guitarist tries and fails to learn, might not actually be by Zeppelin. Independently ofincredible musicality, and outlandish claims of "satanic masking", Zeppelin's contemporaries Spirit claim the song is theirs.

Zeppelin was taken to court over similarities between 'Stairway' and Spirit's 1968 instrumental 'Taurus'. Spirit were a band that toured with Zeppelin early in their career.

However, Zeppelin ultimately prevailed in court, with the decision stating that 'Stairway' does not constitute copyright infringement because both songs were recorded before 1978 and were not copyrighted to begin with.

Furthermore, due to the deaths of the Spirit members who brought the case, the author's argument lost its original momentum and fell apart. Pretty inconclusive, huh?

5. George Harrison – 'My Sweet Lord' (1970)

Delaney Bramlett claims that George Harrison was backstage at one of their duet shows, Delaney & Bonnie, in 1969. According to Bramlett, “I took my guitar and started playing the Chiffons tune from 'He's So Fine' and then I sang, 'My sweet lord, oh my lord, oh my lord.

Two years later, he heard'My Sweet Lord' by Harrisonon the radio. Bramlett immediately called Harrison to tell him that he did not intend for him to use his exact tune and complained about not getting any credit: "I never saw any money in it." No George.

In 1971 Bright Tunes Music, the publisher of 'He's So Fine', filed a lawsuit. So the Beatles' manager, Allen Klein, met with their chairman in an attempt to buy out the entire back catalog of the near-bankrupt company; on Harrison's behalf. It was rejected.

Harrison subsequently offered the company $148,000, reportedly representing 40% of the US royalties from 'My Sweet Lord'. Bright Tunes refused, demanding 75% of the worldwide royalties along with the song's copyright waiver.

Harrison, who has since parted ways with Klein, should have smelled a rat. Klein knew the future value of these royalties and secretly bought Bright Tunes Music for himself. This was a clear breach of the financial duty he owed to his former client, and the judge in the case agreed. Instead of the $2 million Klein confidently expected, the judge awarded him $587,000 in damages, repatriating the exact amount he had paid for the company.

John Lennon had little sympathy for his old friend Harrison, commenting: “He got right into it. He knew what he was doing." Yet this tale, with a fog reminiscent of a Raymond Chandler pulp, still leaves us wondering about the origin ofo ex Beatleclassic song

4. Los Beach Boys - 'Surfin' USA' (1963)

No song is more synonymous with the Beach Boys' previous work. Brian Wilson says this very obvious hint from 1958's 'Sweet Little Sixteen' was definitely intended as aTribute to Chuck Berry.

However, that tribute to one of his heroes was not returned, and Berry's legal team saw it differently. What followed became one of the first major plagiarism cases, a milestone in rock history's relationship with copyright and the courts.

The Beach Boys had to relinquish the rights, and Berry's name began appearing on the single a few years later. Wilson commented: “I was dating a girl named Judy Bowles, and her brother Jimmy was a surfer. He knew all the surf spots. I started humming the tune to 'Sweet Little Sixteen' and I was fascinated by the fact that he was doing it and I thought, 'My God! How about trying to put surf lyrics to the tune of 'Sweet Little Sixteen'? The concept was about, 'They're doing this in this city and that in that city.' So I said to Jimmy, 'Hey Jimmy, I want to do a song about all the surf spots. He did so. a list for me

Regardless of Brian Wilson's intentions and subsequent transfer of rights, I think we all know who we are.TRUE associate this hit as.

3. Elvis Presley – 'Hound Dog' (1956)

This song we closely associateelvis presley, and is one of the best-selling singles of all time. That's high praise for a cover of a song that's been covered over 250 times and whose creators barely made a profit.

The song was first written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952. In such a stereotypical history of the music industry, they were subjected to a relentless display of power from the world of music publishing. Almost immediately after writing it, the song was recorded by Don Robey, owner of Peacock Records, and Big Mama Thornton, whose recording initially popularized the song. The miscarriage inflicted on the duo fell to producer Johnny Otis, to whom Leiber and Stoller had signed their songs in hopes of breaking into the industry.

Later, Stoller would say: “The reality of the cold-blooded music business was another. We later learned that Johnny Otis [had] put his name on the song as a songwriter and indicated to Don Robey, the record label owner, that he, Johnny, also had power of attorney to sign for us.”

Until his death in 2012, Otis claimed that he completely rewrote the lyrics, which originally "had lyrics about knives and scars, all negative stereotypes". He even took the duo to court when Elvis released his version, having previously signed a statement relinquishing all claims to the song in exchange for a paltry $750.

His claim was popularly dismissed and was classified as "unreliable" by the federal judge in New York. This story is just another warning not to deal with the Devil, or someone else will take your job and make millions from it.

2. Los Beatles - 'Come Together' (1969)

The magnitude of Chuck Berry's impact on the development of rock music is unparalleled. His music influenced most of the rock 'n' roll stars of the 1960s, who would, in turn, influence the next generation of rock stars, including Kurt Cobain. Considering that Berry was a man and the severity of the way his disciples changed the trajectory of music, he really cements his godfather status in the world of popular music.

Not surprisingly, some of his songs have been appropriated directly by his followers. Once again, Chuck Berry's army of lawyers went into action. This time turning his attention to the Beatles and 'Come Together'. The song opens with the line: "Here comes ol' flattop," a line taken directly from Berry's 1956 hit "You Can't Catch Me."

'Come Together' shot to the top of the charts upon its release, and Berry's influence was clear for all to see.Lennonwas settled, with the stipulation that he recorded other songs owned by Berry's publisher Morris Levy, including 'Ya Ya' and 'You Can't Catch Me'.

It's nice to see this particular story ended amicably for both parties.

1. John Barry - James Bond's theme song (1962)

This is possibly the most iconic movie theme song of all time, accompanying said character.iconic. The theme has appeared in every Bond blockbuster since the first, Dr. No, in 1962. The origins of the James Bond character are well known, stemming from author Ian Fleming's famous exploits as a spy. However, the super stylish theme song isn't all that original.

This came to a head in 2001 when John Barry, the credited writer, was forced to defend a libel suit brought against him by Monty Norman. For years, Norman has suggested that he wrote the theme song and not Barry, as stated in all of the film's credits. In 1998, Barry was asked by The Sunday Times if Norman was, in fact, the real author, and he replied, "Absolutely not."

Unfortunately for Barry, he was forced under oath to explain exactly how he managed to compose a song Norman had written five years earlier under the name 'Bad Sign, Good Sign'. Barry reluctantly admitted that he had actually used the 'Bad Sign, Good Sign' riff.

Regardless, he maintained that the rest of the music was his, until an expert witness explained that almost all of the theme came from Norman's original. Barry claimed ignorance and that he never intended to claim royalties for the song. Moving on, the prosecution quickly produced letters from Barry's lawyers threatening Norman; unless he withdraws the suit against him for defamation.

Barry lost the case, and the Times also faced a substantial cost bill. Fair enough, Norman was awarded £30,000, though the fee seems miniscule compared to the revenue the theme song has racked up over the years.