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Top Comments: Same Title Different Song Edition [1]
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Date: 2023-03-27
Counting the days (65!) until my next long weekend with my music Jam family. This time in Toronto!
Has this ever happened to you? You mention a song to someone and what they start humming or pulling up on whatever streaming service they use bears absolutely no resemblance to the song you were thinking of? And that’s how you learn there is a second song with the same title!
The very first thing a musician friend of mine said when I mentioned this was my potential topic for tonight was “Of course, you’re going to include that song titles generally can’t be copyrighted, right?” Ummmmm… of COURSE I was going to! With thanks to google, I learned from this songwriting site that:
Works like songs, books, and movies are creative expressions protected by copyright – but titles and short phrases are treated differently under the law. So, can two different songs have the same name? The answer is yes! U.S. copyright law considers “names, titles, and short phrases” to possess an “insufficient amount of authorship or creativity.” That means song titles aren’t long enough to enjoy the protection of a copyright.
There’s complications to that, but for the purposes of a nice, musically-inclined Top Comments diary on a Monday evening, let’s go with the simple idea that two entirely different songs can share a title. I’ve got a few in mind and then I hope you’ll share any that you know of in the comments!
I Kissed A Girl
I know that today, almost everyone who knows this song title thinks of the 2008 Katy Perry version, And that she liked it! But way back in 1995, long before Katy was considering cherry chapstick, the wonderful Jill Sobule kissed a girl and hid her under the bed when Fabio walked in!
Numb
When I began this diary, I knew of two favorite versions I wanted to mention. From their 1993 album Zooropa comes the U2 version, one of only a few songs with The Edge as vocal lead. The second is the 2003 version by Linkin Park, with the late great Chester Bennington on lead vocal. But as I was looking for a video to link, I came across this one by Marshmello & Khalid. I love when this happens!
Rock Steady
My musician friend with the copyright info suggested this pair. I readily admit that I recognized both versions of this song immediately, but I had NO idea what their titles were. So let me give you the 1972 Aretha Franklin and 1974 Bad Company versions.
Surrender
I only knew of one version of a song with this title, the 1978 Cheap Trick version of my teenaged years. But just five years later, U2 released this version on their album War.
Fire
Mr. Brillig had a bunch of great ideas, and this is the one I’m including tonight. There’s of course the iconic 1967 Jimi Hendrix version, but there’s also the Bruce Springsteen version. Which was a Pointer Sisters hit before Bruce decided to release a version of his own song.
Just one more from me...
Wish You Were Here
When you hear that title, of course the 1975 Pink Floyd song comes to mind. It better! However, there’s the 2001 Incubus version, and a lovely 2011 Avril Lavigne version too.
OK, let’s hear your Same Title, Different Songs in the comments! After you peruse tonight’s Tops, of course!
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