2012-05-13: unwanted influences or similarities

[Manhattan Glutton]

Lately, I've noticed that the vocal harmonies I've been writing remind me of Rain Down In Africa. I don't like this song. I've never liked this song. I blame all those commercials selling "hits from the 80s" in my childhood. I can't imagine a more obnoxious song.

Even if nobody notices the similarities, I do. It kills me a little inside, having to think of that song when I'm rocking out to my own song.

QOTD: What unwanted similarity or influence do you notice in your own work that makes you die a little bit inside?

Bonus QOTD: Do you hate Rain Down in Africa as much as I do?

[RangerDenni]

Last round of Nur Ein I was slightly disturbed to find that in trying to avoid the excessive Burtonesque bunny trail I was blindly hopping down in an effort to create mystery and Drama; I had accidentally slotted the entirety of Les Miserables into about 1:30ish of music...

So it varies for me depending on what my brain coughs up, but I think it prolly happens to us all...

[Caravan Ray]

Bonus QOTD: Do you hate Rain Down in Africa as much as I do?

[nyjm]

I think the vocal harmonies for the "Rains Down in Africa" are gorgeous, and if you're going to rip something off, make it something outrageously good.

I'm not musically talented or proficient enough to rip off much of anything, except myself. Oh and Midnight Oil's bass line for my "Where You Can Go."

As for Toto's song... yeah, I hate it too. It's just too gorram catchy and ubiquitous, but only about four bars of it.

[RangerDenni]

I do feel like if I'd ever tried to pull off a lyric like:

"I know that I must do what's right
sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus across the Sarengetti..."

I would get TOTALLY called out and handed a Citation of some sort by the Excessive Lyrics Police.

[Caravan Ray]

I do feel like if I'd ever tried to pull off a lyric like:

"I know that I must do what's right
sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus across the Sarengetti..."

I would get TOTALLY called out and handed a Citation of some sort by the Excessive Lyrics Police.

And probably a warning from the Office of Lyrical Inaccuracies - given that Kilimanjaro is some 2000m higher than Olympus - so seeing it "rise like Olympus" across the Serengeti implies that it must be shrinking.

[RangerDenni]

consistency or logic in lyrics just DOESN'T matter to so many people! I just had a long conversation with my brother. Take REO Speedwagon for example ... He thinks the thing about THEM is that they are relying on fourth hand information and that you need to go straight to the source because if you heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another your chicky's been messing arouuuuunnndddd then that's just really not something you can count on is it now?

So many infractions!!!

[roymond]

Take REO Speedwagon for example ...

'scuse me? Try another...

[RangerDenni]

the MUSIC is great .... it's just the lyrics thing.
but they are real catchy.
I'll pretty much say anything to get out of the trouble I'm in if I insulted a band you liked. sorry. :/
(even if I have to crawl on the floor, or crash through a door, or row a ship to a shore, with only one oar ....


)
(I'm totally being a pain because I'm sitting here waiting for my collab to finish, btw. so I should prolly just quit typing, huh...?)

[roymond]

I'll pretty much say anything to get out of the trouble I'm in if I insulted a band you liked.

Oh, no worries there. I somehow thought you were praising them. But I will agree, it's catchy stuff. The 70s had some tough moments musically, and they weren't the worst offenders.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Bonus QOTD: Do you hate Rain Down in Africa as much as I do?

Ha! Toto. I see what ya did there.

[fluffy]

I no longer perform my song '5/5 time' because every time I do someone thinks it's a weird cover of Take Five, which I had never heard before when I wrote it. The rhythms are kinda similar but that's about it, but still, people hear "oh, it's a 5 beats per measure jazz song so it must be Take Five."

I mean I like that song and everything but I also worked really hard on my own song and I hate that people can't tell the difference.

(Also people take issue with me over the name of it but the name came from the fact that I did it in a music system that wasn't constrained by traditional notation and let me divide up the timeline however I wanted - so I set it up with 1/5, 1/25 and 1/125 notes. Sure, it works out the same as having a very particular swing on a 5/4 rhythm but the math is a lot easier if you just let it be based on powers of 5 instead.)

Also for a while people kept on bringing up a similarity between my stuff and Belle & Sebastian. And oddly enough when someone who isn't familiar with B&S but is familiar with my stuff hears B&S they think it's one of my songs. I really don't hear the similarity.