songs that sound like other songs

the intros of R.E.M.'s "Find the River" and Nick Drake's "Northern Sky"

i'm sure people have noted the similarities between the dukes of stratosphear's 'vanishing girl' and 'the lion sleeps tonight,' but today i was also struck by the fact that the chorus melody bears striking similarity to 'seeing other people' by belle & sebastian

surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet:

Gene Clark's "Strength of Strings" is very, very similar to Neil Young's "Words"

Billy Ocean - Red Light Spells Danger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW66keO8Iew

Belle and Sebastian - Sleep the Clock Around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mB8V9Lz7u0

Pretenders - I'll Stand By You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAyfcO-X3k

Bonnie Tyler - It's a Heartache

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPOy7TPjfkE

Tom Waits' "Fish & Bird" practically quotes the melody of "Somewhere" from West Side Story (the "There's a place for us" part), which Waits had also recorded earlier.

Randy Rhoads' solo on Quiet Riot's "Slick Black Cadillac" is just the intro to "Love -> Building On Fire"!

Sister riffs: Rolling Stones, "It Must Be Hell" / Michael Jackson, "Black or White"

the theme music for the cartoon series Extreme Dinosaurs sounds like 'All She Wants to Do Is Dance' by extreme classic rock dinosaur Don Henley

Godflesh "Mothra" and Helmet "Rude" are at least similar enough to turn into a medley in my head

Christmas song 'In Dulci Jubilo' (Mike Oldfield's version) sounds like the children's nursery rhyme 'One Finger, One Thumb, Keep Moving'

DARE by the Gorillaz is just Fantasy by Mariah Carey slowed down
the chorus of Stupid horse sounds really similar to the theme tune of What's new, Scooby doo?
i dont remember what made me think this, but i feel like Never had the balls by Rex Orange County and Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush could mix real easy

DARE by the Gorillaz is just Fantasy by Mariah Carey slowed down

Can you spell this out? I'm not getting it

The chorus of CCR's "Wrote a Song for Everyone" closely echoes the chorus of "The Weight" in both melody and lyrical structure. So closely that I thought it must be commonly recognized, but I couldn't find any reference to it.

Wrote a song for everyone,
Wrote a song for truth.
Wrote a song for everyone
And I couldn't even talk to you.

Take a load off, Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off, Fanny
And you put the load right on me

Well spotted. I love "Wrote a Song for Everyone" and hate "The Weight" though.

Tortoise - the Suspension Bridge at Iguazu Falls = Projecto III - Encontro

When "Funny Little Frog" by Belle & Sebastian starts I think it's gonna be a version of "Temptation Eyes" by the Grass Roots (other people hear "Death on Two Legs" by Queen)

^Totally

Brian Eno, "The Big Ship"
John Cale & Brian Eno, "Spinning Away"

wow! that's a good one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gSuNycB1KA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-hQK_RcSjc

any number of awesome slowdive jams, especially on side 2 of pygmalion, are pretty much "the eternal" (joy division)

Songs That Sound The Same video series

Fiery Furnaces - Gale Blow (2003)
Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance (2008)

Update on a case discussed at length above (by me): https://variety.com/2020/music/news/katy-perry-dark-horse-reversal-1203537482/

It must have been commented on before but "Sunday Morning" and "Femme Fatale" are the same song from a chord sequence perspective - yes it's true Lou throws in a couple of major sevenths in the verse of the latter, but if you play in the same key they're otherwise exactly the same.

I think there’s one extra minor chord in Sunday morning, but yes, they’re remarkably similar

They both use a bVII as a dominant prep chord in the chorus. The verses are a little different.

Sunday Morning:
I - IV - I - IV
I - vi - V/V - V

Femme Fatale:
I - IV - I - IV
I - IV - ii - V

Sunday Morning chorus:
I - IV - I - IV
ii - ii - bVII - V

Femme Fatale chorus:
I - IV - I - IV
I - IV - ii - ii - bVII - V

So, yeah, they both use that ii-bVII-V for the last cadence.

Both with two measures on the ii chord.

Yeah, don't really know what any of that means tbh. I was trying to play them on piano today - by memory, in my own hamfisted way. I don't believe there is an extra minor in "Sunday Morning" though. Also, while we're talking Velvets, am I completely insane or does the D minor in the verse of "I'm Set Free" become a D major in the chorus and, if so, why does nobody play it that way?

It would make sense because the verse is wistful and melancholic and the chorus is hopeful and uplifting.

... I mean, the "I'm set free to find a new illusion" bit, in case of confusion.

yeah my bad, there's not an extra minor in the sunday morning verse, but as tim points out, it goes to the vi not the ii

Yes on the D major in the "I'm Set Free" chorus. That's a V/V chord, too (like the chord they go to on "It's nothing at ALL" in the "Sunday Morning" chorus).

böc's 'shooting shark' was a prophet foretelling the birth of pink floyd's 'sorrow'

“This Land Is Your Land” and “You Are My Sunshine.”

“If you leave” and “hungry heart”

lol such a good call. weirdly I like one of those a lot and can’t tolerate the other for more than a minute...

Buck Owens - Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy
John Prine - Jesus the Missing Years

the intros of R.E.M.'s "Find the River" and Nick Drake's "Northern Sky"

I have probably said this itt but I hear Lisa Loeb "Stay" in the intro to "Find the River."

Arpeggiate, STRUMMM; appreciate, STRUMMM

Hey there little speedyhead

You say, I only hear what I want to

Just listened to "Northern Sky" and yeah. All have different second chords though?

Find D A7
Stay D Bm
Sky D Em

“Over the Rainbow” has some similarities with “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka.

I never played the second chord as an A7 on "Find the River." I think it's E-G-D-F#.

You could say that's an Emin9 chord minus the fifth, but I hear it as step-wise alterations of the tonic chord (D up to E, A down to G).

"Step-wise alterations of the tonic chord" - I guess this is my way of talking about things that Peter Buck does a lot.

Listening now, I hear the bass goes up to E, though. No issues with calling it an E minor extended chord.

I haven't played it for years but just tried it and yeah, it sounds like some flavor of Em

Some Funkadelic song - on Cosmic Slop? "March to the Witch's Castle"? sounds like Donald Byrd's version of "Cristo Redentor."

Which is probably the original version, written by Duke Pearson.

It is.