History Main / SuspiciouslySimilarSong

Want to use a popular song for your soundtrack, with or without the original lyrics, but don't have the money to get the rights? You can always get some studio musician to record a suspiciously similar song -- an instrumental version of the tune with a note tweaked here and there, designed to sound as much like the original as possible while being different enough not to violate copyright.

Strangely enough, this sometimes happens with tunes which are clearly in the public domain in at least some countries.

It's totally different."''

->''"See, their song goes 'ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding/ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding', and mine goes 'ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding/'''ding'''-ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding'. It's totally different."''

->''See, their song goes "ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding/ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding",\\
and mine goes "ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding/'''ding'''-ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding".\\
It's totally different.''

[[RenamedTropes/QToZ Formerly known]] as the ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after Wrestling/JimmyHart, who, while in WCW, made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the ProfessionalWrestling articles may still include a mention of the former Trope Namer, this way or the other.

Note that, under United States copyright law at least, it is perfectly legal to use the same exact tune as the original song ''if'' the derivative work is clearly a parody of the original (parodying a work is a protected form of expression; using an original tune to parody something unrelated is fuzzier) -- though this did not become official until it was upheld a 1994 court ruling, and would obviously not apply to instrumental versions or songs that were instrumental to begin with, hence most of the examples on this page.

Contrast with InTheStyleOf where the song is covered, in a style as far from the original as possible. When one song recycles the tune of another it's ToTheTuneOf. In the music industry, this is called "{{sampling}}", and usually requires permission...but it ain't always given. Basically CaptainErsatz or {{expy}} for music pieces. Also contrast MusicalPastiche.

->''See, their song goes [[WithLyrics "ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding/ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding",]]\\

[[PoesLaw It's totally different]].''

Contrast with InTheStyleOf where the song is covered, in a style as far from the original as possible. When one song recycles the tune of another it's ToTheTuneOf. In the music industry, this is called "{{sampling}}", and usually requires permission...but it ain't always given. Basically CaptainErsatz or {{expy}} for music pieces. Also contrast MusicalPastiche

[[RenamedTropes/QToZ Formerly known]] as the ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after Wrestling/JimmyHart, who, while in WCW, made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former Trope Namer, this way or the other.

So as to avoid ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike, note that apparent cases of this are often not intentional plagiarism, but accidental replication of a song the artist didn't consciously remember; or (especially for partial matches of just a few notes) the two artists may have simply had the same idea independently.

[[RenamedTropes/QToZ Formerly known]] as the ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart Jimmy Hart]], who, during his tenure at [[{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]], made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former TropeNamer, this way or the other.

[[RenamedTropes/QToZ Formerly known]] as ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart Jimmy Hart]], who, during his tenure at [[{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]], made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former TropeNamer, this way or the other.

Want to use a popular song for your soundtrack, with or without the original lyrics, but don't have the money to get the rights? You can always get some studio musician to record a Suspiciously Similar Song -- an instrumental version of the tune with a note tweaked here and there, designed to sound as much like the original as possible while being different enough not to violate copyright.

Contrast with InTheStyleOf where the song is covered, in a style as far from the original as possible. When one song recycles the tune of another it's ToTheTuneOf. In the music industry, this is called "{{Sampling}}", and usually requires permission...but it ain't always given. Basically CaptainErsatz or {{Expy}} for music pieces. Also contrast MusicalPastiche

[[RenamedTropes/QToZ Formerly codenamed]] as ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart James Ray Hart]], who, during his tenure at {{WCW}}, made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former TropeNamer, this way or the other.

Note that if you're just [[ThemeTuneCameo reworking your own theme]], that doesn't count since it's ''your own'' copyright you would be violating. And nobody cares about that - let's not go ballistic here.

Contrast with InTheStyleOf where the song is covered, in a style as far from the original as possible. When one song recycles the tune of another it's ToTheTuneOf. In the music industry, this is called "{{Sampling}}", and usually requires permission...but it ain't always given. Basically CaptainErsatz or {{Expy}} for music pieces.

-->--'''Music/VanillaIce''', comparing his "Ice Ice Baby" to Music/{{Queen}}'s "Under Pressure"

[[RenamedTropes/QToZ Formerly codenamed]] as ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart James Ray Hart]], who, during his tenture at {{WCW}}, made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former TropeNamer, this way or the other.

Formerly codenamed as ''Jimmy Hart Version'' after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart James Ray Hart]], who, during his tenture at {{WCW}}, made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former TropeNamer, this way or the other.

Formerly called ''Jimmy Hart Version'' for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart James Ray Hart]], who, during his tenture at {{WCW}}, made a lot of these for the wrestlers' themes. Pay attention to that while the potholes named as such are no more common on this wiki, the [[ProfessionalWrestling professional wrestling]] articles may still include a mention of the former TropeNamer.

->''See, their song goes "ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding/ding-ding-ding da-da ding-ding",\\

Note that, in the United States at least, it is perfectly legal under copyright law to use the same exact tune as the original song without paying royalties if the derivative work is clearly a parody of the original (using an original tune to parody something completely unrelated is fuzzier). However, this did not become official until a 1994 court ruling, and would obviously not apply to instrumental versions or songs that were instrumental to begin with, hence most of the examples on this page.

Note that if you're just [[ThemeTuneCameo reworking your own theme]], that doesn't count. Let's not go ballistic here.

Want to use a popular song for your soundtrack, with or without the original lyrics, but don't have the money to get the rights? You can always get some studio musician to record The Jimmy Hart Version -- an instrumental version of the tune with a note tweaked here and there, designed to sound as much like the original as possible while being different enough not to violate copyright.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong/{{Music}}