Sunday, September 1, 2013

Drinkin' Bone - Tracy Byrd

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWYLu3B7e6w&amp]


Byrd has had quite a string of hits that started in 1993 with "Holdin' Heaven".  The song in this post is one of his more playful ones, but it's one of my favorites.  It goes a long way in explaining why you see guys change their ways when they find somebody special.  I must admit, though, that this post was actually driven by another song: Justin Moore's "Point At You"...


[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbG9vspCeFs&amp]


I don't know the specifics on the legalities of how much one song has to sound like another for there to be some valid claim that song two was too much like song one, but I know it's not that uncommon for two songs to sound alike. Some classic examples...

Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghobusters theme song sounding so much like Huey Lewis' "I Want a New Drug" that Lewis filed a plagiarism suit over the similarities. Oddly enough, Lewis had to decline work on the Ghostbusters soundtrack due to work on the soundtrack for Back to the Future. Even more ironic, Parker sued Lewis years later when he commented on the case that was settled out of court, breaking the settlement's confidentiality clause.

Another great example is Vanilla Ice's attempt to hide the similarities between his hit "Ice, Ice Baby" and Queen's "Under Pressure". The clip of his explanation has surely played on the internet enough that most people have seen it. If you haven't seen it, follow the link and watch. Take notes on how not to present an argument.

Back on point, I think the verse of Moore's song sounds an awfully lot like Byrd's "Drinkin' Bone". It took me a few days to finally figure out why Moore's song sounded so familiar. Once I did, it seemed so obvious. I'm not saying any lawsuits should be filed; I just noticed the common sound.

Also, after re-listening to "Drinkin' Bone", I began to think about another new song out that it related to pretty easily.  Byrd's song is almost an answer to the question in a recent song from Dierks Bentley. You can give it a listen below and see if you can make the connection.


[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkzp7Gp2kEU&amp]

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