Inspiration or imitation?

I was recently listening to an old-school radio station (no shame!) when I was surprised to hear this song:

I quickly found out it’s name on Shazam, and discovered it is ‘Piano in the Dark’ by Brenda Russell, originally recorded in 1987.

What surprised me most were the chorus lines:

“I know, caught up in the middle
I cry just a little
When I think of letting go
Oh no, gave up on the riddle
I cry just a little…”

I mused at how familiar these lines were, when I realised they have been recently brought back to life in 2011 by Dutch duo Bingo Players in their hit ‘Cry (Just a Little)’, and even more recently the Bingo Players version was remixed by Flo Rida in his even bigger hit ‘I Cry’.

Interestingly, comments in the youtube videos seem to constantly lament the lack of originality in the songs. Comments for the Bingo Players version cry ‘The true original is Brenda Russell’s!’, meanwhile comments on the Flo Rida version wail ‘Everybody knows this is just a rip off of the Bingo Players song!’

This got me thinking, is anything actually original anymore? (Yes, I do realise I sound like an old person). When it comes to music, I always used to wonder whether we would ever run out of songs, because isn't there a finite combination of notes to be strung together to make a tune?

This question was well answered in the Vsauce video here. 

So, as the video above explains, we will probably never run out of songs after all. Yet why is it that so many songs seem to recycle the same sounds? This was clearly and hilariously expressed by Melbourne group ‘The Axis of Awesome’ in their video 4 chords. 

Sometimes, similarity can cause legal feuds over who has the intellectual property rights, as was famously seen in the legal battle of Men at Work over their famous hit ‘Down Under’ due to incorporating the well-loved Australian ballad ‘Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree’.

The same question applies to any other kind of creative work, whether it be music, fashion or books. It seems that there is rarely any originality when it comes to novel and movie plotlines. For example, many commentators have noted that the plotline for Avatar was suspiciously similar to that of Pocahontas.

But the last time I checked, Pocahontas did NOT involve a strange species of weirdly hot blue people that ‘bond’ with the animals that the ride by joining pony-tails. On that note, what was up with that?!

At the end of the day, nothing is created from a vacuum. All artists draw inspiration from their life experiences, including others’ art. I suppose that ultimately, similarity is just a spectrum, and we must use our judgement to decide when something is ‘inspired by’ or simply ‘copying’ another work. After all, in the words of Gandhi, imitation is the sincerest flattery.

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writes borrowed one from another.” –Voltaire

the reckless philosopher