Verve songs that sound like other songs

Dance On Your Bones
posted 21 February 2008

In 1973, British singer/songwriter David Essex released "Rock On," a soulful, slow-tempo, and bass-driven tune about the early days of rock 'n' roll. The tune was a major hit in the United Kingdom and even reached No. 5 on the American charts in 1974. The Verve connection came along in June 1995 upon the release of On Your Own (a single) with b-side "Dance On Your Bones." The b-side bears a striking resemblance to the driving melody found in Essex's "Rock On;" however, Verve's version (lyrically) shows a much darker image of the band with specific references to guns, the devil, and drugs.

David Essex - Rock On

The Rolling People

posted 15 February 2008

The similarities here are so close that it is hard to believe that Verve tune "The Rolling People" is in fact an original work. So was "The Rolling People" reproduced? Lyrically, no, but musically, perhaps. We will probably never know for certain, but lets not ruffle too many feathers; we don't need another Verve lawsuit.

Funkadelic - "I Got A Thing" (note the beginning)




Aphrodite's Child - "The Four Horsemen" (note the end)

I received this contribution from a fellow Verve fan (March 6, 2008):

I read your article about the intro to 'The Rolling People' sounding almost identical to that Funkadelic song. I read an earlier guitar magazine article on another site that Mccabe does in fact state he is a big fan of the guitarist of Funkadelic.

Here's a little of what I read:

NM: "When I was 14 or so I listened to a lot of Joy Division, I loved the textures of their records, but now it's more John Martyn, his '70s albums in particular; that's where my textured guitar playing comes from, honestly. I had Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd forced on me when I was younger, and although I tend not to listen to that sort of thing now, I guess it's lodged in my brain. I won't say that bands like the Cocteau Twins were not an influence, but that's not the sort of stuff I really like. I like Vini Reilly (from The Durutti Column) because he could be flashy, but he was really simple about it. I also like Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel who, to me, condensed the best bits of Jimi Hendrix. You can probably hear all my influences in what I play, whether it's recent stuff or old blues."