Indie band The Creaky Boards claim that Coldplay’s Viva La Vida is a rip-off of their song, “The Songs I Didn’t Write.”
The songs sound similar, just like countless other songs sound similar to eachother – but not enough for me to believe this is a direct, intended plagiarism on Coldplay’s part.
And the claim that Chris Martin was in the audience at their CMJ show? I’m guessing a lot of people look like Chris Martin when you perform in front of a new audience.
I’ve actually given this little debate quite a bit of thought and have come to this conclusion.
Both songs follow the same progression at least for their Verses:
IV V I vi
Key-Wise: Creaky Boards song is in A Coldplay’s is in G#
What it really comes down to is the melody: Both songs start on their respective third note of the scale, but that’s about where the similarities stop occurring.
Notes: Creaky Boards – c#c#c#c# b d / bbbb a g# a c# Coldplay – cccc c# a# / a# g# a# a# g# c d# f
Rhythm: I think this is where everybody is getting their tits in a knot. The rhythm of both songs are indeed VERY VERY similar.
Just like the Dan man said, there are a bajillion and a half songs that sound very similar if not exactly the same.
Class dismissed.