I'm not so sure if the lawsuit was nonsensical, but when one considers that in the video for that song, the flutist is sitting in a tree as he plays the Kookaburra riff it becomes obvious that the riff being identical (albeit being played over a minor chord instead of a major chord) isn't mere coincidence.
@@johncrisman3400 In fairness, "Kookaburra in the old gum tree" is, like, a well-known traditional melody... that just happened to still be in copyright. A bit like if, until recently, you'd included "Happy Birthday" in a song. Like, everyone sings Happy Birthday, it's a well-known traditional melody that you'd be forgiven for not knowing that, until fairly recently, it was actually in copyright. I feel "Kookaburra" is a similar case. It's a modern "traditional song", that folks might not even realise that it is still technically within copyright, particularly with its prevalence. I mean, the law is the law. So there was every right in bringing the lawsuit on a copyrighted track. But, ah, you know, in reality - as with "Happy Birthday", which was sung by everyone everywhere all the time, whilst still in copyright - folks don't realise how new a song actually is and wrongly presume it's centuries old, so well out of copyright by now, surely?
Elvis was famous for interpolation. O Sole Mio became It's Now or Never, Plaisir d'Amour became I Can't Help Falling In Love (WIth You) and Aura Lee became Love Me Tender.
Elvis didn't write his songs, as most pop artists of the time... Instead record companies had teams of song writers like session musicians, so interpolation makes a lot of sense. As does many of the songs Elvis made hits being done by other artists first... if the song fails with them, Elvis will make it a hit... Luckily for Elvis, he was famous for several other things instead. 😆
Those strike me as slightly different, because they come from different traditions. Putting words in your language to a tune from another language is different from recycling a tune that's already sold well in your own tradition. The one strikes me as cosmopolitan, the other as a stale rip-off.
One example has to be "Talk" by Coldplay, interpolated from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love". The iconic keyboard riff is moved to a guitar. Coldplay famously wrote to Kraftwerk to ask permission, and got an envelope back with a piece of paper inside with just the word YES on it. Both are excellent in my view, and I'm not a Coldplay fan at all.
Speaking of Kraftwerk, the keyboard riff from Trans Europe Express was interpolated on Planet Rock (1982) by the Soul Sonic Force, led by Afrika Bambataa, one of the first hip hop records released during the first wave of breakdance mania which would skyrocket to huge amounts of popularity in 1983
My understanding is Dr. Dre is said to have preferred re-recording “samples” for better control over the sound, but methinks other motives were in play.
In fairness, it DOES give you better control of the sound within the recording. Like you can control the mix and EQ on the individual parts that you can't do with a sample (actually, with AI isolating tracks, you probably could do that now, but not traditionally so). BUT, sure, the primary "control" he's probably coveting is financial, then the control of the sound comes a healthy second to that.
What else do you do when your entire producer catalogue is remixing a better musicians work? Funkadelic made NWA. Thank George Clinton and Bootsy for 70% of all music made in rap or pop after 1990
@@klaxoncow " actually, with AI isolating tracks, you probably could do that now, but not traditionally so." So far, I have found the artefacts are kinda... bad. But as a creative methodology it can work i guess. I don't sample, personally. I've certainly recreated samples and parts, but they were percussive.
For anyone interested in musical theatre examples, Michael in the Bathroom from Be More Chill interpolates I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston and I Don’t Need Your Love from Six interpolates Independent Woman by Destiny’s Child
John Lennon actually worked with Bowie on the Album, especially on Fame. Bowie said he used the line as a tribute to Lennon. He also covered Lennon's Across The Universe on the Album with Lennon's help.
Yes, most of the examples used here I would call quotes; an interpolation involves combining one theme with another through counterpoint, or interspersed within another melody, borrowing a bassline but inventing new music upon could also qualify as interpolation.
It's a completely new term from the last few years. As popular music continues to run out of steam, theft is all many of them have left. I've been a professional musician and engineer, and I only heard the term recently.
Musicians have always quoted other songs. Classical composers did it. Jazz musicians do it. I hear rock guitarists do it all the time in solos. Ultimately certain musical phrases become part of our collective consciousness. "My favorite things" is absolutely an example of this phenomenon. So are most of the examples in this video. Ultimately the question is whether the original composer or songwriter should receive a writing credit for the new song.
A great interpolation is Sugarbabes “Freak like me” which repurposed Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric”. I love the original but the slightly faster tempo and more modern synth sounds in Sugarbabes version are great too.
That’s an example of a 'mashup'. It’s like 2 cover versions in 1. The words are a cover of the Adina Howard song and the music is Are Friends Electric. The track started as a mashup using all the original but the producer (Richard X) couldn’t get permission to release it with the sampled vocals, so he got the vocals re-recorded and released it as a Sugababes track.
I actually learned this definition of interpolation from the liner notes of Fall Out Boy’s "Infinity On High" album! They interpolate Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in their song Hum Hallelujah
Can you tackle "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas interpolating/ripping-off "I'm Going to Leave You" by Journey? Journey opened for Kansas in 1975 and played the song as a work in progress. "Look into the Future" came out in January 1976, and "Leftoeverture" came out in October 1976.
On the Dresden Dolls' first album, Amanda Palmer has a couple clever moments of interpolation. The reason I call them "clever" is that they rise organically out of the lyrics. In "Good Day," she sings "I'd like to do more than survive, I'd like to rub it in your face." At the moment she sings this, the music and melody match up with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Similarly, in a later track called "Jeep Song," she is lamenting about frequently seeing cars that remind her of her ex-lover's red Jeep. She sings "I see a red Jeep and I want to paint it black." At that moment, the music matches the verse of "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones. The reason I like these two examples is that neither feels like an arbitrary reference for reference's sake. Both completely fit the story, mood, and harmony of the song. It feels like she was writing lyrics and realized she could incorporate the reference, rather than building her song around the reference the way some of these other examples seem to have originated. It feels closer to the Mariah Carey example than the Train example.
Now, when I try to remember a song and start hearing it in my head, my neural implant recognizes that as an interpolation of a protected song and sends a copyright strike violation report to the holder and also debits my bank account accordingly.
I think it’s a stretch to describe either of these as “interpolation”. The word implies intent - a conscious decision to quote another work within your own. There is a resemblance here for sure. But in the case of “All my Loving”, it’s way too much of a generic melodic movement - just going down the major scale and then up again to resolve on the tonic - to conclude it’s anything more than a coincidence. Why would anybody deliberately “quote” something this non-distinctive and unremarkable? As for “In My Life”, sure the chord sequence is a little reminiscent of Pachebel’s Canon in D, just like a thousand other pop songs are. But it’s not the same. Martin was clearly trying to evoke a generic “baroque” sound in the piano solo, and one of the guys he would be looking to for inspiration would be Pachelbel. But he doesn’t directly quote him, which is what an interpolation is.
I agree with @@fromchomleystreet . But maybe we could say that the Beatles did employ interpolation in eg the use of La Marseillaise at the beginning of All You Need Is Love and the same song's use of "In The Mood"," Greensleeves" and their own "She Loves You" at the end. Also George Harrison's use of "Sorrow" by the Merseys in All Too Much etc. etc. Like most stuff in popular music The Beatles will have done it somewhere (I am only half joking.)
Joni Mitchell's "Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody" interpolates Unchained Melody and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, in the same way as in the Mariah Carey example- "We'd be Playing, 'You give your love so sweetly,' one more time". But the COOL THING IS Joni sang on the original Carole King recording of WYSLMT
Nile Rodgers has said in interview that he was sure Rapper's Delight DID sample the recording of Good Times, in particular compare string motif at 4.19 on Rapper's Delight 12" to 3.47 on Good Times.
I think we could say “whiter shade of pale” by procol harum is a good interpolation of “air” by Bach. There’s an incredible Ava Max/Bon Jovi mashup on RU-vid.
Islands in the Stream was interpolated to Ghetto Superstar. It's the song that taught me about the practice. Also Amish Paradise being a parody of an interpolation is so good. How many layers deep can you go?
I love your videos! I love your explanations of the differences and the similaritys, and almost always there's a new song going into my playlist after watching your videos!
I don't have a math degree but none of these examples match the mathematical ideas of extrapolation nor interpolation. extrapolation is extending something beyond it's range, and interpolation is completing something within it's range when you dont have all of the data. in music terms, extrapolation would be adding to a song a part that should go before the intro or after the outro, and interpolation would be adding something to the middle of a song.
Billy Joel used the melody and harmony from the second movement of Beethoven's Sonata 'Pathétique for the chorus of This Night from An Innocent Man album. Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were successfully (I think) sued by The Rolling Stones for using the words 'Goodbye Ruby Tuesday', not even the melody or the harmony from the song, in their 1991 song 'After the Watershed'. I think the same song also interpolated the bass riff from Satisfaction.
@howtodoitdude1662 The composers David covered in the video here also gave the original songwriters credit. I don't think that's the differentiation for interpolation. [edits: typos]
3:25 the song "Aserejé" by the Spanish female group "Las Ketchup" is about a guy who, at a club/disco, goes to the DJ to request his favorite song. The lyrics he sings are "Y aserejé-ja-dejé. De jebe tu de jebere seibiunouva majavi an de bugui an de güididípi," which is actually an interpretation of the song "Rapper's Delight" in the part that goes, "I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie. To the hip hip hop-a you don't stop the rock It to the bang-bang boogie, say up jump the boogie. To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat". they used this interpolation tecnique
Radiohead 'Creep' and 'The air that I breathe' Comes to mind. It's an interesting one, because they've interpolated from the Hollie's version which isn't the original to begin with; and so ended up settling credits with Albert Hammond for the original, even though they'd ironically probably never even heard that version. Then Lana Del Rey interpolated Creep with 'Get Free' - creating a unique situation of an interpolated song three times removed from the original. Lord knows how they'd decide royalties on that one
@@guascamsb8138 possibly not but Albert Hammond sued Radiohead, and Radiohead sued Lana del Rey - so I don't know of any other examples where both songs have ended up in a lawsuit over credits.
I would call it just "quoting". Interpolating in mathematics is composing a function (basically, a polynomial) based on several values (in several points) of some original function. Solution of similar musical task would be rather interesting.
another example i thought of is the 2017 hit Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man, which interpolated the 1961 hit Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes ^
All By Myself by Eric Carmen also credits Sergei Rachmaninoff and with very good reason. I actually never know that Rachmaninoff was credited but just looked it up.
Interestingly, the strings from the „Dernier Domicile Connu“ film were also sampled by both Missy Eliot on „All ´N My Grill“ and Mix Master Mike on „Surprize Packidge“, both released in 1999. Maybe that‘s where Robbie‘s songwriting team got the idea.
woah! I love Train and specifically love the song "Play that song" The amount of research you put into this is astounding! I've been watching your videos for quite a while now especially the ones where you talk about the Beatles....
Dick Dale's Misirlou is either a heavily adapted version of Egyptian Girl, or a separate song that is heavily inspired by it. From a legal standpoint it's different enough to qualify as its own thing, but since Misirlou literally means "Egyptian Girl" many think of it as the former. The point is moot, though, as it is long since out of copyright (in fact, it was written long before anybody had any notion of copyright).
I don't think it is a coincidence that I hate most of the examples that you use. I respect the practice of sampling, I also respect covering a song (as long as you give it a clear new feel). In most of the examples though, the use of a well known piece of music is not meant as an homage, but feels more like a cheap way to score some recognition.
He explained why it's literally not cheap. They still have to pay for the composition,and they still transform the work. I wish people would stop thinking of music as a competition. Though you're allowed to dislike what you want.
I don’t know if this counts as “interpolation”, but another famous rock track, the Doors “Light my fire”, also based on the chord progression of “My Favorite Things”, mostly inspired by John Coltrane’s instrumental recording.
Fascinating stuff. I grew up listening to music from Papua New Guinea. While none of the stuff I listened to regularly did it, it was quite common for some artists to interpolate melodies from famous Western songs. Examples I remember hearing included “Can’t help falling in love with you” by Elvis, “Heart of Glass” by Blondie, “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, and “Fernando” by ABBA. Needless to say, none of those artists ever got royalties (or even knew the interpolations existed). I’d be curious if this also is common in other third world country music industries.
A really great, and perhaps unusual, example of interpolation is in Queen's quite brilliant song 'It's a Hard Life' - the intro is based on an aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci.
Another simply masterful one is Joni Mitchell's Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody. It has such a good reason too, it's reminiscing about listening to Unchained Melody in a cafe as a young person. Just perfectly done
I always wondered if the opening melody of the Joe Jackson song Breaking Us in Two, where he sings “Don’t you feeling trying something new” interpolates the opening melody of Badfinger’s song Day After Day, where they sing “I remember finding out about you.”
My favourite song that includes two interpolations is Push It by Garbage - Obviously, Push It by Salt n Pepa and Don’t Worry Baby by the Beach Boys. Shirley Manson recorded the Beach Boys line after they were going to use a sample of Brian Wilson. When they have performed it live they often use the sample in the background to accompany Shirley
Joe Jackson's Ever After starts with Love Here To Stay. Breaking Us in Two starts with Day by Day. Is She Really Going Out With Him is from Leader of the Pack. He also does answer songs.
My preference for any form of referencing another work is when it serves a creative artistic purpose, which sampling rarely does. Three examples of this in reference to interpolations are: Metallica "quotes" America from West Side Story in Don't Tread On Me, inviting the listener to think more deeply about the themes of the song. Michael Jackson interpolates and overlays two sounds -- a drum fill and a strings hit -- from Yes's Owner Of A Lonely Heart in his song DS so that when it makes you think of that song title, it leads you to add your own commentary to the personality of the main character of DS. On his new album I/O, Peter Gabriel begins his life-doesn't-last-forever song Playing For Time with Chopin's Funeral March. I like to see artists be clever and trust the intelligence of their listeners when they use these kinds of tools.
Comparing Bad Company’s opening lines that are also repeated throughout the song Bad Company to Joni Mitchell’s opening and repeated lines in her original piano version of Woodstock I have always felt as though they were copied and then repurposed.
Another classic is "Doin' Time" by Sublime (1997) which interpolates George Gershwin's "Summertime" in a really nice way. Then "Doin' Time"' was itself covered by Lana Del Rey, but that's more of a straight cover than an additional interpolation.
One of the first things I thought of for this subject was Pump It Up by Elvis Costello being interpolated by Rogue Traders for the song Voodoo Child, but also years previously by Escape Club for Wild, Wild West. The Rogue Traders one is a lot clearer an example, in my opinion.
Some others that come to mind include Alone Again by Alyssa Reid which interpolates Alone by i-Ten (made famous by Heart) and Some Say by Nea which oddly bases itself on Eiffel 65's Blue.
Also known as the folk process. We are all borrowing, right? Interpolation is what we all do. We hear a thing and reconnect the parts and make something new. Sampling, folk music, rock n roll, hip hop? It’s what we have always done. Take something old and make it new
Are there combinations of notes, note values, and rhythms that have not yet been discovered that can make a melody? What percentage of mathematically possible melodies have already been touched throughout the history of music?
I'm thinking on M2M "Our song" that quote the entire chorus from "Too much heaven" by Bee Gees. It's not sampling because they sing the song and the instrumental are re-recorded, it's much more than a simple interpolation of a couple of bars and certainly it's not a cover version, the develop an entire new song based on that chorus.
Or Kingdom Come’s “Get It On” which ends up being a version of Kashmir that’s perfect for when you’re not completely in the mood to hear the Zep version.
That's a rare case. It was sampled, yes. But the rhythm was shifted slightly to give it a more modern, less 1980s drum machine, 'groove'. I love Are Friends Electric (I'm old enough to remember when it was released) but Freak Like Me is an wonderful 'reimagining', let's say. Numan was given credit, and money, and has stated he prefers Freak Like Me! I wouldn't go that far, but I do love both songs. And I generally hate boy-girl band nonsense from that time, with few exceptions. This song being one.
great research. i think it's important to expose this. i personally feel that when there is copying, interpolating, covering, it should be required to release with song with the original source creators credited in the title.
I don't know the original composers sold the rights . Composer's don't get credit every album of a celebrity....finus (Billie's brother) is the only composer openly flaunted by the singer who says nah it's all his brain .. personally I think composer's overall need more worship...in all circumstances v the performer
@@antomcmanus1775 i agree and would go further with this even. as a person who has written songs and recorded them by myself on occasion and with others on occasion, I recognize the impact someone else's input has. someone else's bass line can make an ok song, great. i could never image taking all the credit and naming a group effort after one person like: taylor swift, harry styles, or even Billie Eilish. At least finneas' contribution is promoted but i still think it should not be under the name billie eilish or any of those "solo" pop stars, unless they are actually doing all of the writing and performing all by themselves. the front person automatically gets too much credit. Even if they are the main songwriter, how good would that melody and lyric be without that amazing drum part, or guitar solo etc.
Interpolation in popular music goes back over 100 years. George Cohan borrowed from "Auld Lang Syne" in his 1906 song "You're a Grand Old Flag," and Irving Berlin's 1911 song "Alexander's Ragtime Band" quotes from the Stephen Foster song "Swanee."
Yeah, funny thing, music was originally intended to be shared and was freely iterated on as it was shared from person to person. It's why there's so many folk tunes and nursery rhymes that sound similar but are slightly different from one another, or have different lyrics.
another song that interpolates a song is Alice Chater's "Hourglass" which has a bass interpolation from a song by The Human League called "Don't You Want Me"
From Riveside first album (Out of myself) The curtain falls. It’s interpolate from the guitarist’s favourite band Pink Floyd. At 3 minute the guitarist start playing the Another brick in the wall part 1’s guitar riff.
When Joni sings "O Canada" in Case of You. The final verse of "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle where it plays Waltzing Matilda, but maybe that's a straight quote. It's not very mixed in. Anyone who hasn't heard the latter should listen to June Tabor's version.
Good man David thank you for this informative piece on interpolation ❤😊 Paint the town red is a interpolation on the the song Walk on by dionne warwick 😊
