CatrianiPlay: The Most Used Melody in Pop Music

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catrianiplay

I now dub this “CatrianiPlay: The Most Used Melody in Pop Music“. Aside from “Pachelbel’s Canon” which is commonly referenced as one of the most re-used progressions in modern music the following songs all resemble a similar melodic structure. They are not necessarily note-for-note duplicates but they sound alike.

In my first post for this soundalike we saw Reuters reporting that Joe Satriani filed a copyright infringement suit against Coldplay claiming that the, “song ‘Viva La Vida’ incorporated ‘substantial original portions’ of his 2004 instrumental ‘If I Could Fly.'” Then just a few months later Cat Stevens publicly stated that “Viva La Vida” has some similarities to his epic 1973 track “Foreigner Suite” stating , ” [Viva La Vida] definitely sounds like it…It has such logical chords and the melody has to be what it is…” In addition Creaky Boards, a local Brooklyn band posted a clip on YouTube of their ironically titled track “The Songs I Didn’t Write” pointing out the similarities of “Viva La Vida” (apparently released long after Creaky Boards had been performing their song live).

Just when I thought I had all of the examples of this melody in modern pop music I was thrown two more by Paradojan followed by one more from Travis (who has recently submitted a whole slew of great songs). We can now add Mireille Mathieu & Patrick Duffy‘s “Together We’re Strong” (1983),  Reamonn‘s “Tonight” (2006) AND Enanitos Verdes – “Frances Limon” (2004) (2002).

And now, in chronological order:








I made a video too:

The Most Used Melody in Pop Music

Corrections in video
“Frances Limon” was released in 2002, not 2004.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amores_lejanos

“Raemonn” is actually spelled “Reamonn

Try a Random Soundalike

133 Replies to “CatrianiPlay: The Most Used Melody in Pop Music”

    1. Mark Adams

      Also New York sounds like The Scientist in the lines “Concrete jungle where dreams are made” and the verse of Demons by Imagine Dragons also sounds like The Scientist. Hey Jacinta by Thirsty Merc (2007) sounds like a different part of The Scientist in the line “Hey Jacinta, don’t you want to spend the ni-i-ight”.

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      1. Mark Adams

        And Brick by Brick by Train (2009). Speaking of Train, I also think You Already Know (2009) sounds like I’m Yours and Hey, Soul Sister (2009) sounds kind of like All Star by Smashmouth, and probably like other songs.

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        1. Mark Adams

          And Denmark’s entry in this year’s Eurovision contest, Cliché Love Song, sounds like the verse of Drops of Jupiter (2001), Drift Away by Dobie Gray (1973) and You to Me Are Everything by Real Thing (1976).

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        2. Mark Adams

          And Save Me, San Francisco (2009) sounds like (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson (1963).

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        3. Mark Adams

          And Tattoo, written by Amanda Ghost, Ian Dench and Norwegian production team Stargate and performed by Jordin Sparks, also sounds like Drops of Jupiter and the rest.

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        6. Mark Adams

          This may be a stretch, but Last of the American Girls by Green Day (2009) sounds kind of like All American Girl by Train (2003). Of course these are both bands based in San Francisco, in fact they are both Alternative bands based in San Fran who released their debut albums in the ’90s (obviously many did, or at least the followers, rather than the leaders, did) and released a classic album in more of a pop direction in 2009 (that is neglecting the fact that Green Day’s Warning and American Idiot were also in more of a pop direction than their early albums).

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        7. Mark Adams

          And the clear influence for This’ll Be My Year (2012) is We Didn’t Start the Fire (1989?).

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        8. Mark Adams

          There is something else Green Day and Train have in common: being based in San Fran seems to give people a similar sense of humour.

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        9. Mark Adams

          F*** You, or Forget You, as the clean version is called, written by Bruno Mars and performed by Cee Lo Green also sounds like (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher. Maybe that’s why the song is perfect for a soul singer like Cee Lo Green.

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        10. Mark Adams

          And a riff from Save Me, San Francisco sounds like that of It Came Out of the Sky by Creedence (1969). Considering what Save Me, San Francisco is about, it makes sense to through in a reference to another San Francisco Bay band, but It Came Out of the Sky wasn’t one of Creedence’s biggest hits and I think Train may have been trying to reference a standard Creedence riff. For example, there is a similar riff in the guitar solo from Proud Mary (1969). There is even a similar riff in the intro to John Fogerty’s rare solo single Coming Down the Road (1973), which has a melody which bridges the gap between Up Around the Bend (1970) and Rockin’ All Over the World (1975), the latter of which, come to think of it, has a similar riff.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zftcZYdOl3Y#t=45s

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      2. Mark Adams

        Part of Who’s That Girl by Guy Sebastian (2010) sounds like Homeward Bound (1966), followed by a part which sounds like The Scientist (2002). And Part of Blow Me (One Last Kiss) by P!nk, off of The Truth About Love in Sep 2012 (but the single pre-empted the album by more than two months) sounds like Mermaid by Train (Apr 2012), but someone stated, I think in a comment for that Buzzfeed article, that it also sounds like Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand (2003). P!nk’s song peaked at #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, #1 on the Adult Top 40, Hot Dance Club Songs and US Mainstream Top 40 and debuted at #1 on the ARIA singles chart. It was also certified double platinum in the US and triple platinum in Australia, according to Wikipedia, but with many references.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jNlIGDRkvQ#t=25s

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=los6obvBbqU

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        1. Mark Adams

          And Battle by Colbie Caillat (2007) also sounds like part of The Scientist, but I realise it also sounds like Bubbly.

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  4. LeoZ

    I came here to see what the song “Razzamataz” by Pulp sounds like. Well, it sounds like this. The song came out in 1993 so that’s another one for the list.

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    2. Mark Adams

      It reminds me of (I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight and Viva La Vida, but it also reminds me of the verse of A-ha’s biggest hit, Take On Me (1985).

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      1. Mark Adams

        The pre-chorus of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, the part that goes Oh-o-o-o call it bad romance, sounds like Hello by Lionel Ritchie (1984) and Take On Me by A-Ha (1985) etc. Maybe you could count Feel this Moment by Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera as well. This isn’t the Catrianiplay melody though, there are just so many songs to bridge the gap that we start thinking of them all as having the same melody. The CatrianiPlay melody is roughly 112334212 22123171 in scale degree numbers, while Hello (1984), Take On Me, etc use 2344432 1233321. Are they still stolen from the previous songs, though, I’m not sure because we’ve found similar songs from all over the world, some from countries where the songwriters may not have heard the earlier songs, but maybe they did.

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