Thought it might be interesting to compare a few songs that may or may not have been based on either one.

Who knows, we might even get the original songwriters to take legal action!

First two to compare -

You Could Have Been a Lady - Hot Chocolate (1971)

and

Blame It On the Boogie - The Jacksons (1980)

Tunes the same but words differ, just from Civil War

Year of the Jubilo - Sunday Barbecue (Tennessee Ernie Ford)

Bonnie Blue Flag - Bonnie Blue Gal (Mitch Miller)

Bonnie Dundee (Scottish) - Riding a Raid (Confederate)

Not modern enough?

Hey, music is music, and those of us that love it, love it!

I'll throw in another one -

Those of a certain vintage, and Australian, will appreciate this.

Little Queenie - Chuck Berry (1959)

Somewhere down the track, Johnny Young "wrote" a moderate hit for Issi Dy, and hoped that word wouldn't get back to the US -

Teenybopper - Issy Dy (1969)

How about "I've been everywhere"

Original version was Australian (Lucky Starr), followed by American version (Hank Snow - among many), UK version (Rolf Harris) and New Zealand version (John Dore).
I believe other versions also recorded.

Ironically, Hank Snow was Canadian and Rolf Harris is Australian)

Two more -

I'm surprised that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards didn't try to take Elton John to court here. To my ears at least, these two are veeery similar -

Let It Bleed - Rolling Stones (1969)

and

Sad Songs (Say So Much) - Elton John (1984)

Another local product -

The original - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam (1969)

The Soundalike - Falling - Autumn (1971)

This one did actually go to court, and was won by the original songwriters, but it will still be a huge shock to Australians here -

The Australian rewrite - Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? - The Angels (1976)

The original - Lonely Night - Status Quo (1974)

I am a Quo fan, but did not know this song. No wonder The Angels lost- it is a total copy!

I know that Ray Parker Jnr was sued by Huey Lewis because “Ghostbusters” was pretty much a copy of “I Want a New Drug” from 1984 – and it really is.
When I heard “Ghostbusters” I wasn’t aware of Lewis’s work, but I felt that it was awfully like “Pop Musik” by “M” from 1979 – but nowhere near as good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPoiv0sZ4s4

Ok, we all know of possibly the most famous instance -

He's So Fine - The Chiffons (1963)

vs

My Sweet Lord - George Harrison (1970)

The fallout obviously affected George, so much that he wrote one of the cleverest songs of all time in reply -

This Song - George Harrison (1976)

A couple for those with a country bent -

Papa Loved Mama - Garth Brooks (1991)

and

Third Rock From the Sun - Joe Diffie (1994)

A couple that are definitely well known, and were sorted out.

Sweet Little Sixteen - Chuck Berry (1958)

Chuck is still getting paid royalties because of this -

Surfin' USA - The Beach Boys (1963)

And just a little add-on -

Servin' USA - Redgum (1978)

Another two songs for you to consider -

Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me) - Reunion (1974)

I Want You - Savage Garden (1996)

And another couple -

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Bob Dylan (1963)

and

Understand Your Man - Johnny Cash (1964)

Found this one on my iPod yesterday. I really reminded me of a ceertain other song -

Freakout - The Atlantics (1999)

and

Wipeout! - The Surfaris (1963)

Elvis (or more correctly, his songwriters) seemed fond of the classics

Compare "It's Now or Never" with "O Sole Mio" and "Love Me Tender" with "Aura Lee".

It wasn't a secret that It's Now or Never was based on O Sole Mio in some countries it was released as O Sole Mio (It's Now Or Never). The same can be said for Love Me Tender, it was an adaptation of Aura Lee a Civil War tune which was in the public domain.

This pair always makes me smile:

Silly Slang Song by Eric Bogle
which flagrantly robs the melody from
English Country Garden by Jimmy Rodgers

And I love the tribute to the BeeGees as the coda!

hehe I've often got sod all to say, but it sure does take a lotta words to spit it out.