Did George Benson Rip Off This Song? It's Very Close.....

Simply_Black

International
International Member
This song was release in 1979 a year before George Benson's "Give Me the Night" which was released in 1980.

Two different writers and production team yet Eddie Horan never got credit for his version... George Benson's song seems too close to be ignored.


 

jack walsh13

Jack Walsh 13
BGOL Investor
Sometimes it truly is a coincidence. I remember this cat claiming "Beat It" was his. However, he was never able to prove paths had crossed.

I'm old school but never heard of this dude. Did he ever sue?
I agree. It's close but it could be a coincidence. Benson's song is better anyways.

GoS7x6.jpg
 

godofwine

Supreme Porn Poster - Ret
BGOL Investor
It's basically the same song. Like dude said above, the writer and producer for George have some explaining to do.
If Ray Parker jr. Had to pay Huey Lewis and the News for Ghostbusters Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton (RIP) need to pay for this

It's the same damned song

George Benson song is better, but it's an obvious ripoff. An Improvement , but still at rip off
 

geechiedan

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Copyright infringement is what's called a "strict liability tort," which means the defendant doesn't have to have intended to infringe to be found guilty. To prove guilt, the plaintiff must only demonstrate that the defendant had access to the allegedly infringed song, and that the two songs in question have substantial similarity.

Access is a question of whether the defendant ever actually heard, or could reasonably be presumed to have heard, the plaintiff's song at some point before creating the allegedly infringing song. Though not always easy to prove, courts often consider whether a relationship existed between the two parties and how well known the plaintiff's song is generally.

In the famous 1976 case Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music, the late Beatles member George Harrison was found to have infringed on The Chiffon's hit "He's So Fine" with his own solo song "My Sweet Lord" in part because The Chiffons song was so popular that there was little doubt whether Harrison had been exposed to it. The judge concluded that even though there was no evidence that "He's So Fine" had been on Harrison's radar, he had likely heard the song and internalized it "subconsciously."

In the case of Robin Thicke and "Blurred Lines," by contrast, there was never any question of access, since Thicke admitted on his own that his song was inspired by Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up."

Substantial similarity is a question of whether or not the average listener can tell that one song has been copied from the other. This is the "ordinary observer test," what Fakler calls "the hallmark of copyright infringement." The more elements two works have in common, the more likely they are to be ruled substantially similar. Proving substantial similarity in music cases is complicated by the fact that all songs carry two kinds of copyright, for composition and sound recording, that have to be evaluated independently.

"When people usually encounter a song they encounter it as a sound recording, and there are a lot of creative decisions the performer made in that recording that have added to what was on the page," Fakler said. "So a juror might hear similarities between two songs that are actually just similarities in the performances, not in the songs as written by the songwriter."

To avoid this problem, the judge on the "Blurred Lines" case ordered that only stripped-down tracks, restricted to disputed elements of the original compositions, could be played in court.

Though barred from playing "Blurred Lines," Thicke took to the witness stand with a keyboard and played other compositions, while dancing in his seat, to demonstrate how many songs, including Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" and The Beatles' "Let It Be," share certain elements in common. The tactic echoed a similar move by John Fogerty in the famous case of Fogerty v. Fantasy, in which the Credence Clearwater Revival singer-songwriter was accused of plagiarizing himself. (A song that Fogerty wrote as a solo artist, "The Old Man Down the Road," was alleged by his old record label to infringe on a song he had written as a member of CCR, "Run Through the Jungle.")


Fogerty won over the jury by bringing his guitar to the witness stand and personally demonstrating why the two songs were different.

"I'm always kind of amused that judges let that sort of thing happen in court, because you can really manipulate the song when you're a performer," said Fakler. "To a certain degree, it's like O.J. Simpson with the glove."
 

tallblacknyc

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Shit I’m still stuck on 4 dimensional showing how cacs stole this track


From a black group
 

PussyMan

Rising Star
OG Investor
Songwriter delivers a song, Producer enhances it and makes it a hit.

Why are people mentioning the producer as the one responsible for the direct copy ?

Rod Temperton delivered Give me the night to Quincy and GB was called to the studio in the night to record it.
 

mangobob79

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Close? More like a direct rip off lol, bridge and everything....can't believe I never heard this mentioned before. Hilarious
this is exactly what im hearing too, listen to the bridge , the prehook , they cant be that "coincidental" , shit ! the horn melody lines that follows after the first lines of the hook ..yep its a straight rip off fam
 

yureeka9

Rising Star
Platinum Member
Is it just me or is anyone else hearing a little Sister Sledges "He's The Greatest Dancer" in that song as well?

 

TEN

Tensei - Admin
Staff member
by the way Luther Vandross said George's Give me the Night inspired him to make Never too Much,
right down to the guitar lick, as Luther was trying to imitate GB's 'pop-pop' guitar lick.
and you all know never too much was Luther's breakout track.

 

woodchuck

A crowd pleasing man.
OG Investor
by the way Luther Vandross said George's Give me the Night inspired him to make Never too Much,
right down to the guitar lick, as Luther was trying to imitate GB's 'pop-pop' guitar lick.
and you all know never too much was Luther's breakout track.


Funny thing is, hardcore GB fans consider this his sellout song. Kinda like REM fans think "Losing My Religion" is their sellout song.
 

lazarus

waking people up
BGOL Investor
It's basically the same song. Like dude said above, the writer and producer for George have some explaining to do.
why? its before sampling and they changed the chords. oh well. you should have put a sample clearance after 89 for royalties.
 

TEN

Tensei - Admin
Staff member
Funny thing is, hardcore GB fans consider this his sellout song. Kinda like REM fans think "Losing My Religion" is their sellout song.
yep, most jazz musicians who had "hits" suffered that critique. They hated on Miles for Bitches Brew {he was originally calling it Witches brew, but
his wife betty said nah fuck that, bitches brew!]

Gunit said it best : fuck it, they hated on jesus :

 
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