The vibe is only vaguely similar. The real connection doesn’t come until the chorus vocal melody of Barton Hollow.

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA” sounds like Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”
2. Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m gonna leave you” sounds like Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4″
3. Green Day’s “Warning” sounds like The Kinks’s “Picture Book”

Just skip this intro, and play the samples of the songs below for 5 second or so. Okay, did you do that? Can you believe the similarity between the first couple of seconds of each song? Even the drum fill intros match up!

Both are good songs. The chord progression in both songs is common enough. The vocals are completely different. Still, the vibe between the two songs is definitely close enough to mistake one for the other during certain parts.

Have you noticed this before?

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. David Guetta’s “When Love Takes Over” sounds like Coldplay’s “Clocks”
2. “Werewolves of London” sounds like “Sweet Home Alabama”
3. The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA” sounds like Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”

I’ve had my car radio stuck on Cleveland’s oldies station 105.7 for, gosh, more than a decade now. So I’ve heard I Love the Flower Girl – aka The Rain, The Park And Other Things. So when a reader emailed me about this track, I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed it already myself. My first thought upon hearing the intro of I Love the Flower Girl was “They must not play this intro on the radio! I haven’t had a chance to confirm my suspicions, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true.

The Three Dog Night breakout hit One was recorded in 1967, the year that The Cowsill’s (also breakout) hit was released. Although not nearly as world-changing as calculus or evolutionary theory, these two opening riffs were also probably created independently, by two different groups, in a very close window of time.

So here they are – snippets of both songs to satisfy your curiosity.

Bonus points: The Cowsills were a family band, and the inspiration for the TV series The Partridge Family. Thanks, Wikipedia!

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Chemical Brother’s “Let Forever Be” sounds like the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows”
2. David Guetta’s “When Love Takes Over” sounds like Coldplay’s “Clocks”
3. Green Day’s “Warning” sounds like The Kinks’s “Picture Book”

Checked the SoundsJustLike email today and found piles & piles of awesome suggestions from all of you. Thanks! I chased down most of the leads & have a long list of posts to push out.

This sound-a-like comes from Fernando; thanks, man! As soon as I heard these two songs next to each other I was excited to post this. The atmospheric effects, runaway bassline, and loopy drum beat of “Let Forever Be” definitely owes a lot to “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Sometimes my stomach turns over with disgust at these sound a likes, but that’s not the case with these two songs. The Chemical Brothers seem to be paying a beautiful tribute to the quirky Beatles tune, and to my ear, they did a great job.

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. David Guetta’s “When Love Takes Over” sounds like Coldplay’s “Clocks”
2. Three Dog Night’s “One” sounds like The Cowsill’s “I Love The Flower Girl”
3. Taylor Swift’s “Haunted” sounds like Coldplay’s “Scientist”

Checked the SoundsJustLike email today and found piles & piles of awesome suggestions from all of you. Thanks! I chased down most of the leads & have a long list of posts to push out this summer.

Here’s the first one pointed out by a reader: An odd similarity between a French DJ and a British pop singer. I say odd because my gut says that the Coldplay track “Clocks” is the newer of these two songs. My gut is wrong. “When Love Takes Over” was recorded in 2008-2009 in Paris, six years after the Coldplay tune.

The intros are the most obviously similar part of these two songs. Have a listen.

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Chemical Brother’s “Let Forever Be” sounds like the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows”
2. Three Dog Night’s “One” sounds like The Cowsill’s “I Love The Flower Girl”
3. Taylor Swift’s “Haunted” sounds like Coldplay’s “Scientist”

Regardless of the inspiration behind these two tunes, it’s safe to say that if you’re looking for your own chart-topper or an addition to your greatest hits album, maybe you should check out this guitar riff.  Vocally the songs stray, but tuning that out, Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow” is a quicker-paced version of Soundgarden’s “Hands All Over.”  Both songs were some of the bands’ biggest hits and featured on their greatest hits albums.  This is solid ’90s rock, leading me to think Pearl Jam was just jamming out to Soundgarden when they graced us with this song – there’s only a two year difference in release dates.  What do you think?

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Will Smith’s “Switch” sounds like Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’”
2. Got a Sound-Alike?
3. ? And the Mysterian’s “96 Tears” sounds like BS2000′s “It Feels Like”

Here’s a cool sound-a-like sent in by a reader. Honestly, I don’t really listen to Taylor Swift, so I had no instinct about whether “Haunted” sounded like “Scientist”. But in the first couple chord changes of Swift’s song, there was instant recognition. The progression is really similar.

I wouldn’t really label this a rip-off, but the similarities are interesting. Have any of you noticed this while scrubbing your radio dial?

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Chemical Brother’s “Let Forever Be” sounds like the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows”
2. David Guetta’s “When Love Takes Over” sounds like Coldplay’s “Clocks”
3. Green Day’s “Warning” sounds like The Kinks’s “Picture Book”

If we were to fast-forward Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and mix in some pop and cymbal, the closest thing you would get is REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”  I wouldn’t say Dylan was ripped off, but he was clearly an inspiration to the song.  Peter Buck (REM’s guitarist) is rumored to have confirmed this, in a quote saying the song by Dylan was the main inspiration for “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”.  It could just be that REM wasn’t a fan of harmonica breaks so they rewrote the song without them and threw a catchy chorus in instead.  It’s for you to decide.

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Will Smith’s “Switch” sounds like Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’”
2. Got a Sound-Alike?
3. ? And the Mysterian’s “96 Tears” sounds like BS2000′s “It Feels Like”

It was surprising to hear the “Let’s Play” music from Who Wants to be a Millionaire stuck right at the beginning of Esquivel’s “Turkish March”.

Since “Turkish March” itself is an amalgam of well known melodies, I wouldn’t be surprised if the torrent of descending notes that contemporary couch culture recognizes as the “Let’s Play” music from Millionaire is traceable to yet another, older source. Let me know in the comments if you recognize this motif from something other than “Turkish March”.

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Stone Temple Pilot’s “Interstate Love Song” sounds like Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name”
2. The Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA” sounds like Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”
3. The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony sounds like the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time”

As one of the most frequently ousted bands recycling old melodies & riffs, I must say Green Day has good taste; Petula Clark’s “Downtown” has always been a favorite of mine. Green Day has also been found to cop a pleasant ascending guitar riff from the Kinks.

For “Waiting” Green Day used the catchy melody of the Chorus in “Downtown” for the verse. This sound-a-like comes across more as a conscious homage than a ripoff, most clearly when Billie Joe begins the second stanza with “Downtown, lights will be shining…”

Related Sound-A-Likes:

1. Royksopp’s Eple sounds like Bob James’ You’re as Right as Rain
2. Flaming Lip’s “Fight Test” sounds like Cat Steven’s “Father and Son”
3. Led Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m gonna leave you” sounds like Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4″