An online friend, Larry Pareigis of Nine North Records in Nashville likes to post interesting questions about the music industry to encourage in depth discussion of some of the things that drive it and help educate the indie musicians he’s connected to. I often find myself joining in and truly enjoying those posts.

For some reason, a simple question he posted in relation to the Vulture article comparing Taylor Swift’s song “Wildest Dreams” caught my eye and before I could stop, I had written a reply that was bound to receive a TLDR from even Larry, much less his followers so I decided to reply here, if for no other reason than to keep from bringing his entire thread to a complete state of abandonment.

Vulture and Larry asked “Did Taylor Swift rip off Lorde and Lana Del Ray?”

First I have to ask who really wrote the songs?

With so many hits being churned out “factory style” with the same group of `12 people behind them, it is no wonder they all sound alike and have the same basic wording. It’s all about the business with these “big name cats.”

In my opinion, everyone of these silly arguments, accusation, and even lawsuits is just … silly.

If real writers had to justify every line, word and thought in their lyrics, every song would have as many writers as words. Every writer uses bits of lines heard in other songs. When we can actually recognize that bit, we believe we pay homage to a writer who has influenced us. Often that is done by choice or even intent.

The lines and words in question often are cliche and should not – on their own – be held as creditable to any particular writer. Other phrases simply fit together naturally.

A personal case in point would be the line in one of my songs written for my wife “you like ketchup on your scrambled eggs,” as compared to “She likes ketchup on her scrambled eggs,” in John Prine’s tune. Can you find another way to sing about ketchup on scrambled eggs in 4 beats? Good luck. Oh, and yes, I knew as soon as the words rolled out exactly where they had come from, appreciated the humor of it, and got a chuckle out of the loving wife I sang it for.

Let’s examine the song in question in the case made by Vulture regarding “Wildest Dreams”

First off, if anyone is going to be accused of ripping off another artist, it is not only Taylor Swift who should stand accountable, but the two other writers credited, *Max Martin and Karl Schuster.* On a side note, I would say it’s a safe wager that Swift is only credited due to a contractual obligation and had nothing to do with the writing.

Here are the lyrics to “Wildest Dreams” read through them and see how many you can say you have heard almost word-for-word in some other song. Then think about close derivatives of those lines and try to figure out how many have been used in multiple songs.

The “Vulture” author also referenced Lorde, but mostly in comparing the “sound” of the record. Unlike Swift and Del Ray, Lorde writes most of her tunes herself and has for a long time. Forbes wrote a very interesting piece on her publisher and process.

notes:

• http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/did-taylor-swift-rip-off-lorde-and-lana-del-rey.html
  http://hamadamania.com/2014/08/19/taylor-swift-confirms-details-for-new-album-1989/
  http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/wildestdreams.html
  http://www.allmusic.com/album/ultraviolence-mw0002677059
  http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/01/29/the-songs-behind-lordes-songs/

And, just because I like it and we’ve all heard that other stuff way too much already, here is John Prine’s “In Spite of Ourselves” (the song that inspired mine).