Lady Antebellum is one of the biggest groups on the planet right now. They are a country trio that crossed over to pop and had a smash hit with the song Need You Now.
But if the song sounded eerily familiar to some of us, others knew right away that it was very similar to Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project. There are only so many melodies out there to be created. Some songs are bound to be slight repeats of earlier hits. But it can be costly. George Harrison lost big money over his song, My Sweet Lord, when a court decided it was too similar to He’s So Fine by the Chiffons. The guys in Men At Work are having to pay millions in back royalties over Down Under after it was decided the flute portion of the 1982 hit was a rip-off of the old Aussie folk tune, Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. Even more worrisome for music-makers is that this suit came more than 20 years after the fact and the song’s writer died in 1988, presumably never having claimed copyright infringement.
But I digress. Judge for yourself. Here’s a beautifully edited comparison of Lady Antebellum and Alan Parsons. I think there’s something to the claim.
I was skeptical until I heard the first 3 seconds of “their” song. Definitely a rip-off.
Ahhh, The Alan Parsons Project….it’s amazing I can remember it at all!!