Honk If You Wrote Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" Too!

I would like to take the opportunity to claim that I wrote Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." In fact, I wrote "Viva La Vida" just about an hour ago after hearing the news that my pal Yusuf -- the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens -- feels that the undeniable Coldplay smash is too close for comfort to one section of his "Foreigner Suite" from his 1973 album "The Foreigner."

So to be honest here, I'm not exactly sure if I actually stole "Viva La Vida" from Coldplay, from Cat Stevens, from Joe Satriani or from some obscure band called the Creaky Boards who actually called their version of our collective hit "The Songs I Didn't Write."

But rather than waste any time haggling and trying to figure out who's actually right here, let me make a very modest proposal to keep get this peace train back on the rails. Why don't we all just split the royalties for "Viva La Vida" equally among the five of us? It's only fair, right?

Heck, because the stock market went up today, I'll sweeten the pot a little and declare right here in the Huffington Post that if Coldplay agrees to my plan by midnight Friday night, I will personally treat the entire extended "Viva La Vida" writing team to dinner at a participating Red Lobster to be mutually agreed upon -- assuming someone can spot me an advance on my royalties.

"Viva La Vida" indeed!

Comments

[aloha43]

Honk, Honk!

I want in on those royalties also! LOL

[NegSpin]

Since there are millions of songs and most of us have heard probably less than 50,000 of them, I wonder how ANYONE can write a song that's not similar to other songs.

[aloha43]

Exactly what I was thinking!

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

See we're having a harmonic convergence right here!

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

Let's just call it a harmonic convergence.

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

Good point. Perhaps Eddie Money will come forward someday to say that he wrote my post first. That would not even be one ticket to paradise.

[RepugsOut08]

Paul McCartney said the melody to "Yesterday" came to him in his sleep. He was so worried that it was someone elses song, he went around playing it to everyone he could think of to make sure it wasn't written by another composer.
Unfortunately, he forgot to check with ME!
I WANT MY MONEY, PAUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

He Never Gives You His Money

[DrMink]

Actually, it is a pretty close rip-off, but not nearly as good as the original.

[aloha43]

I hear NO similarities.

My son, who is a big Coldplay fan noticed some similarities....but nothing to think that they were the same song.

It is a ridiculous claim from Mr Yusaf....the American defector.

[RepugsOut08]

Your "American defector" comment, shows your bias against, and ignorance of Yusuf Islam's life.
First of all, he isn't American, he's British. Secondly, if, by "defector," you're referring to the old Rushdie scandal, that has been debunked many times over the years. Yusuf never advocated or supported the killing of Salman Rushdie.
He is not a terrorist. He's spent the last 30 years working for peace, and advocating for the rights of children in war-torn countries throughout the world.
Oh, and Viva La Vida sounds exactly like the excerpt from "Foreigner Suite."

[rjmiller]

So what?

This isn't the first time that a melody has been borrowed from one song to be used in another. In fact, it's pretty much rote. How many songs follow a 12-bar blues I-IV-V structure? How many people have simply rewritten a Beatles song? The existence of Jet.

In western music, you have 12 notes to work with. Some repetition should be expected.

[icastico]

Actually, I wrote it...I was just too embarrassed to admit it...it is such a lame song. But, I'll take the six way royalty split.

[aloha43]

Nah, it was me that wrote it! How about we split the royalties?

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

You're in aloha43. See you at Red Lobster

[David Wild - Huffpost Blogger]

I'll talk to the guys