Earth Song melody genesis

[Dudex]

Labeled year 1976. It sounds like 80% identical melody to what MJ created 12 years later. After 2mins mark it is noting like Earth Song anymore. Interesting find i guess.

 

[mj_frenzy]

It was not uncommon for Michael Jackson to heavily borrow melodies or even lyrics from works from other artists, without giving proper credits for that in certain cases.

He even took identical lyrics from the 'The Bridge Of Sighs' poem (by English poet Thomas Hood) for his 'Little Susie' song without giving proper credits for that.

 

[flight85]

It says on Wikipedia that he started writing lyrics for the song when he was in Vienna, I assume during the Bad tour? Not sure how accurate that is though. I wonder what inspired him to start writing the lyrics in Vienna? So many questions so few answers.

 

[dethorro]

This is a bit of a stretch. There are some similarities in the piano melody but it’s clearly not something Michael heard and copied. It's more than likely that it is simply a coincidence. There is a finite number of notes and combinations, it’s not shocking to hear similar melodies now and again.

Here is a perfect example: there is a Mozart piece called Misericordias Domini (K.222) which was composed in 1775, when Mozart was 19 years old. If you take a listen (0:56), you will notice that there is a melody which sounds almost identical to the famous “Joy theme” (0:24) from Beethoven’s ninth symphony, which was mainly composed between 1822 and 1824 with some preliminary sketching done between 1812 and 1822.

The assumption would be that Beethoven copied the melody from Mozart, right? Not quite. Mozart's piece was composed for the Salzburg cathedral and was not distributed. It wouldn't have been known to young Beethoven in Bonn and it is very doubtful, albeit not impossible I guess, that he would have listened to it later, in Vienna.

Coincidences such as this one can happen in the musical world. They are part of common musical language.

 

[laconcombremasque]

It says on Wikipedia that he started writing lyrics for the song when he was in Vienna, I assume during the Bad tour? Not sure how accurate that is though.

As the very principle of Wikipedia implies that every fact mentionned must be corroborated by at least one published source, there should be a link to the source – hopefully elaborating a bit –, shouldn’it?

 

[Dudex]

As the very principle of Wikipedia implies that every fact mentionned must be corroborated by at least one published source, there should be a link to the source – hopefully elaborating a bit –, shouldn’it?

That info was shared by Brad on his seminars

 

[Victorious]

I personally, just by listening to it, think he absolutely was inspired by this. Aware or unaware. The same with Heal The World and the soundtrack for Jaws, and Rick James' Forever and a Day and Leave Me Alone e.a. His and Quincy's inspiration also came from very diverse sources, as Behind The Mask proves

 

[filmandmusic]

I Couldn’t care less. It would surprise me that after 3000 years of making music similar progressions or chords or whatever didn’t show up here and there.