My friend and fellow song-writer, Mike Charko, was in a store the other day when a song came over the system. He heard the melody of the hook and thought to himself, “That sounds a lot like one of our songs!” He didn’t hear the name of the band and so after a bit of searching he realized that it was the new single from the band Train: “Angel in Blue Jeans.” The hook of their song matches eight bars/ten notes in the heart of our song: “Home.”
On the one hand, it is kind of flattering that we (Key of Zed) came up with a melody in 2013 that the authors of “Angel in Blue Jeans” came up with in 2014 and now it is playing on the radio. On the other hand, it kind of feels like copyright infringement. I will post links to both songs and let you be the judge. How similar are these two melodies? Do we have a case for conscious or unconscious copyright infringement? Should we contact the band? Should we just have fun knowing that our song is a lot like their big hit?
Home
(Lyrics and Music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields – SOCAN 2013)
Written March 16, 2013
Published on Thirst Website (https://www.keithshields.ca/2013/04/home.html) on April 13, 2013.
Published on ReverbNation, Key of Zed (http://www.reverbnation.com/keyofzed) on April 13, 2013.
Performed at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster on June 3, 2013.
Performed at the Rusty Gull in North Vancouver on June 20, 2013.
Home
Home
Home
Home
Follow this lane to the clothes on the line
The garden, the trees, and the hills that we’d walk
The buzzing of summer, the ponds, and the hay
Blossom of thistle, and sweet evening stalks
Home
Home
Home
Home
This lonely shore she is calling me
Home
Home
Home
Home
Turn up this way ’til I see your sweet face
Gardening gloves and your hair out of place
A smile, a kiss, I’m lost in your arms
Right here with you I have built this space.
Home
Home
Home
Home
(Click on thumbnail image for a larger picture.)
