The Big3 - The Banjo Song (Oh Suzanna!) 1963

[jaakriaj]

Shocking Blue stole it... for sure!

[64roncess]

Nothing new in this world...

[Adunatii]

I like both songs, the Big3's and the Shocking Blue's. The great spirits encounter each other. :)))

[szomlo]

Venus was sltolen.

[drowningininfo]

Is no-one interested in just listening and saying how great this sounds, and I love hearing Cass Elliot even if only in the background.

[walter4092]

i just googled , Tim Rose died in 2002 and never he said that venus was stolen , by the singles recorded by big 3 you don t find the banjo song .There is a reason that Van Leeuwen could get away with it .

[walter4092]

allrright , this is from 63 and venus is recorded in 69 .You must be deaf not to hear that it is the same melody .But when Venus made it to nr 1 begin 1970 in the states , no one complaines , not even mama Cass .George Harrison is convicted of plagarism , they say it was like he is so fine and that was a big mistake in my opinion .

Whatever ....... after 50 year they find out that Venus is stolen ............. very strange

[neilmostert]

Certainly a great ressemblance to Venus from Shocking Blue!

[arashtony]

@neilmostert This came first.

[writewaydesigns]

This is definitely my favorite version of "Oh Susanna!" EVER!!!!! :)

[jsmyers24151]

If you change a song more than 10% you can copyright your part of it. I would have to say that Shocking Blue changed more than 10% of this song. I like the song Venus and I think SB did a great job with it. Love that R'n'R scream in there!

[wellyes]

@jsmyers24151

where on earth did you hear that bullshit? There is no law that states such.

[rasputin63]

My Dutch friend Boes says that Robbie van Leeuwen thought up "Venus" whilst taking a dump one day.

[TutsRevenge]

how in the hell did this song "wake everybody up"

[fishman017]

This kicks some ass.

[Ilovethisworld]

I am really disapointed knowing that "Shocking Blue" did NOT invent the song "Venus"....; they took the melody from The Big 3" ...; What I do not understand..did the world of 70' not see that...? How was it possible The song charted Nr 1 in USA...? And nobody saw the fraud...

[stuwhoknew]

@Ilovethisworld that melody was from countless other folk songs...just the same way the estate of Mark Bolan couldn't sue Oasis for using the same riff as 'Get it On' in 'Cigarettes and Alcohol'...bout a thousand bluesmen in the 40's used that riff

[Diblopops]

Who can write the lyrics of this song?

[Fladavenue]

Shocking Blue had their own melodic expansions. The guitar soloing is priceless.

[bezemkast]

@Fladavenue well, listen to The Ballad of John and Yoko . . . priceless sound . . . isn't it?

[mariskaveresforever]

well, the big 3 borrowed also this tune and lyrics from something else, and that is why they could nu hold it agains robby van leeuwen.

[christopher60s]

@mariskaveresforever Big Three oficially rearranged this song, which is written by Stephen Foster, i believe. So you can't say that Big three borrowed or stolen it. It was classic folk band, they really did a lot of covers, but i see that Venus is absolute insolence stealing. I appreciate Schocking Blue, and i don't blame anybody, but truth is accurate.

[mariskaveresforever]

@christopher60s a few years ago, there was on dutch tv an item about this shocking discovery. everyone wondered why robby was not acused of plagiarisme. the reason they gave, was that the song of the big 3 was also a copy of an old usa song called 'oh suzanna'. robby never shows up on tv, but on the phone he gave a comment like 'all blue's songs from the 60 sound the same.'

[hitmansnightmare]

@mariskaveresforever Which I dare to contest.

First of all, The Banjo Song (Oh Suzanna) was a folk song.

Second, I can easily hear the difference between Muddy Waters and B B King.

A good song nonetheless. I just wish people would be a bit less up tight about music rights.

[ElizaldeEdu]

@mariskaveresforever I thought that Tim Rose the guitarist wrote this song.

[trevorwarddavies]

intro diferent but very close to the tune interesting but has to be more than eight bars between segmants

[psalmer54]

I've known Jim Hendricks for nearly 20 years and consider him a great friend. He lives in Nashville and along with being a very successful songwriter and recording artist he's an exceptional man with an enormously generous heart. He wrote the Johnny Rivers hit, "Summer Rain" and ,after The Big Three, was part of the Mugwumps who without him later became The Mamas and The Papas.

[yutsis]

did anybody notice that Venus has a completely different melody? A lot of things were borrowed (riffs, guitar chords, etc.) except for the melody itself.

[suslodarov]

this version is a terrible waste of a great rock groove, what a good thing Shocking Blue stole this and made into a great number that people still listen to.

[percypage74]

@suslodarov You are a complete and utter moron. Please refrain from speaking on Youtube, lest you infect anyone else with your stupidity. @Vachella This is different is because there is a certain point where there is 'borrowing' for inspiration and outright 'stealing' for a hit. Stephen Foster wrote those lyrics, but had been dead for 100 yrs. The Big 3 arranged completely new music (that can be copyrighted) and Shocking Blue stole them. However, it is way past the statute of limitations

[romanowskistudios]

Thanks much for posting. Yes, I will agree that the sound quality is very good, especially for a recording made back in 1963.

[denissoff116]

Oh my God! The super-hit, the rock song of all ages and nations Venus is very plagiat!

[surfraptor]

Robbie van Leeuwen you sneaky bastard

always was proud that a band from the Hague was #1 in the USA, but ya fukkin stole it. haha

[ROROkokemo]

What's the name of this song?

[gigaset321]

This is the Big Three version of the old Stephen Foster song.

[ogtoigby]

@gigaset321 what song? maybe that's why Big 3 never sued, it wasn't their song to begin with.

hm....

[gigaset321]

great cover version

[captainsoul1953]

i would have put it as a very unusual coincidence...just...untill the Cass harmonies at the end...but both records are great and it didnt change the course of musical history....words by S. Foster ...no copyright probs there

Jim

[taddyd1]

Classic!

[Ronnes58]

Eat your heart out Robbie van Leeuwen!

[TeveelTV]

Mocht the Big 3 SB toendertijd hebben aangeklaagt wegens plagiaat, zouden ze zonder twijfel hebben gewonnen.

Toch de SB 'versie' heeft mijn voorkeur.

[vachalia]

That's what you do. You "borrow" music and take it to another level. Fact is that Venus became a smash hit, not the Banjo Song. "Fixing A Hole" from Sgt. Pepper was borrowed from "God Only Knows" of the Beach Boys. "Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears is nothing but a blend of "Hello Goodbye" and "I'm The Walrus" by the Beatles. Does this make all these songs worse or less entertaining? I guess not. Even Mozart borrowed from other guys.

[superhula]

Borrowing musical ideas happens all the time. So do lawsuits. Venus is more than borrowing. It's outright plagiarism to my ears. They even used the "WOW" part of this song. Puzzling that they had a worldwide hit with Venus and didn't get sued by the Big 3, when around the same time George Harrison lost a lawsuit over My Sweet Lord--a far less obvious case of "borrowing". Anyone can adapt or rearranging a song provided credit is given to the original composer. Did Shocking Blue ever do that?

[cat22ctkings]

Oh, that's where Shocking Blue got it's Venus from....

[christopher60s]

Yup.. That's the truth.. Even Shocking Blue Guitaris, was stucked, when someone asked him about this.

[jak68]

sure sounds a lot like venus.

[marksmail2]

Hi, Christopher!

I enjoyed this song and the pictures of Cass.

Thanks!