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From: FlamingLipsMusic
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  • esta canción es hermosa y triste...

  • listening to fight test, and father and son back to back, I have to say that they are somewhat different, however, you cannot deny that this song musically, and the intonation of the vocals are very similar to father and son. So much so that when I first heard it I thought it was a cover, then I heard that the lyrics were different.

    If anything though, I believe it is more of a credit of a performance to Cat Stevens than a direct attempt to plagiarize his works.

  • this is more of a nod to Cat, not a rip off...

    it's not like they pulled a puff daddy, they actually created something new

  • Cat Stevens is a money grubbing whore

  • Is this a Boy Zone cover song?

  • Fuck Cat Stevens

  • They took an idea and made it their own, they even asked the label Cat Stevens is on if they though it was ok.

  • Such a rip off :/

  • <3 Yes. Please <3

  • haha i'm hearing this song because I heard about the cat stevens thing... yeah both songs are really similar, both are great

  • Cat Stevens can go fuck himself.

  • do they have video

  • I should have fought him, but instead I let him......I let him take you. Man that line hits home.

  • this sounds familiar.... lol

  • what album us this from?

  • @IRatatatI Yoshimi battles the pink robots.

  • My personal theme song.

  • Cat Stevens' song is much better.

  • this song cut out after a few seconds into this song one time when I was playing for one of my "friends" who had never heard it and he said that when it stopped that's my favorite part of that song.  and I just stared at him...

  • it's all a mystery.....

  • Apparently, some Cat Stevens fans don't know that it's nearly impossible to create a chord sequence that sounds nothing anything that has ever been played before in the history of music.

  • @GoreyOr I agree, but it's a bit too much of a coincidence. The content of it is too similar to me.

  • The people insulting Cat Stevens on here are fucking pathetic. He's done way more than Flaming Lips will ever do...jesus christ people have respect.

  • @BarstoolBlues33 have respect for both, and go see the lips because their live shows blow nearly anything outta thte water

  • And I don't know how a man decides what's right for his own life...

  • yusuf islam ripoff

  • WHO ELSE IS SEEING THEM TONIGHT IN CHARLESTON??? HUZZAH!

  • Wob Wob Wob Wob...

    Sorry wrong song guy.... :)

  • I'd been listening to Cat Stevens more lately, but I knew this song first. And then I was like, wait, this sounds like.... and then I read comments on here and saw the side bar... So I found out everyone knows what I was gonna say. Oh.

  • I just exploded in my pants!

  • Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!Cat Stevens!

  • Flaming lips miss the mark a lot if you ask me but this tune is epic

  • I saw the Flaming Lips at Artpark in Buffalo N.Y. a while back. They played their asses off until way late! The people were very psyched and totally cool while a fantastic, space bubble time was had by all!

  • I love how despite all this argument, Youtube puts Cat Stevens - Father and Son at the top of the sidebar XD

  • Yeah, it pisses me off that Cat Stevens would bother going so far as too actually take money from these guys. However, the similarities are undeniable.

  • @wuzcloopin Are you a writer, performer, what is your life? Consider this: how would you like someone to take one of your greatest accomplishments, something that was precious to you & came from a very deep place in your soul, & have someone change it up just a bit & claim it theirs, without giving even credit? Besides, the deal was worked out between the major players, EMI & Sony. It pisses ME off when people steal, & it's about more than $. They knew, went ahead anyway,& got caught.

  • @mythtree You're right, they should be killed like Rushdie for what they did.

  • @wuzcloopin What a hateful thought, such animosity to even utter such a thing. I beg you to consider at least your vehement refusal to put yourself in another's place, let alone see all the players. Cast dispersions all you want, in choosing to close your mind your ignorance will not be bliss. Your careless, acerbic invocation is inappropriate and disrespectful.

  • @mythtree Thank you Reverend.

  • @wuzcloopin especially considering Cat Stevens has been all "it's not about the money".

  • Cat Stevens can suck it...that guy is just splitting hairs. Sounds like some 70's has-been is broke...

  • @liamsnorthstar IF you made something precious, say, your life's work, & you had someone steal it, say it was theirs, & not even give you a nod, how would you feel? Yeah, back in the day people were more concerned about giving credit due. & not stealing. Actually led to a lot of shared creativity, not negativity.there's a reason for intellectual property law, which obviously held merit here. Besides, the deal was cut between EMI & Sony.

  • @mythtree Have you listened to those songs? They have vague similarities at best...VERY VAGUE. According to the lawsuit, he gets his share of the money for a song that sounds nothing like his. So, once again, Cat (or whatever in the hell he chooses to call himself) can suck it...

  • @liamsnorthstar If you really think this song only has a vague resemblance to Father and Son, you are musically illiterate, which I would have gathered by you saying that Cat Stevens can suck it. That said, this is a good song, and Wayne even admitted that it is more than coincidentally similar to Father and Son.

  • @JustADude171 Sorry god's gift to music that I offended you and your hero Cat Steven's. Seriously, it is extremely vague the resemblance, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Lips record company told them to go along with it and we'll pay him just to appease him. Cat Steven's had like 3 songs that were pseudo hits in a time long forgotten...seriously, (AND IN MY OPINION, WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY NOT SCIENTIFIC FACT) he sucks as done his whiny attempt to be a musical "legend". Lame...

  • @JustADude171

    I love this song, can't wait to see the Flaming Lips.. they're coming to my hometown soon. That said, you'd have to be tone deaf to not hear the resemblance between this and Father and Son.

  • @truthintuning That's how I feel. They're both great songs by great artists, but seriously. Kind of the same.

  • 16 people fought Cat Stevens and lost.

  • same chords, better song... love it!

  • any way if it takes a little it adds to more than it takes from.

  • The best way to write a new song is to see similarities in songs that you enjoy in your own work. life copies art and not the other way around..

  • Nothing is original, especially not the chord progression for Father and Son. Both of these songs/artists are great, but I felt it was a douche move on Cat Stevens part.

  • @theskycavedin I think it was a douche move to knowingly take credit for something that you know someone else deserves credit for. They KNEW & they went ahead & they got caught. Besides it was EMI/Sony cut the deal. & it's a lot more than chords, it's melody, the theme, even nuances incorporated (progressive back ups) so yeah, all that together was original, & the writer deserved credit. That is why there are laws, because apparently some people don't know respect. They knew = disrespect!

  • @surfingcinv Thumbs up if you agree

  • Just cause it has a similar progression means nothing, one verse of this song is better than everything Douche Stevens has ever done.

  • @surfingcinv

    Well, that is just silly and not true.

  • @surfingcinv you are wrong. the chords, the melody, the theme, the structure even nuances. It is sad when people cannot credit such accomplishments that have influenced them. & really, which verse? I'd really like to know what you know, ya know? It's pretty obvious you are not afmiliar with everything Cat

    Stevens has ever done, but I'd really like to know this verse you reference, as being so much better. Which one is it?

  • "GOOD ARTISTS COPY. GREAT ARTISTS STEAL."

    FUCK THA HATERZ

  • this album 1 to end..

  • Best chord progression ever.

  • ˙·٠•●♥ღ.*♫•* ♫♪

    ((-:

    ˙·٠•●♥ღ.*♫•* ♫♪

  • I love this song. I love the lyrics.

    And, yeah, it's different from Cat Stevens' song. But....it's not different enough.

    That's why they lost in court.

  • this song is so fuckin beautifulllll

  • Fuck all of you. Can't you just enjoy the goddamned song?

  • uncanny resemblance with cat stevens father and son.

  • Haha, I was just watching a British comedy called Not Going Out that featured Cat Steven's "Father and Son" and I totally thought it was an acoustic cover of this! They really do sound similar, I'm glad other people think the same (they're both excellent songs too!).

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  • @amberlover678 you would not know good music if it kicked you in face. Do not disrespect a legend like Cat Stevens.

  • @bigtuck18 legend? Cat Stevens? Really? I mean he's a rock/pop star, but I don't know about legend....John Lennon is a legend....Jimi Hendrix is a legend....Jerry Garcia is a legend....Cat Stevens? Not quite....more like the Paul Simon/Jackson Browne/John Fogherty class...

    great artist, but that sure is a loose definition of "legend"

  • Thumbs up if you think this is better than that god awful BoyZone cover of Father and Son.

  • Who gives a damn if it's similar to Cat Steven's "father and son." I still find it extremely petty for Stevens to take 75% of the royalties this song makes. The band has said on many occasions that they're sorry about it and besides it's not like they took the song and ruined it, in my opinion they actually improved it! But what ever, it is what it is I guess...

    Well that's my rant for the day

  • @amberlover678

    He takes that 75% of royalties and funds all sorts of islamic crap and has funded Hamas, although of course he denies "knowingly" funding Hamas.....just like the baseball players who deny "knowingly" pumping themselves full of steroids. Just one more person, who WAS a great artist, ruined by credulous religious "faith"....

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  • you got the world in your hands

  • if people were to sue someone for using a choprd combo and tempo that they used the pop industry would be taking up a ton of court time.

  • Regresa Radioactivo 98.5,

  • Wow this does sound almost exactly like "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens

  • @milllionaiire ya know...there's 'borrowed from", and influenced by...but there's more musical plagiarism goin on here than He's So Fine, sounding like 'My Sweet Lord' and Harrison lost that case.

  • funny, i discovered this song at the dave ramsey show lol.

  • Father and son immediately sprang to mind.

  • It is close and it's not like father and son is some obscure song they may have never heard of. They're both good so enjoy one or the other or both or none. Who gives a shit

  • @Ledhead2112 i dig both

  • this actually very close to father and son

  • I thought there was a

    Virtue in always being cool

    Reminds me of who Tarantino has made me as a person today. It's wonderful when unrelated interests do that. Great song.

  • there are only so meany chords in the world and progressions, hell i hear bands in my local area that are indy that do the same progressions, thats kinda what makes the sound they have...they sound like cat Stevens lol but i just found this all out myself and just heard the cat stevens song....to be honest same kinda progression but its common honestly.

  • Honestly, If ppl didn't make a big deal out of this song being a rip off I would never have seen a relation. I had to listen to both back to back to catch it. not a bit deal. Both are good songs, gtfover it

  • Cat Stevens>Flaming Lips

    but this song is more jumpin, would be perfect at a festival

  • I just listened to Father and Son again. This song REALLY ripped it off, but I honestly much prefer it to the original

  • I was listening to this today and I was thinking it sounds like Cat Stevens, too!

  • this song is nothing like "Father and Son" from Cat Stevens

  • @DROCKS357live Even the Flaming Lips admit this song is very much like "Father and Son".

  • the best advice i can give in life is to see the flaming lips live.

    the best advice i can give in life is to see the flaming lips live.

    the best advice i can give in life is to see the flaming lips live.

    the best advice i can give in life is to see the flaming lips live.

  • @formusicplaylist1 hope ur right, will see sat, at the hangout music festival in gulf shores, AL

  • I love the flaming lips - but hey, this is quite obviously cat stevens`"father and son": the lips`test obviously was: "can you spot the similarities?"

    fact is, you win if you did! ;-)

  • wtf i honestly cant believe that he would even dare sue over this song -_________- you cant prove that they had the intention to rip off cat stevens ! this is a completely different song as far as sound, meaning, and everything about it,.

  • Fuck the dislikes, we're all here because we lost the fight. And that's just being real

  • People don't sample at free will: the Under Pressure case was the precedent to the original artist being paid royalties

  • I never understood how some musicians can get so pissed off because another band used the same chords. They like to infer that they, themselves, have came up with that chord progression. Last I checked, Cat Stevens didn't invent these chords. And, I know about 100 songs that use the same chord progression. (Not this one, I mean.)

    This is an amazing song, and I'm so glad I found out about this band.

  • @TheSenileFeline Great Point Made In Your Statement! Music has always been and always will be something that is unto it's self! No one person can own a chord or any combination of chords. They just borrow them for a while!

  • @TheSenileFeline

    Name them.

    Name 50.

  • @TheSenileFeline chords, MELODY, theme... even nuances suchas the quiet backdrop escalating... there is a word for this subconsciously occurring. When Sir Paul wrote Yesterday he spent months just going around to be sure he'd not done that, it was so good. But in THIS case, the band KNEW, & they went ahead anyway. Enter EMI vs. Sony who worked something out out of court, which the original writer would obviously have won. Then Wayne Coyne's comments = heartfelt apology NOT!

  • @TheSenileFeline To be fair it's not just chord progression, it's tone, theme and lyrical content. The reason why you think this is an amazing song is because they copied an masterpiece. Also, if Warner Bros came out with "Spider-Ability-Man" guaranteed Marvel would sue. You're making the law suit sound spurious when it absolutely has 100% merit.

  • @ExtremeAnalDischarge Well, in my view, this song - while still pretty great - is actually one of the weaker songs on this album. The Lips' 'originals' are for the most part, better. So there! lol. My point is though that I sort of like the fact the Lips would do this and not give credit, it just seems a cool careless attitude to have. Forget this law suit rubbish.

  • @blaksu Yeah, it seems cool but it isn't. Like stepping in dog shit seems cool... Making a dumbed down version that spells out the theme to the listener and clumsily tries to avoid sounding like the original seems cool but...

  • @TheSenileFeline 100% agreed. Its just po music, there is really limited amount of chords and chord progression!!!Anyway...have a look on classical music, You will see how often they "borrow" from each other:)

  • @TheSenileFeline "pop music" I meant:)

  • @TheSenileFeline There's a difference between using a standard chord progression and ripping the entire melody and lyrical theme from a song.

  • @FuriousTealeaf Now if only you'd realize that this is a common chord progression.

  • @TheSenileFeline Give me another song with chord progression and I'll shut up, also the lyrics are about the same subject. Obviously the law thought that the smiliarities were enough to give Cat Stevens 75% of the royalties from this song.

  • @FuriousTealeaf Have you even read the lyrics to both of these songs? Fight Test isn't about growing up and growing old. It's about regret for not acting on a chance that would have altered your future.

  • 15 people think its better not to fight.

  • Not going to lie, my friend linked me this song and said what did it remind you of? And I said father and son... So ya know.

  • mark and lard, record of the week, 2003. when radio 1 was good.

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  • ily

  • The song is one thing, the jury's still out on that. What is BEYOND DISPUTE, however, is that Wayne Coyne totally stole Cat Stevens' beard.

  • i totally agree that this is just cat stevens song, but I believe in creative advancement and progress, which involves recycling, and further developing past works. I don't do it though, cause the vultures would be at my throat. still, i respect the flaming lips, and this song is a pretty good case for why the world benefits from people taking influence

  • It's great, I love it, but it totally sounds like Cat Steven's song, everyone can recognize it on first listen. I thought Cat would be totally cool with it though since he went all spiritual. Guess not.

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  • Discovered this song through the amazing book Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac :)

  • 3 South introduced me to this wonderful song. God, I miss that show.

  • epic album

  • Man, PHUCK Yusuf

  • NOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOW­

  • It's funny how father and son by cat stephens is listed on the right as a "related vid" haha

  • Beautiful song.

  • The Flaming Lips, an great, influential band.... of course..... but, anyone who doesn't see that this is a TOTAL rip off of Cat Stevens is completely retarted

  • @JPizzle1490 I didn't know the letter g was a vowel. Don't call other people retards if you are one yourself.

  • I don't see the big similarity between the songs?

    Nor do I really care?

  • @TheMattC13 Cat Stevens AKA Yusef is getting half the profits from this song. Which is not that similar. B.S.  This is why you should care.

  • @hammerhorn It's 75 percent. Wayne was willing to go 50/50 but Cat wanted more apparently.

  • 3 south

  • I like to think of this song as Cat Stevens fanfiction.

  • @Elcore great call, i think you're right on

  • 3-South embedded this song in to my brain. That was a damn good show.

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  • @RDBeatnik

    I think it's the other way around....Flaming Lips are legitimately creative....Cat Stevens is an emotional singer/songwriter turned religious nutjob....

    Yusuf islam.....what a joke....and he's a dick for taking the Flaming Lips' money and funding Hamas and all kinds of islamic schools to indoctrinate poor children into that absurd religion.

    Cat stevens is greatly contributing to the regress of humanity. He's fucking crazy like every religious fundamentalist

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  • good artists create, great artists steal

  • @danz818 It's the truth lol

  • to be honest if somone "ripped off" a song i had written and it was this f*cking good, i'd be proud to of been ripped off!!

  • @joshjs667

    Probably not if your song was so much better.

  • @TrollFredrik thats why i said if it was this good.

  • Cat Steven's song is about man boy love and NAMBLA, this song is about pure awesome.

    I honestly don't see the comparison.

  • @Dragon45348 Right. That's it. Imma put a jihad on you.

  • @Elcore Your witchcraft doesn't scare me :P

  • @Dragon45348 Im sure youre totally deaf if you don see the comparison its almost the same sound,!!

  • if this is a rip off, then it seems Cat Stevens has been "ripped off" by about everybody. thank god Paul McCartney isn't going around suing everyone who uses "his" chords

  • Two great musical talents who've both made great songs in their careers,

    its a real shame when making good music turns to law suits

  • Somebody was listening to Cat Stevens or Boyzone the day before they wrote this song. >_>

  • What a real shame to copy the work of a legend

  • @LustSaid hate me, but i like this much better than cat stevens

  • @LustSaid

    HAHA!! Cat stevens is NOT a legend, I don't care what anybody says.....

  • testing

  • best memories with x husband whem i hear this abum r from grand lido negril in jamaica. wake up in the mornin put it in, take some meds + what jamaica is known for n sit back on the balcany, plus was nude resort n we were young, just soke in the sun nice n high. 14 days of pure bliss, felt nothing could ever hurt me or my husband........but then u have to come back to reality...........n i did. But at least I had it! Thank you FLIPS.

  • 3 South yes

  • "Cause I'm a man, not a boy, and there are things you can't avoid; you have to face them, when you're not prepared to face them." - How many times have we been in this situation? More true words have never been spoken!

  • mmm<3

  • You have fought well Yoshimi-son.

  • ah.. i havent heard this song in years! highschool memories (:

  • 10 people lost the fight

  • @theMattintheHat64 AND failed the test...

  • @theMattintheHat64 One person is an unfunny tool, looked at the amount of people that unliked the video and made a comment.

  • @BrianMcD86 lol yeah i posted that a year ago and now i get pretty annoyed when ever i see a comment like that

  • Thank you for making such beautiful music <3

  • Screw Cat Stevens. You're telling me Vanilla Ice can rip a Bowie/Queen song, and people can sample and remix to their heart's delight, but somehow Cat Stevens files a lawsuit over this? The instrumentation is different, the lyrics are different in both overall meaning and phrasing, and only a portion of the main theme is similar. The bridges, for example, are completely different. Maybe if Cat Stevens weren't busy being a has-been nutjob he wouldn't have to sue productive, superior musicians.

  • @principal0 i think the thing is, those artists intentionally rip off bowie, queen, whatever. its called sampling, and i hate it, but whatever. in this case, this was supposed to be an original song by a new band, not someone adding rap lyrics over a template. but, its strikingly similar, and because of the preconcieved notion that all of these songs are to be totally original, people come down on them harder.

  • @principal0

    exactly

  • @principal0 While I totally agree with your argument, it would be fair to point out that Vanilla Ice eventually had to pay royalties to Queen & Bowie, and I think Mercury and Bowie now receive songwriting credit.

    However I totally agree this is bullshit - I've always noticed the riffs from Sunshine of Your Love (Cream) and  Cocain by JJ Cale share the first four notes, but no-one has ever claimed that Jack Bruce "stole" the riff from Cale, because that would be retarded. And yet here we are...