You Didn’t Write That: A Brief Guide to (Alleged) Pop Plagiarism

The Beach Boys’ first Top 10 hit had a little bit of help in getting there that initially went uncredited: “Surfin’ U.S.A.” listed Brian Wilson as its sole songwriter even though it borrowed considerably from the melody of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” When his publisher litigated, Berry was given a co-writing credit, providing him some much needed royalties.

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