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

Sly Stone must have been galled when he turned on the radio in the summer of ’69 and heard a disposable trash-rock nugget called “Did You See Her Eyes” by an outfit called the Illusion. Penned and produced by Jeff Barry (author of “Sugar Sugar” and the Jeffersons theme, among many other songs), it lifted the “Yaaah, yah yah yaaah, yaaah” vocal hook from his “Sing a Simple Song” and worked it into the mix for a left-field hit that far outcharted Sly’s own single. Then, a few months later, Ike and Tina Turner did it to Sly again, and with the same track, nicking his song’s guitar lick as the basis for their “Bold Soul Sister” — which also outperformed him and his band on the charts. Damn near the only thing that wasn’t nicked from the original was Larry Graham’s recitation of the do-re-mi scale. Neither song credited Sly as a songwriter, which is a pity; small as they would be, he could really use those royalties today.

Next Morris Albert, “Feelings”