Don Henley - Boys of Summer vs. Queen - Breakthru

liah

Don Henley - Boys of Summer (written in 1984):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oR-VGMuiAI

Queen - Breakthru (written in 1989):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q22oGInO-uo

Anyone else notice the glaring similarities in the chorus?

I'm surprised at how blatant it is, especially coming from Queen.

Thoughts? Is it in my head?

Karl Hungus

No, it's not in your head, there's definitely similarities, but I'd say that's all it is. Just similarities. The part where Don Henley sings "I can see you..." is very similar to where Freddy sings "If I can only reach you...", but the chord progression after those points is different.

Honestly though, you'll find a lot of similarities like this in music, I just don't think it means anything. It doesn't suggest that Queen ripped off Don Henley, it just means they've hit the same note. I'll give you another example, because right away I've heard something else that's very familiar in that song, at around 1:20, the 3 note motif that the keyboardist is playing is practically the same as the opening for Dream Theater's Another Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmzfEbW7NJw

Practically the same thing I think you'll agree, but it's just an extremely simple little 3 note pattern that you could find it in a lot of different songs and different music.

On the note of common repeated patterns in music... Gotta love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

And on that note: