As weird as
it sounds, it’s actually possible for songs to be related to each other in much
the same way people are. Whether through sampling, lyrical reference or
outright theft, a song can be capable of counting other songs as parents and siblings.
This is especially true in folk music. In the days when songs would travel simply by word of mouth, it was common for a single song to spawn numerous different versions, presumably as singers either misremembered melodies and lyrics or deliberately replaced them with new ones. Sometimes the songs would change so much that they would eventually become entirely different songs, with perhaps only a basic narrative or a few key phrases to link it to its original form. A good example of this process would be the songs ‘Gypsy Davy’, ‘Blackjack Davy’, ‘The Raggle Taggle Gypsy O’ and ‘The Gypsy Rover’, all of which stand as separate pieces, but appear to be descended from the same source.
This is especially true in folk music. In the days when songs would travel simply by word of mouth, it was common for a single song to spawn numerous different versions, presumably as singers either misremembered melodies and lyrics or deliberately replaced them with new ones. Sometimes the songs would change so much that they would eventually become entirely different songs, with perhaps only a basic narrative or a few key phrases to link it to its original form. A good example of this process would be the songs ‘Gypsy Davy’, ‘Blackjack Davy’, ‘The Raggle Taggle Gypsy O’ and ‘The Gypsy Rover’, all of which stand as separate pieces, but appear to be descended from the same source.
(On the subject
of how folk songs are open to such a wide variety of interpretations, have a listen
to Bob Dylan singing the
traditional ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’ in 1962, and then take a look at him performing
what is ostensibly the
same song in 2002.)
Because
these songs are so old, it’s impossible to to trace every step of the process;
there was no real way of documenting it. However, when this kind of thing occurs
today, where all music is recorded, we can see exactly how it happens. A very
interesting recent example – all the more fascinating for involving just one
songwriter - would be the song ‘Lock All The Doors’ by Noel Gallagher’s High
Flying Birds, which was released on the album Chasing Yesterday in 2015.
This song
can be traced back to an earlier song of Noel’s, also called ‘Lock All the
Doors’, which was demoed by Oasis in 1992. This song was never officially released by Oasis, but the verses eventually turned up on a B-side called 'My Sister Lover' in 1997, on which the original chorus was replaced with a completely new one. The original chorus sat unused for the for the next eighteen years until Noel resurrected it for the 2015 version, which features new verses with a different melody to the original.
The end result of all this is that we have three songs - the two versions of 'Lock All the Doors' plus 'My Sister Lover' - that are related.
The end result of all this is that we have three songs - the two versions of 'Lock All the Doors' plus 'My Sister Lover' - that are related.
Trace the
family tree for yourself:
Lock All The Doors (2015)
