Before you say it; yes, we realize articles about Coldplay stealing songs from other artists are becoming a tad bit redundant… And with that said, we can move onto the story.
Yusuf Islam (also known by his former stage name Cat Stevens) is claiming that the melody that runs through Coldplay’s hit song "Viva La Vida" was actually stolen from his song "Foreigner Suite," which was released in 1973. You can listen to both of the songs, side-by-side, here.
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There’s been this argument about Coldplay stealing this melody from Joe Satriani, but, if you listen to it, it’s mine! It’s the ‘Foreigner Suite’, it is!" he tells
The Sun.
As you’re probably well aware of, this isn’t the first time Coldplay has been accused of plagiarizing this very song from other artists. The first accusation came from the band Creaky Boards, an unsigned band in New York City who claimed that Coldplay frontman Chris Martin attended one of their shows in 2007, heard their song "The Songs I Didn’t Write," and subsequently used the melody to write "Viva La Vida." Coldplay denied stealing the song and even proved that they had "Viva La Vida" written and demoed months before the Creaky Boards show which Martin allegedly attended (the band’s spokesperson proved this to be false as well). A comparison between the two songs can be heard here.
The second, and much more serious, accusation came from acclaimed rock guitarist Joe Satriani who claimed that "Viva La Vida" incorporated "substantial original portions" of his 2004 song "If I Could Fly." Satriani has since sued Coldplay and the proceedings are still on-going. Coldplay has formally denied in a court of law that they stole any part of Satriani’s song. You can hear both songs here.
There is no word on whether Yusuf Islam plans to pursue legal action at this time.
Report by David Lowe-Bianco.
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