Song(s) of the Week: Shine / Light Shine

"Shine" by Martin Ansell
from the soundtrack album
"Better Off Dead" (A&M, 1985)




and


"Light Shine" by Swirl 360
from the album
"California Blur" (Atenzia, 2005)




Okay, here's another curiosity that warrants a two-song post. As you'll find out when you listen to both of these songs, the choruses bear an uncanny resemblance. I'd say that the newer song legitimately borrowed from the older one, but the liner notes for "Light Shine" give no credit to Martin Ansell, the writer of "Shine". We all know how a melody can worm its way into your brain, so that can usually be forgiven ... but to have nearly the same lyrics in that melody? That's more than a coincidence.

The first song, "Shine", is from the soundtrack to the twisted and incredibly hilarious John Cusack comedy "Better Off Dead" (seriously, if you've never seen this movie, watch it by any means necessary as soon as possible!), and is pretty cool in its own right, though it does sound rather dated now. The second song, "Light Shine", is from the second album by American rock/pop band Swirl 360, which was only released in Europe. It's a great album, more rock-like than its predecessor, and most of its songs are better than this one. (I may review the album here sometime.)

The optimist in me would like to believe that Swirl 360 either deliberately lifted from Ansell but unintentionally neglected to give the proper credit, or they unintentionally copied from Ansell and didn't realize there was credit to give. Maybe one or more members of Swirl 360 saw the movie once, and that's how the song planted itself in their subconscious. Like I said, I still like Swirl 360 as much as I ever have, even if they copycatted Martin Ansell's song on purpose. I just thought it was kind-of an interesting similarity between the two songs. What do you think -- copycat or coincidence?