Ha ha ha. If there was any doubt that Coldplay weren’t particularly original and pandered to the musical tastes of bored housewives with valium and sauvignon blanc addictions, the band have been forced to deny claims that their new single Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall is a rip-off. What’s more, the song in question is by the flamboyant Aussie maraca and piano player Peter Allen!
So how were Coldplay forced to deny claims that they had plagiarised arguably one of Australian music’s finest moments, Allen’s ‘I Go To Rio’? Well it’s a little bit complicated but in essence, as soon as the single was released over the weekend, bloggers started pointing out the song’s similarity to the 1990 dance single ‘Ritmo de la Noche’, by Mystic. Coldplay singer Chris Martin admits to being inspired by ‘Ritmo de la Noche’ after seeing a film in which it was used, however the dance song sampled Allen’s ‘I Go To Rio’ for the riff.
Coldplay have confirmed that Allen and co-writer Adrienne Anderson have been credited on ‘Every Teardrop A Waterfall’. “Allen and Anderson are credited as writers on Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall,” Coldplay’s spokesperson confirmed. “Chris was inspired to write the song after watching the film Biutiful by Alejandro González Iñárritu. In the film, there is a nightclub scene in which a track [Ritmo de la Noche] is playing in the background, based on I Go to Rio.” Peter Allen, once married to Liza Minnelli, died of AIDS related throat cancer in 1992.
Check out Coldplay’s new single and compare it to ‘I Go To Rio’.
