Song Riff Offs: Delta Goodrem (2012) and Arcade Fire (2004)

You may say we’re flogging a dead horse on this one, and you might be right, but we thought we’d use the recent controversy surrounding Delta Goodrem and a certain Arcade Fire song to help re-introduce you to the series we launched last year: Song Riff Offs. In the series we introduce you to songs that have (legally) borrowed, alluded to, been inspired by or stolen from (knowingly or unknowingly) the riff of another song. And we’ll have plenty more for you in the weeks ahead…

By now you probably don’t need much introduction for this one. Since it was brought to Delta’s attention earlier this year, however, she denied ripping off the track, saying to Confidential: “I hadn’t heard of (Rebellion (Lies)) until that moment and then I checked it out and was blown away… They’re incredible. I think the whole thing was a bit of a storm in a teacup.”

Well, let’s let you be the judge. Here’s the original:

And here’s the version from Ms. Goodrem…

So what do you think? I guess it depends who you’re a fan of as to whose side you’re going to take. If you’re not a fan of the latter, we apologise for putting you through that music video… In our minds, it’s definitely not a blatant ‘riff off’ but it seems like the inspiration was there, knowingly or not… it’s pretty undeniable. But ultimately that’s for Arcade Fire to decide isn’t it?

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.