ELP covers (rips off) Big John Patton?

[Jim Alfredson]

So I was watching me some ELP (Emerson Lake and Palmer) on

this evening, having a good laugh, and decided to dig out some of their stuff and listen to it while I did some graphic design work. I haven't listened to this stuff in earnest in probably 12 years. I used to be into them in high school.

 

Anyway, I'm listening to this compilation of theirs called "Return of the Manticore" which has some unreleased stuff on it and I get to this tune called "Bo Diddley". And I'm listening and I say to myself, "Holy crap, they just totally ripped off Big John Patton's The Yodel." Seriously. Here's a snippet of The Yodel from the Grassella Oliphant disc with Patton and Grant Green. It's not the best version of the tune by them, but I can't find my copy of Got A Good Thing Going On right now (which is a killer organ trio record, btw), so it'll have to do:

 

BJP - The Yodel

 

And here's Emerson, Lake, and Palmer doing Bo Diddley:

 

ELP - Bo Diddley

 

:lol:

 

That Grasella Oliphant record, which I believe came out before Patton's solo album, is from 1967. Considering ELP didn't even form until 1970-71, I think it's pretty obvious which tune came first. Now granted, the song was unreleased and maybe the producers of the box set just found this tune, un-named, on a reel of tape and took the name from the obvious Bo Diddley-beat drum thing going on, but still... the credits in the CD list it as being written by ELP.

 

At least we know Emerson was listening to good organists!

[jook]

I love "The Yodel" from Got A Good Thing Going! Haven't heard of Grasella Oliphant though, so this version would be new to me. Cheers for that, i'll have to listen when I get home.

 

Not fond of ELP, so ain't caring much about the latter :-)

[Jim Alfredson]

The Grasella Oliphant record is called "The Grass Is Greener" (har har) and came out before "Got A Good Thing Going". Its on the Atlantic label, and its almost like a warm-up to Patton's Blue Note record. In fact, they do three tunes that appear on "Got A Good Thing Going": The Yodel, Soul Woman, and Ain't That Peculiar.

 

The record itself is pretty sloppy and is only available in Japan or by importing. Worth it if you can find it cheap, but it isn't a very good record unfortunately.

[jook]

Heh, so Grant Green plays on that record too? Thus "Grass is Greener"... brilliant really Grant Green definitely had a thing for naming his records with a "Green" pun so its amusing to see it effect records where hes just a sideman!

 

Sounds like quite an obscure record... got me intrigued now

[Darren Landrum]

Well, if you're gonna rip off, rip off from the best, right?

 

ELP did a lot of "borrowing" from a lot of people. For some reason, though, I still love listening to their stuff. At least, up through Brain Salad Surgery.

[orangefunk]

I don't know much about ELP but I did hear something once which sounded exactly like some jazz organ piece I'd heard by one of the B3 masters.. I think its on one of ELPs more famous LPs too..

[ProfD]

Musicians have been 'borrowing' licks, riffs and whole tunes way before sampling was invented.

 

I guess the validating or redeeming factor is those musicians re-played it.

[Jim Alfredson]

Well, borrowing is one thing. But it's basically the same tune, yet credited to ELP on the compilation. Again, this could be the fault of the producers of the boxset (but I thought Emerson was intimately involved in that... I could be wrong, of course). But the tunes are the same and "Bo Diddley" should be called by its real name and credited to John Patton and Grant Green.