It’s impossible for any band not to draw from their influences. While it might be fun to try something different whenever you walk into the studio, there will always be traces of everyone’s record collection seeping into the music whether they know it or not. There is a moment when things can get too on the nose, and John Fogerty was having absolutely none of it when he heard The Hollies’s hit ‘Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress’.
Then again, there will always be a fine line between inspiration and plagiarism regarding rock and roll tunes. Since this genre originated from three chords and the truth, that doesn’t exactly leave a lot of wiggle room for people to work in once they settle on their classic sound.
When Creedence Clearwater Revival first emerged on the scene, though, they were definitely a breath of fresh air. Considering the British Invasion had been going strong for years, hearing Fogerty sing about the basics of life was a much better alternative than what seemed like the 90th love song about some faceless girl.
Despite The Hollies having some great tunes by the late 1960s, ‘Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress’ was a much different animal, especially with the bluesy guitar lick and the yelpy delivery. It seemed to go over pretty well on the charts, but Fogerty couldn’t help but listen to the tune and hear a little too much of himself in how they sang.
Listening back to the track in context, it’s clear that the group were taking some inspiration from the way that Fogerty sang, especially with the traditional drawl that they put on the ends of phrases. While Fogerty did try to sue them for sounding a bit too close to CCR’s trademark sound, it’s not really that black and white.
Since the tune is all about someone in the US working for the FBI and falling for a girl, adopting a different voice was more likely a better way of inhabiting a character rather than trying to sing in a similar tone to Fogerty’s. Looking back at the kind of songs Fogerty was referencing, like Green River, both tunes follow a basic blues structure, which isn’t the best basis for someone to use for infringement when everyone follows the same chords.
At the same time, Fogerty wasn’t even the best outlet for that sound anymore. When ‘Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress’ was released, Fogerty was going through CCR’s turbulent years, and when looking at the two songs revolving around a man looking for some action, The Hollies’ hit beats out ‘Sweet Hitchhiker’ any day of the week.
That said, karma did come calling for Fogerty later on when he ended up getting sued by his record company for sounding too much like himself in the 1980s. The lines of copyright infringement might look murky even today, but in Fogerty’s case, it would be impossible to take every bluesy band with a raspy vocal to court for aping his style.
So let this be a lesson for anyone trying to take legal action against any band that sounds like them. There’s no way to copyright chords, and unless there’s a specific melody that is identical, it’s hard to really prove whether someone is inspired or trying to rip you off.
