Why this song by Hubert Lenoir looks like Gérald de Palmas

A text by Pascale Fontaine

"I came to tell you that you can change": these words of the young singer of Quebec have made many minds.This play allowed him to win several prizes in a few months, notably the title of revelation song Radio-Canada, the Félix-Leclerc award in Francos and recently the Hope Prize of the Quebec Summer Festival.

However, attentive to the refrain, in particular, some Internet users have the impression of hearing the catchphrase, a song that made France discover another artist: Gérald de Palmas.The success was launched in 1995, the same year Hubert Lenoir born.

Listen to it for yourself.

Why do we hear the same thing?

"I listened to the two songs a lot and it suggests that the refrains are surprisingly similar," observes Claire McLeish, musicologist at the Schulich music school at McGill University.

Several factors explain this impression of similarity, says this specialist in copyright violation.

It underlines the resemblance in the way in which the melody and the progression of agreements assemble in the two songs.The melodies are practically the same, "note for note".

"They start under the tonic note [the first degree of tone of major and minor ranges], it rises to the 6th degree and it falls later.The bass plays the same syncopated rhythm (a displacement of the accent very present in the blues and the jazz) and the guitar arrives in counterpoint.

Another point: rhymes and delivery pace.“The singers sing the text on a similar rhythm and the two refrains end with the same rhyme in“ é ”."Gérald de Palmas says:" Because I was on the road all the holy day "when Lenoir goes there" I came to tell you that you can change ".The only difference on this point: the end.Person's daughter's chorus II ends with "I have read his future".

Finally, these similarities occur during the refrain, which is often considered as the decisive characteristic of a room.

Hubert Lenoir's reaction

In an interview with Radio-Canada, Hubert Lenoir is categorical.

"Even if I had known it in my young time, it is really not the kind of music that makes me take a tripper, it would not have inspired me anyway," he said, the slinger.So, I did not make a discovery unfortunately by discovering it.»»

"I understand that people can make a link in their heads, recognizes the artist who himself often notes similarities in music, cinema and arts.But they are not the same agreements, not the same rhythm.It’s not the same melody either.People make the link because maybe they are rhymes in "é" ".

The musicologist sees other differences.With his melisms where he loads several notes on a syllable, "Gérald de Palmas is influenced by blues or gospel.[...] It is more direct, very “square”.It is more typical of the time: he wears a costume, pulled to four pins.It is a traditional image of masculinity.»»

In return, "Hubert Lenoir pige more in the glamrock of the 70s", in particular by adding saxophone, adds Claire McLeish.His way of singing also means that delivery stands out, [although] on paper, the notes are the same.

Could Hubert Lenoir be criticized for these similarities?

"There could be a matter of dispute," says the musicologist by thinking of Blurred Lines, the best -selling song in 2013.

Across guilty of having plagiarized a play by Marvin Gaye, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were sentenced in 2015 to pay $ 7.4 million to the heirs of the Prince of Soul.

“[The accusations] focused more on the feeling, the tempo and the rhythm.[In the case of Hubert Lenoir], this relates to mechanical musical elements rather than a more difficult thing to prove like feelings and tempo [at Thicke].»»

You have to go back in 1971 to find a case similar to that of a girl from person II.George Harrison was continued for having taken up the chorus of He’s So Fine, The Chiffons, in My Sweet Lord.The pursuit, which stretched over five years, ended with a verdict of "unintentional plagiarism" for the former Beatle.

"George Harrison's agreements and choruses are not exactly the same, but they remain very similar," illustrates Claire McLeish who analyzed it."It is very interesting because I could imagine that [as in the case of Harrison] Hubert Lenoir could have heard Gérald de Palmas' song in the past, during his childhood.»»

The burden of proof can be colossal."It should be established that the person who violated [copyright] had had access to the work before," explains Stéphane Moraille, specialist in entertainment law and formerly singer of the Bran Van 3000 formation.

The person may have expressed, for example, the desire to make such a song or his parents had albums by the injured artist.

Pop limits

Daughter of Person II would not be the only piece resembling the success of Gérald de Palmas, nuance however Stéphane Moraille.A consequence of a certain formatting of pop music and the lack of diversity of commercial radios.

"The arrangement of popular music notes is limited because the songs last on average three minutes.If we dig a little more, we could find ten other songs which are almost the same [on the road].»»

She also recalls this quote from George Harrison, after he was found guilty of plagiarism: "99 % of popular music that can be heard evokes one thing or another.»»

According to her, the phenomenon of resemblance will increase with the democratization of means of dissemination.Let us only think of the multiplication of production tools and platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.

"There is a proliferation of artists, therefore the basin of creativity, of originality is reduced," she said, pointing at the same time the lack of diversity on commercial radio.

"Many songs in the radio charts use a certain progress of agreements or a very fashionable tempo, they therefore end up ringing in the same way," abounds in this clear McLeish sense.On the other hand, "in this case, it goes beyond the similarity of a particular genre".

Gérald de Palmas, in 2016

Photo: AFP / Martin Bureau

However, McGill's musicologist is not ready to condemn the young singer for all that."Lenoir does something absolutely new," she concludes.

For Stéphane Moraille, there is no fault."Overall, the work has original characteristics.[...] It would really be necessary to establish the originality of the structure of the refrain.»»

"I'm going to continue to see Hubert Lenoir sing," she said with a smile.

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