And now Cat Stevens accuses Coldplay

Coldplay's been in the news after being accused by guitarist Joe Satriani of stealing a tune, for their Grammy-winning 'Viva La Vida.' In case you missed out on the news, go here and here and here.

The latest salvo comes from singer Cat Stevens, who is now known as Yusuf Islam. The Sun reports that the singer has said that 'Viva La Vida' has been ripped from his tune, 'Foreigner Suite.'

When searching for this on YouTube (I knew you would), look specifically for 'Foreigner Suite, Part II' and then go to about 5.15. The similarity's there if you look hard enough for it, let's put it that way.

Satriani v/s Coldplay. Round 3

The battle between Joe Satriani and Coldplay gets stranger. First Satriani sued Coldplay. Then Coldplay put out a statement on their website. And now, Coldplay's music label, EMI, has got YouTube to yank mashup videos of the two songs in question off the video-sharing site. Hmmm...

Coldplay responds to Satriani

After Joe Satriani went ahead and sued Coldplay last week for allegedly lifting parts of his song 'If I Could Fly' for their Grammy-nominated track, 'Viva la Vida,' the band yesterday put up a statement on their website. In the statement, Coldplay insist that the similarities are "entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him."

Satriani sues Coldplay

According to BBC News, guitarist Joe Satriani has finally sued Coldplay for allegedly lifting one of the main riffs from his 2004 song 'If I Could Fly' and using it to build their song 'Viva la Vida'. The uncanny similarity came into light soon after the release of the Coldplay album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, earlier this year. Several people posted videos (mash-ups included) on YouTube to make their point. Including this one here:



Incidentally, another lesser-known band called Creaky Boards also accused Chris Martin and Co. of lifting the very same riff from their song, 'Songs I Didn't Write'. Bizarre, eh!

In the suit filed on December 4 in LA, Satriani is seeking damages and "any and all profits" from the alleged plagiarism. Ironically, the night before, Coldplay had notched up seven Grammy nominations, including one for Song of the Year, for - yes, you guessed right - 'Viva la Vida'.

Go, Joe, go!!