Did Britney Spears Copy Her New Single?

By Kelly Fisher Posted Jan 13th 2011 07:00AM

As Britney Spears enjoys the No. 1 spot on iTunes with her new single, 'Hold It Against Me,' one music group is crying foul, saying she ripped off the title of the hit song.

Country group The Bellamy Brothers released a song in 1979 called 'If I Said You Have a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me,' and singer David Bellamy is speaking out against Spears' new song, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The chorus of Spears' latest hit contains the line, "If I said I want your body now, would you hold it against me?'

"It's not every day you get in the middle of a Britney Spears brawl," Bellamy told the magazine.

Listen to both songs inside.

The country crooner, who penned the group's 1979 hit, said his son first clued him in on Spears' single. While no legal action has been taken regarding the song's crossover title, Bellamy is looking into the situation.

"I just have to see what the intent was," he said. "I just kind of found it unoriginal, and I guess it makes us realize how old we are, because they're recycling our titles already."

Bellamy, who has not heard from Spears' camp regarding the similarities, understands that the "beautiful body" line is often used, but not always as overtly as with this latest hit single.

"This particular title is kinda hard to disguise, because the title is the song," Bellamy said of Spears' track. "It's not like saying, 'I love you, baby.' ... I think there's just more original stuff out there to do than just rehashing old titles."

The Bellamy Brothers would know. The country band hits the road this year for a 180-show tour as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their hit album, 'Let Your Love Flow.'

Spears' song, produced by Max Martin and Dr. Luke, hit the Internet on Monday and quickly shot to the No. 1 spot on iTunes. Her new album is expected to be released March 15.

Tags: britney spears

Comments

(326)

Friday 14 January

By paula

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This is ridiculous, How about 'artists' like Kid Rock??? His songs reek of 'borrowed' music!!! His one song starts off like Warren Zevons 'Werewolves of London' and incorporates 'Sweet Home Alabama' into it! You want to be a true artist, create your own!!!!!

By handsome

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Paula, just so you know, Kid Rock and many other artists are sampling parts of the music from the original artists. When you hear that piece from "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Werewolves of London" the original artists are getting a piece of the royalties, due to their actually creating part of the song, and their performance royalty as that is actually a "sample" of the song.

By pb

Artists like Kid Rock who "sample" music pay the writer of that particular piece. That was the subject of huge litigation when rappers first started that, and they lost.

By sue

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i dont think it sounds nothing like the belamy brothers its totally different. there a lot songs that have same title.

Saturday 15 January

By Paul David Stanko

Not even close. Britney's song isn't great, but it is NOT a rip off of their lyric. They are similar, but hey... so is most everything on the radio. It's not a brilliant line that you can't mistake for the other song. The Britney team just put SOME of the same words in the same order. Get off it, Bellemy Bros. Not theft.

By Linda Belinda

That (the Bellamy's tune) was the first thing I thought of when I saw the titie of her song. Wellll, not the very FIRST THING .. truth be told, my thought was: 'She's still trying to have a career??'

By belldn3

Did she rip them off, or is it an coincidence?????????? She's doing the best she can to survive in the music industry. If she has to steal a song, that's what she has to do.

By Ashley

I would rather watch Howard Stern on American Idol than monkey looking dude from Aerosmith. Think this years so is gonna be boring.

By chugger

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It would have been nice to mention that the original title was taken from a phrase on an old television show. Groucho Marx used the phrase on his show years before it was ever recycled into a song, so who actually ripped it ?

By Dwayne

Over half of todays "so-called" "artist" sing remakes anyways. They are no song writing talents available, so why rip this no talent artist for following the trend!

By Marybbop

It is absurd to claim ownership of a line in a song. I am sure many have used it but were not famous enough to make it a hit. There are repeated lines in many, many songs. This is a waste of time. Move forward Ms. Spears and leave them in the history books where they belong.

By RYAN

I heard part of a britney song one time.....something about I did it again and what a pile of crap that was so I never listened to her again.I figure only 12 year old little girls listen to her stuff anyway .......she seems to sing pop or something so who cares what she rips off?Its all crap anyway.

By john fichtner

Listen up people. I can't stand B Spears but I can tell you one thing for certain. She or the song writer did NOT steal anything from that song not that it would matter anyway since the copy right ran out 6 years ago anyway. What I like about you and R O C K in the USA resemble each other more and we both written in the same decade AND are in the same Genre. B Spears needs to put her ears back on and go back to her roots. She was much better in the Mickey Mouse club.

By magjim29

I think the Bellamy Brothers should be more worried about exposing the fact their song sounds like a rip off of "Margaritaville"

By Elizabeth

the correct word is COPYRIGHT. Please, people, learn at least your own language, even if you don't learn any others.

As for the Bellamy Brothers. I think they are making waves about B Spears title to try to attract attention to their song. Smart moves B Brothers. That's how you play the game. Hats off to you but the bottom line is B Spears song is a better song. Let her enjoy her 2 mins of fame. Tomorrow, she'll be back to snorting her way back to her real life.

By KC

Kristofferson said it best:

I scandalized my brother
While admittin' that he sang some pretty songs (and he did)
I'd heard that he'd been scandalizing me
And, Lord, I knew that that was wrong (and I was)
Now I'm lookin' at it over
Something cool and feelin' fool enough to see
What I had called my brother on
Now he had every right to call on me

Chorus:
Don't ever cuss that fiddle, boy
Unless you want that fiddle out of tune
That picker there in trouble, boy
Ain't nothin' but another side of you
If we ever get to heaven, boys
It ain't because we ain't done nothin' wrong
We're in this gig together
So let's settle down and steal each other's songs

By evansky

I think Madonna has a better gripe.....

By d h

She is a dog, a mess, and just needs to go away, the kids need someone to look up to and admire, not this thing.

By DONNA

i didnt find a resemblence at all except for "Dont hold it against me". The tune is nothing at all close to the other. Britneys is actually nerve wracking if you ask me. I couldn't wait to make it quit playing and I am usually a Britney fan.

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