Mariah Carey sued over "All I Want For Christmas Is You"...

[Wendy]

As I asked elsewhere, where was the outrage in freaking 1994?!

Vince Vance and The Valiants are suing Mariah Carey for recording a Christmas song with the same title as their own Christmas song. (Both get airplay.)

Here is the Vince Vance tune:

Please register in order to view this content

And, naturally, here is Mariah Carey's song:

I hear NO similarities, save for the title. The band Foghat had better watch out. They ALSO have a song with the same title:

This SCREAMS "money grab", to me. A shame, because I like the Vince Vance (and Foghat) song, too, as much as Mariah's song. But where was this outrage ALMOST 30 YEARS AGO? I hope this gets laughed out of court. There is a website devoted to many songs with the same exact title. It happens!

Edited June 6, 2022 by Wendy

[te.]

Of course it's a money grab. There are no similarities and songs having the same title isn't anything new - some artists even have multiple songs with the same title in their own music catalog.

[Taoboi]

Madonna and FORBIDDEN LOVE come to mind.

 

But seriously...money grab.

[BetterForgotten]

While I don’t personally see any similarities, the song has always been a source of tension between Mariah and her former co-writer/producer Walter Afanasieff - their accounts differ on how the song came into being and who exactly was responsible for what.

Mariah also has a history of being sued for similar things - much of which was settled out of court. But this particular case is weird and I have no idea why it’s taken almost 30 years to get here? 

[AbcNbc247]

Haha there's no statute of limitations on a case like this?

I really like the Vince Vance song as well, and I do wish that it was as popular as the Mariah song, but yeah, agreed that this is a money grab. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by AbcNbc247

[I Am A Swede]

I don't get it. The songs sound nothing like each other. So why are they suing? Because they share the same title?   

Please register in order to view this content

If that's actually the case I can't see them have any leg to stand on. You surely can't copyright a title. If that was the case then we would see a whole lot of court cases.....

[BrendaB]

Mariah wrote that song just like she wrote 18 of her 19 #1 songs.  When she interpolates or samples, she always gives credit.  Her "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is an original co-written with her former writing partner and does not use a sample, but she produced it in the style of Phil Spector's 1960s wall-of-sound like in that classic song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)."  She made a music video in that style back in 1994:

Please register in order to view this content

 

Mariah is set to get inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame this month, so the timing is doubly suspect and seems like misogyny masked as a money-grab by Vince Vance, who is a thief and crooked con artist.  He stole the melody for his flop song from this superior 1950s tune "My Heart Belongs To Only You" and did not credit those writers or give them royalties:

 

[BetterForgotten]

One of Mariah’s (many) accounts of writing the song is hilarious to begin with as regardless of this suit, it remains a source of tension between Mariah and Walter Afanasieff - he specifically came after one story she told about it’s creation in the article below and isn’t happy when she tries to claim sole ownership of its creation. 

Estranged From Mariah Carey, ‘All I Want for Christmas’ Co-Writer Calls No. 1 ‘Bittersweet’