Taylor’s too savvy for a lawsuit... and Fred says that’s all right
THEY recently played Cleethorpes and it is 15 years since their last number one. But Right Said Fred have made an unlikely chart comeback after being named as co-writers on a song by pop sensation Taylor Swift.
Swift set the internet alight by releasing her first solo single in three years, Look What You Made Me Do.
Fans were quick to note that the chorus bears a resemblance to Right Said Fred’s 1991 hit, I’m Too Sexy.
The credits name Swift and her songwriter, Jack Antonoff. But there was also a surprise mention of three names: Fred and Richard Fairbrass, the brothers who make up Right Said Fred, along with their former bandmate Rob Manzoli. The BBC called it “one of the most bizarre musical combinations of the year”.
While other major artists have found themselves hit by plagiarism suits, Swift proved more savvy.
A week ago, perhaps aware that there might be a legal case to answer, her team approached the band and offered them a credit. Swift, a global superstar renowned for her personal touch, followed it up with some flowers and a thank-you note.
The band described Look What You Made Me Do as a “marvellous reinvention” of their song.
“What’s really cool about Taylor Swift is that big artists and big companies can quite often tell smaller artists to go away – politely or not so politely. But they’ve been great,” Fred Fairbrass said. “They sent us a big bouquet of flowers with a big thank you note. It said ‘many thanks’ from her and Jack and they look forward to celebrating with us.”
Fairbrass said the songs were obviously similar. “The metre of this new track by Taylor Swift is clearly using the metre of I’m Too Sexy, and they know that and they’ve been very fair with us.
“I think with recent events, the Blurred Lines thing [the Pharrell Williams/robin
Thicke song was ruled to have plagiarised a Marvin Gaye song], it gets pretty nasty and toxic. We’ve been treated really well by Taylor Swift’s team, it’s been really respectful in both directions. She’s a much bigger star than we are and she’s been great.”
I’m Too Sexy never made number one in this country – it was held off by the record-breaking Bryan Adams song (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – but it topped the charts in more than two dozen countries, including the US.
It has been suggested that the Swift song will provide Right Said Fred with their biggest payday, but Fairbrass said the song has already made them rich – it still receives plenty of radio play and has appeared in commercials, films and television shows from The West Wing to The Simpsons and Family Guy. Every time one of those episodes is aired, the band receive royalties.
“If I wanted to do nothing and just sit by a beach, yes, it could pay for that,” Fairbrass said.
“But we never signed a major record deal, we’ve always been independent, so we have to fund everything we do. We have to fund our successes as well as our failures, and our failures have cost us many, many thousands of pounds.”
He put the enduring appeal of the song down to its “weirdness” and “the fact you can be too sexy for absolutely anything. It’s a bit like Happy Birthday, which is a lyric you can put before anybody’s name”.
Fairbrass said the band would be happy to support Swift on her next global arena
tour.