Jon Davison, Yes frontman since 2012, responded to accusations of plagiarism leveled against the band last week for Dare to Knowa 2021 song from the album The Questwhose authorship is currently attributed to guitarist Steve Howe. To put them on the table was another musician, Riz Story (born Rudolph Zahler), who stated that the Yes song would be partly plagiarized from his Reunion.
Davison's words come from the band's official website, where this message appeared yesterday: «Although my instinctive reaction is to say nothing in the face of these blatant lies and this unfounded lawsuit, I feel I must respond to the personal slander included in it, because I am deeply hurt.”
Zahler has in fact called into question Davison, who is not co-author of Dare to Knowsaying that the two met in 1990 through Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and that they worked together on and off for decades, as well as playing with Hawkins in a band called Anyone.
«When we were told this accusation, I couldn't believe it. How could a friend come up with something like that? So I wrote to Riz and his lawyer in good faith, trying to demonstrate that they had no basis for their accusation – and that I had evidence to support a very different story. […] I have also included some observations we made about their musicologist's report – a seriously flawed report that uses deceptive methods to force a similarity that doesn't actually exist.”
The statement continues: “For the record, I did not write Dare to Know. […] I've never even heard the supposedly called “musical composition.” Reunionnor seen the independent film A Winter Rose (in which the song is contained, ed.). Riz sent me a two minute trailer of A Winter Rose and, out of courtesy, I congratulated him, but I had no interest in seeing the film. […] It is also a complete fabrication to say that I discussed the film's music with Riz.”
«As many will know by now, this generic melody is common and predictable, with origins in traditional music dating back even to the Renaissance era. Numerous examples have been given: it is almost identical to the opening guitar riff of Black Magic Woman by Santana or to traditional descending melodies such as Dear My Ben by Tommaso Giordani from 1782. The list is endless. Simply put, it is a basic sequence that can be found in hundreds of compositions.”
And finally: «As for the accusation of “plagiarism”, any insinuation to that effect is a slander, and I will defend my name against both this accusation and any republication of it. I take great pride in the challenge of musical composition. The rewarding part, for me, is proving to myself that I'm capable of it. Because of this, I could never live with myself or derive any satisfaction from the process if I had to cheat to do so.”
