Random Question about Kellie Pickler

Entertainment Weekly included a song from Kellie Pickler among its selections for the Ultimate American Idol playlist.

The title of the song – “Rocks Instead of Rice” –  caught my attention. Take a listen:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5habfvPIwcQ

Here’s my question. Which of the following two songs does Pickler’s track rip off more:

Dolly Parton’s “I Don’t Want to Throw Rice”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg8VY2a0axo

or

Lee Ann Womack’s “I’ll Think of a Reason Later”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhebAYI1Ydg

I side with Parton, though that reference to her thoughts not being Christian sounds pretty darn similar to the chorus from Womack’s hit.

While we’re on the subject, which song is the best of the three?

27 Comments

  1. I think Kellie’s song is most like Dolly’s song.

    However, I think Kellie’s song is the best. And I don’t think Kellie purposely ripped off Parton or Womack. She wraps up the idea the best, and I think “I’ll Think of a Reason Later” is pretty darn catchy and funny (reminscent of Taylor Swift’s unreleased “Permanent Marker”), but Pickler’s song is better than Dolly’s. Now that’s just my opinon. Dolly’s a legend, but that doesn’t mean all her songs are amazing. And although the reference is alike, it’s common for people to say they’d rather throw rocks instead of rice.

    Go Pickler!

  2. Well, I’m listening to Kellie’s song a lot lately. Just yesterday I showed the song to a friend of mine, cause I’m getting really addicted into it! And everytime I hear it reminds me of “I’ll Think of a Reason Later”, cause both of them talk about envy… The subject is how they’re hate the girl, as Dolly’s songs was written around the fact that she loves the man.

    In fact, I didn’t know Dolly’s song, so obviously I didn’t relate it to Kellie’s song. Till now!

    I can’t say which is the best… Dolly is great at songwriting and this song sounds really good, though I’m not familiarized with it. Womack’s song is great too, and sound very true, even though that’s not the kind of material we expect to come from Lee Ann. And as I said, I’m getting addicted to Pickler’s song, and she looks like she’s like that. She’s a little crazy, and her songs usually shows it (see Going Out In Style, the first time I heard it I got shocked!). Hard choice here…

  3. I would have to say vocally it’s a lot like Lee Ann Womack’s. I think she throws the twang on a little heavy in the same way Lee Ann does in that particular song, making it sound kind of fake (normally I love Lee Ann’s voice, but I don’t think that’s one of her better preformances). I wouldn’t neccesarily think that was on purpose, until you throw in the not being Christian-like comparison.

    However, I think it’s more like Dolly Parton’s lyrically, and considering the fact that Dolly is her favorite singer it seems too similar to be a coincidence.

    The Dolly one is defenitly not very high up on my list of songs by her and the Picker one just seems dumb to me. I like the Lee Ann Womack one the best, but still it seems like a waste for her to sing that when she has shown she can do so much better. I doubt she would sing it at this point in her career.

  4. This is kind of off-topic, but does anyone notice that the chorus of David Lee Murphy’s “Loco” sounds a lot like Lee Ann’s song?

  5. It definetly ripes off Dolly’s song the most.

    The worst of the three of them is Kellie’s song. Her voice s incredibly annoying in this song. I think Lee Ann’s song is the funniest of the three, but Dolly’s is my favorite. I find there’s something about her voice in that song that makes me like it more than Lee Ann’s.

  6. D. L. Murphy “I might be a little bit loco (pause) but it keeps me from loosin’ my mind”
    L. A. WOmack “She may be an angel that spends all winter (pause) bringin’ the homeless blankets and dinner”

    Good call SD, never thought of that before.

  7. What an idiotic post. No wonder you haven’t found a real job, Kevin.

    Any loser can play this pathetic game with just about any song. But it takes a real loser to blog about it.

    For what it’s worth, Kellie’s “Rocks Instead of Rice” is far and away the best of the three.

  8. Dolly wrote this song Waaaay back in the 60’s – before she signed with Porter or RCA. It showed up on her Monument releases, which are really not up to par on what Dolly usually writes – especially comparing it with her early 70’s songwriting masterpieces.

    Dolly sang a very short clip of it when her and Kenny were doing a backstage “dumb song” segment of their HBO concert special, and Dolly quipped “I’m gonna throw rice, but I’m gonna cook it first!”

  9. Lyrically, “Rocks Instead of Rice” bears a closer resemblance to Dolly’s song. Melodically, the chorus of “Rocks Instead of Rice” owes a great deal to Keith Urban’s “You Look Good in My Shirt” — the melody of first two lines of Kellie’s chorus comes straight from the verses of Keith’s song, and the last line of Kellie’s chorus comes straight from the last line of Keith’s chorus.

    My favorite of the three is probably Lee Ann’s. Kellie’s is the funniest because it is the most shamelessly catty and it captures a sensibility that I’ve always liked about her, but I’m bothered by its wholesale derivativeness. My completely unsupported speculation is that the main reason “Rocks Instead of Rice” was not sent out as the lead single of Kellie’s sophomore album (despite being catchier and more Kellie than “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful”) is that “You Look Good in My Shirt” was out at the time and the similarities would have been too obvious.

  10. Seriously, Kevin, I’m glad the apple falls so far from the alleged tree.

    And to “Kevin’s mom” – congrats on representing Kellie Pickler’s fans with the least amount of class possible. I’m sure Kellie and the other fans really appreciate it. By the way, information about Kevin’s “real job” and the Comment Policy you just violated can be found here.

  11. And incidentally, my favorite of the three is the Womack song. I’ve always thought that was very cute and very honest. I love that little “did I mention I don’t…particularly care for her?” bit.

    I don’t know whether the rocks v. rice thing is fairly common or not, but I had never heard of it when I heard Pickler’s song, and I found it a little shifty when I heard people bring up that that Parton song (which I wasn’t familiar with) had already used the same central idea. It could be a rip-off, I don’t know. I’d like to think not.

    In any case, I don’t much care for the Pickler song. Just don’t think it’s written or performed very funnily.

  12. Leeann, I find your lack of taste for Womack fascinating. :) I guess she’s not one of my favorite female artists either, though. I usually find her material either boring or totally awesome, so I still take her on a song-by-song basis, I guess.

  13. Dan, I don’t understand why I don’t like her music much. She’s one of those artists that I want to like, but just end up finding boring. It’s not her voice; I like her voice. So, I guess it just leaves the songs, huh? I’m fascinated by it myself.

  14. It’s a blatant rip-off of Dolly’s song, though she’s clearly mimicking Womack’s vocal style. It pales in comparison to either song, but Dolly’s is my favorite of the three.

  15. I don’t hear any rip off. It’s called musical influences. Might as well stop writing love and cheating songs too since there are so many huh?

    Kellie’s song is the best though the recorded song isn’t as strong as the live version. Might be the producer’s doing. She sounds better live on most of the songs, no protools messing with her flawless vocals.

  16. The fact that someone turned “I’ll Think of a Reason Later” into a soundtrack for a One Tree Hill storyline–and that you found it and posted it–totally made my night. Hilarious.

  17. Dan Milliken:

    Making false accusations, whick Kevin is doing here, is as classless as it gets.

    As someone who monitors message boards, I will tell you that most boards ban people that post lies.

    I truly believe in taking out the trash, so that’s always been my policy as well.

    Kevin would be banned on my board, and you likely wouldn’t last long either because I’m not fond of toadies.

  18. The Last Word,

    If you can prove anything Kevin said in the post false, by all means, present your evidence. But anyone here is fully entitled to speculate that the song is a rip-off. Little thing called the First Amendment, maybe you’ve heard of it.

    And your board sounds fascist. Congrats.

  19. Maybe I’m taking this all too seriously, but I just wish everyone would stop with the acccusations…against Kellie, against Kevin and whomever.

    Song similarities do not necessarily mean plagarism,.. influence and/or co-incidence are just as likely (if not more so) explanations for such similarites…

    Now I realize Kevin was not actually making a formal “charge” of plagarism against KP, but even a lighthearted suggestion of rip-off deserves more evidence than side by side videos for comparison. But it was certainly not a “lie”..an unfair or innacurate allegation perhaps, but not a lie.

    As I recall, John Fogerty actually went to court with a very technical defense to prove he didn’t plagarize HIMSELF, this is how ridiculous this rocky road can get. Charges of plagarism, even lighthearted ones, should not be made lightly. ;)

    Also, I thought it very unfair when someone else made an accusation of plagarism against Taylor Swift on another thread, and made it with very little evidence. But this accusation went unchallenged on that thread. Hopefully it was because no one wanted to dignify the ridiculous accusations with a response.

    Doesn’t our system of justice, (or at the very least our culture of fair play,) put the burden of proof on the accuser to provide evidence of guilt, as opposed to the defendant or the accused to provide evidence of innocence? That seems to be getting lost here.

    And regarding “Kevin’s Mom”…seems I’ve heard her using that opening line before..a running gag perhaps? I’m starting to think she may be a recurring character in this Country Universe drama… ;)

  20. OK, I take it back,…Kellie’s song rips off Dolly’s, the rocks ‘n rice and all. :D

    But I like the LAW song best of all…One of the few I really enjoy from her!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.