When Yes released “The Ice Bridge,” the lead single from their 2021 The Quest, fans pointed out that it was similar to a composition by the English musician Francis Monkman. Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes addressed the issue, saying elements from “The Ice Bridge” were “sourced” from a Monkman piece that Downes “mistakenly assumed” was one of his own library pieces. Monkman was then given songwriting credit on “The Ice Bridge.” Now, Yes are being sued for copyright infringement over “Dare To Know,” the second single from The Quest. Riz Story has accused the prog rock legends of stealing portions of a song he wrote called “Reunion,” which was featured in his 2014 film A Winter Rose.
According to the suit filed in Los Angeles Wednesday, Story — real name Rudolph Zahler — met Yes singer Jon Davison in 1990 through their mutual friend, the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. Zahler says the three of them performed in a band together when they were in their early 20s, and that Davison asked him to co-write songs for Yes in 2013. That was around the time Zahler was writing “Reunion”; Zahler claims Davison had complimented him on the song before secretly bringing it to Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
“Mr. Davison decided to just ‘steal’ Mr. Zahler’s song ‘Reunion’ for the album, rather than getting Mr. Zahler’s permission,” the lawsuit reads. “[They] decided to add lyrics to the music, affix the name ‘Dare To Know’ to the song, and attribute sole songwriting credit to Mr. Howe.” The suit says Zahler hired expert musicologist Dr. Ethan Lustig to compare both songs. He determined they have “a pitch similarity percentage of 96%, which is extremely high,” and that “Dare To Know” is “directly based” on “Reunion.”
“Both songs feature near-identical melodic and rhythmic patterns in their melodies,” Lustig said according to the complaint. “The fact that both songs feature such strong melodic and rhythmic similarities on top of also using the same distinctive harmonic sequence creates a very strong similarity that would be extremely unlikely to occur by chance alone.” The suit asks for monetary damages and an injunction requiring Yes to “accord Mr. Zahler sole writing credit for the music in defendants’ ‘Dare To Know’ version of ‘Reunion.’”
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Yes wrote in a statement to Stereogum: “This is vindictive, defamatory, delusional garbage. It will be vigorously defended.”
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