Was listening to music from the early 70s the other day and I came across “The Air that I Breathe”, written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. It’s performed by the Hollies below.

The “Air that I Breathe” was a song from my childhood. I have memories of lying down in the back seat of the car, my head next to the speaker and looking out the window – watching the sky change and treetops passing by.

“The Air that I Breathe” is a good sunset song.

I love hearing influences in music. When I really listen, I’ll call out influences  – Oh! Neil Young! Do you hear it? “Down by the River” or – The Beatles! there – “Dear Prudence”. 

I wonder how much of what we listen to or read or look at influences our own creative work. I’ve always been choosy about what I subject myself to because there are certain things I just don’t want hanging out in my subconscious mind-space. (Facebook snuck itself in there for a while though, and I think it’s had a flattening effect on my creativity. Perhaps a post for another day).

When I heard “The Air that I Breathe” I swore I’d heard it recently. Then I thought – aha! Radiohead.

I guess other people thought it sounded similar, too. According to wikipedia – the 1992 Radiohead song “Creep” uses a similar chord progression as “The Air That I Breathe”.^[3] As a result, Hammond and Hazlewood sued Radiohead for plagiarism and won.^[4][5]

All that I know is I like both songs and am glad they were written.