Yusef Islam, better known to fans of most of his work as Cat Stevens, told U.K. tabloid The Sun the song bears more than a passing resemblance to one of his.

“There’s been this argument about Coldplay stealing this melody from Joe Satriani, but, if you listen to it, it’s mine! It’s the “Foreigner Suite,” it is!,” Yusuf told the paper.

What’s really interesting here is this is the third time Coldplay has been accused of stealing the melody for “Viva la Vida.”

Satriani filed a lawsuit against Coldplay last year, claiming the band had ripped off his 2004 song “If I Could Fly” and Brooklyn band Creaky Boards accused them of copying their song, “Songs I Didn’t Write,” after Chris Martin attended one of the band’s shows.

Yusuf hasn’t said whether or not he’ll take Martin and company to court, but since Coldplay albums tend to sell better than Yusef Islam albums, it’s probably safe to assume he will.

As The Sun points out, Martin’s case probably isn’t helped much by this 2005 statement to Rolling Stone I’m betting he wishes he could take back:

“We’re good, but I don’t think we’re that original. I regard us as being incredibly good plagiarists.

Doh!

While there is a similarity between the two songs, I think it’s questionable whether this is really plagiarism. After all, there are only so many musical notes, so it’s kind of inevitable that melodies are going to sound alike. In fact, that’s what makes it possible for club DJs to do what they do. They find songs with similar or complementing melodies and mix them together.

Here’s another interesting question to consider: Since “Foreigner Suite” predates “If I Could Fly” by 30 years, does that mean Satriani ripped off a Cat Stevens track?

Here are both songs so you can judge for yourself. The portion of the 18 minute “Foreigner Suite” in question starts about 14:33 into the song. The section of the Coldplay song with the strongest similarities is the chorus.