“Who knew that I would earn more money from a short guitar riff than I ever earned in 50 years as a member of Roxy Music?”: Phil Manzanera on being sampled on Kanye West and Jay-Z track
“Thank you, Kanye West, thank you Jay-Z, thank you Virgin and Universal, and thank you to the capricious mistress that is rock ‘n’ roll.”
Images: Scott Dudelson (L) and Gus Stewart (R) / Getty
A guitar riff by musician and producer Phil Manzanera that he “forgot all about” was once sampled in a song by Kanye West and Jay-Z, leading to him earning more money than he ever did during his time as a guitarist in English rock band, Roxy Music.
The sample is taken from the title track of his 1976 solo album K-Scope, and can be heard on the song No Church In The Wild from West and Jay-Z’s 2011 album, Watch The Throne. In his new book, Revolución To Roxy, Manzanera has recalled how he found out about the sample.
An extract of the book shared by inews (via MusicRadar) reveals that Manzanera was contacted by a representative of Roc-A-Fella Records, who informed him of the sample which had been sourced by 88-Keys. “Delving as deep as I knew how into the furthest recesses of my memory, I vaguely recalled being near the end of recording and at a loss for something new to play,” writes Manzanera.
“One evening I’d been sitting on the sofa and noodling with my guitar when I came across this riff which I quite liked. I played it only a few times, recorded it in the studio the next day, and then forgot all about it.”
After originally thinking that the call from the representative was a mix-up, Manzanera returned a call to the business affairs department at Virgin and spoke to an executive. “I told her about the phone call from Roc-A-Fella Records and asked if she knew anything about it. ‘Oh yes we know about it,’ she said cheerfully, ‘we’ve been discussing it with them for weeks.’”
Apparently, they didn’t need his permission to use the sample because the label owned the copyright, but the executive explained that negotiations had taken place and that he would receive a third of the royalties from sales of the track.
“Who knew that I would earn more money from a short guitar riff that I wrote one evening on a sofa in front of the telly in 1978 than I ever earned in the entire 50 years as a member of Roxy Music?” he says in the book. “Thank you, Kanye West, thank you Jay-Z, thank you Virgin and Universal, and thank you to the capricious mistress that is rock ‘n’ roll.”
The topic of West and sampling has been a point of prominent discussion in recent months. The rap artist has been criticised by Ozzy Osbourne for allegedly using an unauthorised sample from a performance of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. Donna Summer’s estate has also accused West of using an alleged unauthorised interpolation of the late singer’s 1977 hit I Feel Love.
