Via a bunch of people, including Waxy, we have an interesting weblog post about a musical theme from Super Mario Bros, and how it may possibly have been 'borrowed' from an older funk record.

It's noted: "A while back, while digging through LA’s now closed Aaron’s Records, I ran across a Record from “Friendship”, and I recognized the bassists name, “Abraham Laboriel”. I remembered a buddy of mine telling me that Abe was a “sick bassist”, and at 99 cents, i couldn’t resist. So I bring my loot home, and pop it on my technics. The very first track I played is called “The Real Thing”. I was instantly floored. I couldn’t believe my ears. I was listening to a funked out version of Super Mario Brothers “Underworld” theme."

The MP3 comparing them is there on the page, and commenter 'Olli' is the most intriguing of the blog respondents: "Video games really wasn’t considered that big a deal by anyone over the age of 20 in 1985, certainly not enough to sue over musical similarities. it wasn’t uncommon in those days for vg composers to borrow parts of pop melodies for game soundtracks because there was virtually no risk involved. this is only a small bit of the melody that’s similar though... koji kondo may very well be a fan of friendship, i know he borrowed bits of songs by three suns and other space age pop bands for super mario world and yoshi’s island."