I saw “Moneyball” this weekend. It’s an excellent movie, but I still think Michael Lewis’ book is even better. My suggestion: Go read the book. Then go see the movie.
But one thing the movie has, which the book doesn’t, is a subplot involving Beane’s 12-year-old daughter. In the movie the daughter sings and plays guitar, and the song she writes becomes kind of an anthem for her father.
The song, called “The Show,” was actually written by a singer-songwriter named Lenka and released in 2008. Here’s Kerris Dorsey’s cover (she’s the actress who plays the daughter), in a video that looks like a trailer for the movie:
Lovely song, eh? But since I’m a hobbyist musician, I spend a lot of time listening to music, and I thought it sounded familiar. Like, really familiar. Like, substitute-other-lyrics-on-top-of-existing-song familiar.
Which existing song? “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz (first released in 2005):
I took a look at the chords, and they’re not the same (though I think they’re both using variations on the I-IV-V chord progressions). Then I compared the first two lines:
“The Show”:
I’m just a little bit caught in the middle
Life is a maze and love is a riddle
“I’m Yours””
Well uh you dawned on me and you bet I felt it,
I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted,
Similar number of syllables, similar meter. You could easily sing those four lines as a single verse.
Hmm.
First Person Irregular 
I thought it sounded a lot like “Anyone Else But You” from “Juno” (2007): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeqqHjyWWtI
Yes. Chronology (if Wikipedia data is accurate): 1. “Anyone Else But You” by The Moldy Peaches (released in 2001, and later sung by Michael Cera and Ellen Page in the 2007 film “Juno”). 2. “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz (recorded in 2004/2007, released various dates 2005-2008). 3. “The Show” by Lenka (released in 2008, and later sung by Kerris Dorsey in the 2011 film “Moneyball”). Of these, my favorite is “Anyone Else But You” and how it was used in “Juno” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBDbUVXXp-U).
I’ve just seen the movie and looked for the song because I liked it. Then I found this blog and understood why the song from Jason Mraz came to my mind out of nowhere…
Thank you !!! The Jason Mraz
Thank you for this! I was thinking it was very familiar and it was really bugging me. A quick Google search later and I find this and now I’m at peace again.
I heard the same similarity…I love both films but thought this aspect was a bit beyond coincidence…
Can we talk about for a second that Moneyball takes place in 2002 and that song came out in 2008
I saw the movie last night on TV
When she started singing I thought she was singing a Jason Mraz song and then thought they changed a few words to have “The Show” as that is what my MLB buddies call it
I knew it reminded me of an existing song. I coudlnt remember the name so I googled and got here. It was “anyone else but you”.
Thanks! I thought that it sounded like a Mraz song. It’s nice to know I’m not crazy!
The songs have nothing in common. And the syllables don’t match up either. Jason Mraz has a 11 syllables to 13 and the show have 11 to 10. Clearly not a hobbyist of music.
seriously? It’s an existing song. She sung an existing song. Called ‘The Show’.
Put down the magnifying glass Holmes.
This post is abject nonsense 😂 Just because two songs have the same meter (which is a questionable claim in this case) does *not* mean that they’re “copycats” as you put it.
I felt it was familiar as well. Thing is it was a child who is depicted as discovering music in the movie, and was fit well into the context of the movie’s Daughter/Dad relationship. I thought it was a heart felt moment as the two were in the music store (and I can be hyper critical of movies). Remember when you were a kid “diddling” on whatever instrument you were trying to master and how many of your “songs” were the exact same as this? I do. Thanks for the research, it was annoying me, now I know!