I remember when Paul Hardcastle was successfully sued for ripping off (I think) Tubular Bells on his hit 19. I couldn't see it myself until a radio station played specific bits from the two pieces of music and then if I did the aural equivalent of squinting I could just nearly hear the similarity.

This is blatant though.

"The devil take your stereo and your record collection" indeed. I think we now know that Adam had a bit of Rolf in that record collection.

Ridicule is nothing to be scared of.

I think you might find this is one of those cases where Rolf himself isn't sure whether he authored it or not. Probably one of those tunes that goes back into the mists of history.

While the Rolf Harris website claims copyright for War Canoe, it sounds like one of those tunes handed down over the centuries. Both Rolf Harris and Adam Ant have shown a knowledge of tribal music, to some degree or other.

For the record, via Wikipedia *and* absolute astronomy, (which curiously use exactly the same wording):
"A war canoe is a watercraft of the canoe type designed and outfitted for warfare, and which is found in various forms in many world cultures. In modern times, such designs have become adapted as a sport, and "war canoe" can mean a type of flatwater racing canoe."

the Drummers of Burundi are the injured party in both cases.

Rolf has a much better case than the copyright owners of the Kookaburra song, who took Men At Work to court earlier this year for supposedly ripping it off for "Down Under":

by Jim Moray

only slightly related - but I've been looking for an excuse to point out the brilliance of this story of modern folklore