Don Henley - Boys of Summer vs. Queen - Breakthru

No, it's not in your head, there's definitely similarities, but I'd say that's all it is. Just similarities. The part where Don Henley sings "I can see you..." is very similar to where Freddy sings "If I can only reach you...", but the chord progression after those points is different.

Honestly though, you'll find a lot of similarities like this in music, I just don't think it means anything. It doesn't suggest that Queen ripped off Don Henley, it just means they've hit the same note. I'll give you another example, because right away I've heard something else that's very familiar in that song, at around 1:20, the 3 note motif that the keyboardist is playing is practically the same as the opening for Dream Theater's Another Day:



Practically the same thing I think you'll agree, but it's just an extremely simple little 3 note pattern that you could find it in a lot of different songs and different music.

On the note of common repeated patterns in music... Gotta love this: