And if I have to dig/listen that hard to hear it (I love both songs, have listened to both countless times) then I'm thinking it doesn't really fit the criteria presented in the OP. In other words the similarities should immediately jump out at you. These two songs don't do that IMO. But I guess since it's 1:1 we should let others chime in.

But yes - 1-9-9-9 is the far superior song. It's one of my all-timers in fact.