When can one rename a tune?

[jim simpson]

Last night I introduced an instrumental as Blind Girl Regains Sight & Dumps Ugly Boyfriend

[k0k0peli]

Last night I introduced an instrumental as Blind Girl Regains Sight & Dumps Ugly Boyfriend

What was it before?

[sblock]

What was it before?

"I Saw the Light"?!?

[belbein]

mine[/URL]

Love it! I'll be passing it on to my friends in the Atlanta Open Band.

[belbein]

what era in the past you'd say wasn't one "when so much of what one [was] likely to hear [were] rehashed ideas that were stale a while ago". That sounds like something that is pretty universal, sowhen so much of what one is likely to hear are rehashed ideas that were stale a while ago what do you think is different about today's society?

I think this observation--as well as Journeybear's--are, together, the tension that is creativity. We simply cannot produce anything completely new ... if we did, it would be un-understandable by everyone in our culture. Cultural values have limits, which is why we in the west don't "get" Asian music, and vice versa; and why "Eastern" religions seem so unique to us, and monotheism so unique to them. (Obviously, there are people in both places who are educated in the other cultures' language, but as a general rule I mean.) Which means that we're always playing with history like planets play with gravity ... pulling away, being pulled back.

As far as when you can just change the name without changing the tune ... Certainly folk music that's in the public domain can be endlessly re-hashed, and the melodies recycled. Everything Woodie Guthrie did was a rip off of some existing tune. I don't know that anybody complained.* Most of rock is "original" takes on traditional songs, melodies, themes. All of roots music is. I don't know, I just kind of feel that if you can write music, go for it.

As a litigator it is odd for me to say this, but ... people worry too much about litigation.

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* Of course, maybe this isn't all that comforting. He died young and really never had a penny so wasn't worth suing and anyway, he didn't live in the days of Corporate Greed (TM). Maybe he's a bad example of whatever point I thought I was making.

[dhbailey]

Elvis Presley made a fortune out of "Love Me Tender" which is just his words set to the traditional tune "Aura Lee." Whether anybody gave him flak for that or not, I'm sure he laughed all the way to the bank as he cashed royalty check after royalty check.

[Spruce]

As far as when you can just change the name without changing the tune ...

I changed the name of every single fiddle tune on this project, and no one seemed to give a wit...
Not even Byron for re-naming "Gold Rush"...

[journeybear]

Yeah, well, that was then. Now the cat is out of the bag ... Look out!

[Rob Ross]

"As far as when you can just change the name without changing the tune ...
I changed the name of every single fiddle tune on this project, and no one seemed to give a wit...
Not even Byron for re-naming "Gold Rush"... "

Dude! Surf mando! As a surfer who bought his first mandolin at a pawn shop on Main Street, Daytona Beach, just a few blocks from all the biker bars, this (literally) rocks!

[journeybear]

I just wanted to add this to the discussion. I saw a clue on Jeopardy last Monday that incorporated a factoid of which I was unaware. Since the copyright on Webster's Dictionary expired in 1889, anyone can use "Webster" in their dictionary's name. I know, that doesn't sound right, and it sure doesn't seem right, but if it's on Jeopardy, it must be true! It was stated thusly: "Since the 1889 expiry of a copyright, anyone can put out a dictionary & slap this man's name on it." It would take some brass, and a really god story to avoid vilification, but from a strictly legal standpoint ...

As to surf mando .. This ain't exactly that, but my old band did lift "Misirlou" from Dick Dale and reconfigure it to suit our sound. Why? Because we could, and wanted to. And our lead singer/rhythm guitarist was fascinated with rockabilly and surf music.

[FatBear]

That's interesting. Cool interesting, not icky interesting. Kind of Spanish/Moorish/Yiddish/Country. To my disorganized ears anyway. I like it.

[journeybear]

Thanks. I didn't pick up on the Klezmer-ish aspect of this until someone else who'd never seen us live mentioned it. That hadn't occurred to me at any time in the year or so I was playing it. "Misirlou" is an old Greek melody, I think in Phrygian mode (I figured this out once, but I don't phryggin' remember), which is similar enough to what Klezmer musicians use, and certainly exotic-sounding enough to American ears.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Then there was "My Sweet Lord"...

[Eddie Sheehy]

There's a saying: "Good composers borrow... Great composers steal..."

[jaycat]

There's a saying: "Good composers borrow... Great composers steal..."

From the Chiffons?

[journeybear]

Harrison got hosed. I hear the similarity, and I understand that legally it met the burden of proof. But I think it's more different than similar. Not that my opinion matters ...

[Eddie Sheehy]

From the Chiffons?

If you steal from the obscure you might get away with it...

[journeybear]

"He's So Fine" was a #1 hit for four weeks. Hardly obscure. And also very catchy. So when the suit was brought, it was pretty easy for the general public to understand.

Check this out:

On February 10, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation [owner of the copyright] filed suit alleging that the current George Harrison hit "My Sweet Lord" was a plagiarism of "He's So Fine". The case did not go to trial until February 1976 when the judge ruled on the liability portion of the suit in favor of Bright Tunes, determining that Harrison had committed "subconscious" plagiarism. The suit to determine damages was scheduled for November 1976 but delayed until February 1981, by which time Allen Klein, Harrison's onetime manager who had been his legal adviser in the first phase of the suit, had become the plaintiff by virtue of purchasing Bright Tunes. The final decision was that Harrison himself would purchase Bright Tunes from Klein for $587,000—the amount Klein had paid for the corporation—and although litigation continued for at least ten more years that decision was upheld.

The crafty little devil! Yet another reason to despise the conniving so-and-so!

And:

In 1975 the Chiffons would record a version of "My Sweet Lord", attempting to capitalize on the publicity generated by the lawsuit.

That's hilarious!