Music Group 2021-01-28: Copyright and borrowing
This week's playlist items were submitted by group members.
This is a short clip (about 5 minutes) that compares the Spirit song
"Taurus" to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". Posted by Liz.
A three-way comparison
Here's Mike's contribution. Play all three links, and only then read the
explanatory text below.
Mike put in some separation to help not spoil things.
First, some of you may have recently heard
this.
Now, listen to
this song.
Finally, listen to
this.
Explanatory Text:
Obviously, the first link is Jennifer Lopez singing Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" at the recent Inauguration ceremony. The second is The Carter Family singing "When the World's on Fire", written 10 years before "This Land". The Carter Family used the tune in other songs as well. The third link is the hymn "Oh My Loving Brother", which predated all of the above, and is surely in the public domain.
Guthrie wrote the song's lyrics as a reaction to endlessly hearing Kate Smith singing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". It was intended as a protest song, with original lyrics such as this one in it:
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people —
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me.
[This land was made for you and me.]
When Guthrie wrote the song, he attached a note to the copyright submission with the following language: “anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do”.
In the 80s, I heard Arlo Guthrie and John Prine perform this song as an encore to a fantastic concert at Johns Hopkins. Guthrie (Arlo this time) said that his dad didn't intend for the song to have fixed lyrics, that people should add to it to keep it relevant as a protest anthem. I don't specifically remember them, but he and Prine sang some of the alternate lyrics that Woody had written.
The irony is that there have been two recent court cases, one in 2004 when JibJab used the song for political parody, and another just last year by the group Satorii, who was looking to cover the song
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/arts/music/this-land-is-your-land-copyright.html). In both cases the copyright was upheld (although in the first the parody use was allowed). The copyright is held by The Richmond Corporation, which bought it at some point, and appears to pursue unauthorized use for their own gain. Guthrie's daughter, Nora, is a joint owner of the copyright. Her position is that the preservation of the copyright is to prevent people from co-opting the song for purposes other than her father's original one.
Brahms v. Mrs. Brown
Listen to
Mrs. Brown, You Have a Lovely Daughter by Herman's Hermits (through 01:00).
Then listen to the opening motif of
Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 (through 02:30) The video has no sound until the music starts. Posted by Lewis.
P.S. In response to Mike's post, listen to
Sonata di Chittarra by Giovanni Battista Granata,1621-1687. The relevant riff starts at 00:27; listen through about 00:57. I am fond of this entire sonata.
Same tune, different lyrics
Version 1
Version 2
Posted by Keith.
All playlists