In 1976, former Beatle George Harrison was
ordered to pay damages of nearly $1.6 million
after a court ruled that his song “My Sweet Lord”
had copied musical pieces of the Chiffons’ 1963
hit “He’s So Fine,” written by Ronnie Mack. The
battle went on for years and the damages were
later reduced.
In 2015, songwriter Sam Smith agreed to
share the royalties for his song “Stay With
Me” with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, whose
1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down” had melodies
similar enough to also give Petty and Lynne
co-writing credits.
The list of disputes based on musical similarity
goes on: Radiohead (“Creep,” 1992) and Lana Del
Ray (“Get Free,” 2017); Huey Lewis and the News
(“I Want a New Drug,” 1984) and Ray Parker Jr.
(“Ghostbusters,” 1984). And many more.
Advertisers recognize the power of the
American songbook, too. “Bonaparte’s Retreat,”
appropriated by Aaron Copland after being
recorded in the field by musicologist Alan Lomax
through the fiddler W.H. Stepp, showed up in
a recent ad from the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association. The old tune “Turkey in the Straw”
was used in the 1970s and 1980s as an ad for
Murphy’s Oil Soap.
And several Decembers ago, when I sang “Jingle
Bells,” my young son objected. “That’s not a
Christmas song,” he said indignantly. “That’s
Elmo’s song from the end of his show.” And so it
was. Who’s to say I’m any more right than he is?
The wholesale expropriation of music on such a
large scale is unprecedented and can be roundly
blamed on — or credited to — two things:
technologyandglobalization.
Image: Guy Levy
c. jardin
(C. Jardin)
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