Songwriters must be careful when they have songs that are "styled" after a certain artist. Today, a jury awarded Marvin Gaye's estate more than seven million dollars in a copyright infringement against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for the song "Blurred Lines". (Marvin Gaye's song was from 1977..."Got To Give It Up".)
Recently, it was decided that the song from Sam Smith, "Stay With Me" was very similar to "I Won't Back Down" which was written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne *(performed by Tom Petty AND with guitar by George Harrison!) There is a nice article in The Rolling Stone Magazine, you may read it just here. Instead of a lawsuit, Smith has given Petty and Lynne co-writing credit for the song and a small percentage of the profits. It stands to reason you shouldn't mess with songwriters who have a song titled "I Won't Back Down"! Just kidding, read that article, Tom Petty could not be any nicer about the subject. Peace and love!
*Jeff Lynne from ELO, you know I have that English connection somehow!
Found a video of one of my Dad's favorites (and my son's too!) Johnny Cash singing "I Won't Back Down" with backing vocals from Tom Petty! What wonderful talent on one record! The lyrics take front and center in this video. I am laughing as I type this, as this is just what my husband said when he heard this from my computer but he is right, of course, and I do agree with him. It is almost like a hymn when Johnny Cash sings it.
I made my Dad my peanut butter cookies this weekend, my "Miracle" cookies. They are called that since they don't have any flour in the recipe. The name amused him AND he enjoyed the cookies!
See, I not only can make good cookies for folks but can make them chuckle at the same time!
And does anyone remember my confusion over the red tailed hawk and the red shouldered hawk?
When I was at my Dad's, we had a big bird of prey fly over us, and I knew it was a hawk...I asked my Dad if he could recognize it and he said, "YES, that's a red tailed hawk!"
"How can you tell?", I asked him.
"The red tailed hawk is BIGGER!" was his reply.
I need to have my Dad around when I am writing my blog posts about nature!
And hey! In the midst of my stressful working life, I won a book from Nana Diana in one of her giveaways. (And if you want to have some great laughs, you MUST NOT miss her blog!)
I will tell you about the book very soon! Don't you love those bright spots in the dreary times?
You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won't back down.
 |
| Downy Woodpecker...this is NOT a Red Tailed Hawk! |
Thanks, Kay, for the mention. Glad you got the book. I will let Jettie know you got it.
ReplyDeleteI love Johnny Cash, too. Did you ever see the Columbo episode he made? It was a good one.
Hope you have a great night, Kay...and Don't Back Down. xo Diana
Yes! Thank you, I will send her a thank you note too!
DeleteDid you ever see Johnny Cash in the movie "Murder In Coweta County"? It was based on a true story here in Georgia, it was a sad case of murder but Johnny Cash played the hero Sherriff. (And Andy Griffith played the bad guy!)
No, I won't back down either! LOL.
xx
Even when singing covers, Johnny Cash always made a song his own!
ReplyDeleteI know, I was just amazed at his interpretation of this song!
DeleteI hear so many songs that remind me of other songs. i am surprised that there are not more of these kinds of lawsuits. How hard it must be to arrange notes and words to have a new and unique piece.
ReplyDeleteThese things happen, as Tom Petty says...but if they do, then both parties need to come to an agreement that suits both. It's only fair.
DeleteGreat Johnny Cash song, Kay....And a good picture of a downy woodpecker though I am not fond of them. They are always trying to make holes in our cedar siding!
ReplyDeleteOh no, Kristi! You must wince every time you hear one!
DeleteGlad you like the song too! :-)
Listening to the song now while I am typing my comment.
ReplyDeleteYou know I love your Dad, and too right he enjoyed your miracle cookies - they are very good, as I know from my own experience :-)
Did you know that many years ago, Michael Jackson was sued by an Italian singer (Albano) because he'd nicked from one of his songs? This is probably little known in the US, but I remember it being all over Italian telly (back in the day when I was still part of a Sicilian family). In the end, Jackson had to fork out a substantial sum. To my knowledge, the two musicians have never met in person.
Yes! I remember when you made the Miracle Cookies too and did a post about them!
DeleteI just looked it up, about the suit by Albano. It said that although the lower court ruled in favor of Albano, the suit was later dismissed.
I don't see why Michael Jackson would steal from anyone, I think he was a musical genius.
Ah, see, I never followed up with the story back then and didn't know the suit was dismissed.
DeleteI, too, think that MJ was a musical genius! Some of his songs are high up on my list of all-time favourites.
Love Johnny Cash. Classical composers overlap each other so often. I'm glad this had a happy ending. It's a tribute to the love of music.
ReplyDeleteHappy endings and love of music, that sounds like a good thing.
DeleteIt does seem a bit odd to me, after all there are a limited number of notes and only so many ways to arrange them aren't there! xx
ReplyDeleteWhen you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything!
DeleteAnd write most anything too, I guess.
The Johnny Cash song made me think of work..one of our Docs just loves him and plays his music in the OR. I like his older stuff...his last album, not so much! I make those cookies every so often and enjoy them...great for those with a gluten allergy! We have tons of hawks that fly over daily...I'll have to see if I can tell them apart! ( I doubt it!)
ReplyDeleteHa, I will have to send my Dad to you for a visit, he will help you out with the hawk ID!
DeleteLove Johnny Cash, in his last recordings his voice was so worn out, but even then, I still liked it. Such deep feeling in his songs, I really like him too.
Sounds like a great song for you at this particularly stressful time at work. I've had times like that and know what a difference a little thoughtfulness can make. Hope your Wednesday if a wonderful one !
ReplyDeleteYes, because we like to LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE!! :-)
DeleteThanks for being a bright spot for me! x
I wouldn't mind having one of those cookies.
ReplyDeleteThey are good and they make your house smell wonderful!
DeleteI thought Tom Petty was very gracious about it all. I was reading an article many months ago at Flavorwire about a performer who had sampled an Eagle song and he couldn't understand why they were so upset about it. He said it would give their song more publicity and that they should be flattered. Many people commented and agreed, I was outraged.
ReplyDeleteIt's too hard to write songs, there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that goes into it. I have great respect for songwriters. You might have noticed this about me!
DeleteIn my case, best to just enjoy Mr. Cash and leave the legal stuff to someone else to argue.
ReplyDeleteYes, let's enjoy music and hope it all gets sorted out to everyone's satisfaction. :-)
DeleteHi Kay
ReplyDeleteQuite a coincidence. I played Cash's I won't back down as recently as..........last night!
Thoroughly enjoyed Chistopher's articles on beer.
Kind Regards
Henry
Hey Henry!
DeleteThat does not surprise me one bit that you were listening to that Johnny Cash song, great minds think alike!
If you can think of anything beer related, just let me know and I will send the message along to C! Glad you liked his articles, he gets his writing talent from Richard, which you already know.
Love to Sarah and to your Mum & Dad x
I was so surprised at that ruling when I heard it on the news. That's a slippery slope. I do adore Johnny Cash and loved that you included his version of "I Won't Back Down"!!! Clara & I were sitting at an intersection today and there was a big bald eagle flying in massive circles above us. We couldn't believe it and were so excited. It's like the one time ever when we didn't want the light to change! :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad you like Johnny Cash too!
DeleteOH! I have never seen a bald eagle in flight! If I had seen that, I think I would have tried to pull over somewhere to watch it...but hey, that's just me! I love that you are passing the love of birds along to your girls. :-)
As I looked around that intersection, of course everyone else was on their phone. It made me sad to think of what they were missing! You are sweet to mention me in your post ~ you're my first and most devoted blogging friend. So thankful for you, Kay! XOXO
DeleteThere's a lot of that goes on, sometimes deliberately, but often sub- consciously. It's been observed by many that K.P seemed to "borrow" heavily from Russian group Tatu for the recent hit single Extra-terrestrial and English post punk group Elastica did the same with Wire. Only one had to settle out of court. Johnny Cash is a one off though.
ReplyDeleteYup! I do hear the similarities in the songs. I did love Johnny Cash.
ReplyDeleteI hear lots of songs which sound similar to others. In fact there's one out at the moment where the intro makes me think another song is about to start. It makes you wonder where they draw the line. Your cookies sound delicious! x
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