Rllink
Well-known member
I don't know about the legality of it either, but like you said in a previous post Jim, the whole perspective to the song House of the Rising Sun was changed at some point. And you mentioned Dave Van Ronk, his Hesitation Blues is like that. It isn't anything like Willie Nelson's Hesitation Blues, or anyone else's before him for that matter. A few common phrases, but the whole perspective of the song is different. Willie is gong down to the lake, Dave is standing on a corner. But lots of songs are like that. But back to the legality, I mean, technically you aren't supposed to perform them if you are not licensed. So you go to play an open mic at your local coffee shop and they have a license to cover the premises, are you legally bound to perform your covers exactly as they were originally written, copyrighted, and performed? Are you allowed creative leeway? I don't know. I can promise that I am not doing songs exactly as they were written, even when I'm trying to do some of them exactly like they were written. It certainly is an interesting topic and I wonder how many people are trying to conform to the letter of the law, whatever it is.Nobody owns individual words, but the combination of words that make up the lyrics to a song are owned by the composer. That's the whole basis for copyright laws.
I don't believe you'd get in trouble for changing a few words, but they are the property of the composer.
I often wonder about the work of Homer & Jethro or Weird Al. Do they get permission from the composer?
I know the owners of the rights to Oscar Brown Jr's Snake have asked Donald Trump to stop using their father's lyrics. Good Luck with that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPKg4_uq2Eo
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