The Death of Music Folklore
NPR covers the history of the song, Old Man, taking listeners back to December 14, 1941. I thought it was interesting to see how the song lived over time; as the story reads pieces of the song can be heard earlier in 1939, and even before that in the 1800s. Evidence shows that the song was in “folklore tradition,” passed down over time and morphed for what was current.
You can take an abstruse concept like "social conscious" - something we can't see, like the emotion "anger" and make it visible through something like this - an old song that is passed on evoking the thoughts and emotion of a time - just like watching "anger" in a person’s face distort so visibly.
Recently I read about British rockers The Verve and the sad tale of the ironically titled song we all know, Bittersweet Symphony:
The Verve, a popular British band that scored a major worldwide hit in 1997 with "Bittersweet Symphony." The Verve negotiated a license to use a five-note sample from an orchestral version of one of the Rolling Stones' lesser hits, "The Last Time," and received clearance from Decca Records. After "Bittersweet Symphony" became a hit single, the group was sued by former Stones manager Allen Klein (who owns the copyrights to the band's pre-1970 songs because of aggressive business practices). He claimed the Verve broke the agreement when they supposedly used a larger portion than was covered in the license, something the group vehemently disputed.
The Verve layered nearly fifty tracks of instrumentation, including novel string arrangements, to create a distinctly new song. In fact, the song's signature swirling orchestral melody was recorded and arranged by The Verve; the sample from the instrumental record is largely buried under other tracks in the chorus. The band eventually settled out of court and handed over 100 percent of their songwriting royalties because it seemed cheaper than fighting for a legal ruling that might not end in their favor. As if things couldn't have gotten worse, they were then sued by another old Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham. Klein went after the Verve for infringing on the songwriting copyright, which he owned, but Oldham possessed the copyright on the sampled sound recording. They totally lost everything.
Not only couldn't the Verve earn money from their biggest hit, they were stripped of control of their song. For instance, after the group refused Nike’s request to use "Bittersweet Symphony" in an ad, the shoe manufacturer aired the song after it purchased a license from Allen Klein. "The last thing in the world I wanted was for one of my songs to be used in a commercial," the despondent lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft said. "I'm still sick about it." In one final kick in the groin, "Bittersweet Symphony" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Song category, which honors songwriters. Because the unfavorable settlement transferred the Verve’s copyright and songwriting credit to Klein and the Rolling Stones, the Grammy nomination went to "Mick Jagger and Keith Richards." Ashcroft quipped that it was "the best song Jagger and Richards have written in twenty years." He then suffered from a nervous breakdown and the group broke up.
It makes me think of how Hip Hop has changed over time as well – what used to be a sample rich language in music where young folks would rediscover their parents'1 sounds has been stripped of sampling because of copyright concern. Instead of something like The Digable Planets from last decade, where we'd get horn riffs and old funk dietary supplements to what was current, now I usually hear short, simple instrumentals or a skankish vocalist singing a chorus over a drumb machine.
What we walk away from is folklore, and the ability to hear the sounds of the past. The folklore will continue of course, regardless of how litigious and greedy people become, it just won't be out there for everyone - and that is tragic indeed.
1Unless your parents, like mine, didn't have much in the way of Pop. Don't even ask what they listened to...
12:34:17 AM 
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