Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 21:25:49 -0500 (EST)
From: mn13189@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU
Subject: Re: minstrel: filk and stuff
In-Reply-To: <01BDF1EB.72023DC0.lnktheriot@csi.com>
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>  This is "borrowing" more than the tune, and is a practice I 
> feel should be discouraged.  The parody loophole only gets you so far - it 
[snip]> 
> Quite beyond mundane considerations of copyright, even plagiarizing-filking 
> songs in the public domain shows a lack of original thought.  If you are 
[snip]
> explain to someone who thought a piece of mine "wasn't done" and offered to 
> write "a few more verses" that yes, it WAS done, and if she had another 
> story to tell she could write her own.

I am certainly glad that Robert Burns didn't klive in the 20th cenntury
and wasn't worried about "borrowing" tunes and in some cases large chunks
of lyrics from other sources, sometimes traditional, somtimes not.  
If that were the case then literature would be depricved of all the
wonderful songs that he "improved" in his career.  A sad loss indeed...

He heard songs that were ok, average, and said, I could make them better.
He did not write all of his songs, but  he
perfected many existing songs.  

I have recently written a song called "Song For Atlantia."  It was
inspired greatly by "Song for Irealnd" by Phil Colclough.  I heard his
song and thought, wow! this could easily be applied to my kingdom, and I
want to do it.  So i used his tune, altered slightly the first two verses
of his song, and wrote the thir\d and the fourth verse anew.  The result
is "song for Atlantia" a compilation of my song and his.  Many people in
folk music today will rewrite songs to apply them to a different aspect,
be it personal or political.  Ed Miller sings songs written by Ewan
MacColl, but changes them for his own views.  Very typically this involves
changing place names to incorporate places he was from.  Dick Gaughan
performs a version of "Both Sides the Tweed" written in response to teh
Act of Unuion in 1707, but writes that he rewrote the words to make it of
more contemporary relavence.

Personally if someone thought a song of mine was not finished and added a
few more verses, I would be very interested to hear them.  Maybe I would
like them.  Maybe not.  I don't have to perform them.  But if he wants to,
then that is simply part of the evolution of the song.  If they are a true
improvement, then they will survive.  If they are a hindrence, then the
"new" verion ofthe song will soon die out.

Aye,
Eogan


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