I need an autoharp icon

[omorka]

This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do.
- Woodie Guthrie, late 1930s

Now that's a copyleft.

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In a moment of irony, Weird Al's "Smells Like Nirvana" has a great many more lyrics than the original "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Comments

[tenshihitomi.livejournal.com]

It's hard to nargle zargle zouse
with all these marbles in my mouth

[geki-burakku.livejournal.com]

Weird Al is always clever and witty, and not mean spirited. This is why I admire him and love his music!

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

I'd wager his permission would not be considered genuine or binding in a court of law. Then again, CC licenses have been pummeled there too.

I miss the good ol' days when copyrights lasted 28 years.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

The question of whether "This Land Is Your Land" is still under copyright came up a while ago - I want to say in 2004, for some random bit of political satire? - and it turned out that the answer is "no," although if I recall correctly the legal reasoning had nothing to do with Guthrie's permission as given here. (Someone failed to re-file the copyright in time or some such minutia.) I don't remember if the same was true for others of his works or not.

Having said that, given his stated opinion on the subject, I feel absolutely no compunctions about covering his songs and not paying anybody any royalties. Dude wasn't a big fan of corporations, anyway.

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I would go so far as to say there are few deceased artists I would feel bad about covering and not paying royalties on.

It's nice that these days we have a clearer system where artists can more directly distribute works and declare their own copyright notions.

[bassfingers.livejournal.com]

http://www.phui.com/music/ThisLand.mp3