Cecil,
Is it possible to update your 1977 answer? Wasn’t there a decision in George’s favor on appeal?
Thanks, rapidman
Welcome to the board.
I assume you mean the column:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_140a.html
The following link summarzies the case through '93:
http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm
Very convoluted. It looks the the rulings in Harrison’s favor were entirely over the damages portion of the case. The plagarism portion was upheld on appeal.
For those who do not want to read the article (or in case the link goes dead next week), what it amounts to is that Harrison’s agent at the time that the lawsuit started broke up with Harrison and went, behind his back, to the copyright owners of “He’s So Fine”, and bought the song and their rights in the lawsuit from them. It was ruled on appeal (quite rightly) that this was dirty work, and the guy didn’t deserve to be rewarded, so the damages were reduced to the amount he had paid. The author of the article at the website questions whether he had (under the law) deserved even that much, since his secret negotiations probably stopped the case from being settled out of court.
But there doesn’t seem to have been any serious question as to the question of plagiarism in fact. “He’s So Fine” existed, Harrison admitted that he’d heard it, the two melodies are about 95% the same, and it was already established that this was legally enough.
But there doesn’t seem to have been any serious question as to the question of plagiarism in fact. “He’s So Fine” existed, Harrison admitted that he’d heard it, the two melodies are about 95% the same, and it was already established that this was legally enough. **
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95% the same seems a big so what when you can match all sorts of pop songs to about 85% the same. There’s only so many hooks and riffs in the format. Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. and Co. for “Ghost Busters” being an obvious lift of “I Want A New Drug.” They settled out of court. Billy Ocean’s “Caribbean Queen” was an obvious variation on Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean.”
Paul McCartney could have sued Mister Mister for the lyrical ripoff of “Blackbird” in “Broken Wings.”
On the other hand, variatons on tunes and lyrics have been going on in folk songs for hundreds of years. Those were the good old days before absolutely everything had to be property.
Music, song, and poetry have always been a shared human experience, so I don’t begrudge copycats (even if they are, gasp, Ray Parker Jr., Billy Ocean, and Mister Mister.
And “My Sweet Lord” would have been settled out of court, too, if Harrison’s ex-agent hadn’t been scum.
And despite the excesses of companies like Walt Disney, I really don’t want to go back to the days (about 95% of recorded history) when writers and composers had to either be independently wealthy, have a day job, or else spend all their free time kissing aristocratic butt in hopes of being tossed a bone.
I don’t hear much similarity between any of the pair cited, including “He’s So Fine” / “My Sweet Lord,” but that’s just me.
sol mi Re. sol mi Re. sol mi Re.
sol la do’ la Do’. sol la do’ la Do’.
I agree, Mr. Kennedy. There’s a difference between fair use and plagarism. We could go on ad nauseam about where that difference lies. The phenomenon of “sampling” adds another dimension. Think Rick James vs. MC Hammer, or U2 vs. Negativland.
In the old days, of course, the writer/arranger/lyricist guys made all the bread while the performers got rooked, hence the popularity of the autonomous “singer-songwriter.” The music biz is a far cry from what it was in the Tin Pan Alley period. Yesterday Irving Berlin, today P. Diddy. Puff won ASCAP’s “Songwriter of the year” award twice. Trouble is, he didn’t write the songs for which he is recognized. He just re-arranged what others wrote. Arranging was a respected craft in the old days, but distinguished from composing.