Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Know Your Rights?

Neil Young is just one of many, many musicians who have taken issue with the Commanchild-in Chief playing their songs at his stirring political rallies and campaign events. Everyone from Axl Rose to Prince's estate to Luciano Pavarotti have registered complaints, either formally or via social media. There's a frickin' Wikipedia (Frickipedia) page dedicated to "Musicians who oppose Donald Trump's use of their music."

A number of these have sent Cease and Desist letters. This year, Mike Mills of R.E.M. "threatened legal action over using 'Everybody Hurts' and 'Losing My Religion,'" perhaps because Trump was highlighting two of the weakest chart-toppers the band recorded, or maybe just because anything the band members believe in is being urinated upon by DJT on a daily basis.

A question for Gheorghe: The Barristers... is there any merit to such action?

(A question for me: have we already covered this before at G:TB and my memory is shot dead?)

I know that because of ASCAP, you have to pay a fee to play any copyrighted songs in public. Or
however you legal types would word that restriction. There's a reason the YouTube videos for our ORF Rock broadcasts (and the kick-ass licensed rock and roll we played) kept getting blocked. But Trump or any other candidate can get that out of the way with a simple payment. What happens when the people who own licensed material explicitly say "Don't play it"?

It's debatable whether it's a savvy move to play songs to inspire an arena of already-swallowed-the-cyanide-Kool-Aid sycophants and then get publicly lambasted by famous artists later. (That Wikipedia page is a humorous run-through of some of the responses, but not the most cutting.) Then again, I suppose it's just one more liberal elite artist about whom you can fallaciously wax indignant and victimized.  I don't know. The musicians are generally more clever than most candidates and are capable of jabbing with superior linguistic dexterity. But I also suppose that that's not always a draw.

This recent article on Neil Young's latest complaint makes reference to instances that sound like they have teeth. But I don't know. The Glimmer Twins, who sue people daily, are set to take aim. 

But here's where my eyebrows elevated in that article. It says:
Young, exasperated by Trump’s continued usage of “Rockin’ in the Free World,” “Like a Hurricane” and “Cowgirl in the Sand,” took to his official website last week to pen an open letter expressing his disdain.
Cowgirl in the Sand???  I obviously get Rockin' in the Free World for its falling-down-a-mountain-hilarious irony and Like a Hurricane to acknowledge Trump's response to Puerto Rico. But Cowgirl in the Sand?  What in Sam Hill?

Look, I need to be enlisted by every campaign to come up with the songs to play at these rah-rah gang-fellatio gatherings.  If you're going to piss off Neil Young, try: 
  • Heart of Gold
  • Tonight's the Night
  • Comes a Time
  • Don't Let It Bring You Down
  • Don't Be Denied
  • Long May You Run
  • I Believe in You
Of course, what Trump should really play is:
  • I Am a Child
  • Helpless
  • Old Man
  • A Man Needs a Maid
  • The Needle and the Damage Done
  • Ohio
  • Campaigner
  • Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Eh. He'll probably just play "Cortez the Killer" down in the border states and tell them how tremendous it was.

9 comments:

  1. I think Vampire Blues is another good choice from Neil's catalog.

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  2. moving this comment along from other post . . .

    i don't think schools in jersey (or anywhere in the us) are going to stay open for very long.



    https://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2020/07/high-school-will-be-hot-mess-this-fall.html

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  3. I suspect you're right Dave. My kids HS has just over 60 students, and they're planning to split into two cohorts who alternate weeks on campus. I'm hopeful that may work out, but not overly confident.

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  4. Vampire Blues is a good one. And that I forgot "Fuckin' Up" is just... well, a fuck-up.

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  5. 60 students?

    they will be fine . . .

    I've never heard of such a thing!

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  6. It's a private school with a generous endowment, plus we get 50% off as long as my wife remains at their companion PreK-8 school.

    We really like the school - too bad some of their interesting course offerings aren't more appreciated by our teenage sons. I wish I could take classes there.

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  7. Really? You're making "generous endowment" comments without a "like my Johnson" parenthetical?

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  8. Good point Z. I’ll boast of my endowment the next chance I get.

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  9. Hi Gheorghies. Just finished HBO’s Showbiz Kids, a doc that Bill Simmons produced. He pumped it up quite a bit. It sucked. First time he has swung and missed in a big way as a producer, IMO. It relayed a story we all know: kids get pushed into acting by obsessive parents, creepy adults step in and try to manipulate the kids, and the kids have mixed feelings about missing out on basic childhood stuff, especially if they wash out of the business. Nothing new covered. Bad job, Bill.

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