Skip to comments.
Men at Work lose in court Down Under
news.com.au ^
| 8th October 2011
| Kristen Gelineau
Posted on 10/10/2011 12:56:14 PM PDT by naturalman1975
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-45 next last
It's a pity the money isn't to go to the Girl Guides (the female equivalent in Australia of the Boy Scouts - although the Scouts are now just the Scouts as they take girls as well, unfortunately). There was a real legal case that they should hold the Copyright rather than Larrikin Music, but they couldn't afford to pursue it.
To: naturalman1975
Neb At Work: Out to Lunch
To: naturalman1975
Men At Work: Out to Lunch
To: naturalman1975
I guess the court didn’t speaka their language.
4
posted on
10/10/2011 1:04:04 PM PDT
by
WOBBLY BOB
(See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
To: naturalman1975
Ron Strykert, rhythm guitarist, is a good friend of mine. He said they did not copy the flute riff from “Kookoobura”, but admits it is similar, but only coincidental.
5
posted on
10/10/2011 1:07:16 PM PDT
by
Rennes Templar
(Fast & Furious: Holder gone by the end of the year.)
To: naturalman1975
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Merry merry king of the bush is he!
Laugh! Kookburra, laugh! Kookaburra!
How gay his life must be!
6
posted on
10/10/2011 1:08:17 PM PDT
by
rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
To: naturalman1975
Oz: Where women glow and lawyers plunder .. 70 years later.
To: Rennes Templar
I simply cannot believe that. Especially as the video clip has the flautist sitting in a gum tree as he plays it (”Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree.”)
I do think there’s a real question as to whether or not the presence of the riff in the song is significant enough to comprise plagiarism - it’s not a major feature of the song at all - but it’s very easy to hear at that point.
8
posted on
10/10/2011 1:14:18 PM PDT
by
naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
To: Rennes Templar
I simply cannot believe that. Especially as the video clip has the flautist sitting in a gum tree as he plays it (”Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree.”)
I do think there’s a real question as to whether or not the presence of the riff in the song is significant enough to comprise plagiarism - it’s not a major feature of the song at all - but it’s very easy to hear at that point.
9
posted on
10/10/2011 1:14:38 PM PDT
by
naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
To: naturalman1975
Since the verdict, Colin Hay has continued to insist that any plagiarism was wholly unintentional. He says that when the song was originally written in 1978, it did not have the musical passage in question, and that it was not until two years later, during a jam rehearsal session, that flautist Greg Ham improvised the riff, perhaps subconsciously recalling "Kookaburra". Hay has also added that Ham and the other members of the band were under the influence of marijuana during that particular rehearsal.[wikipedia]I am shocked, shocked that marijuana was used before a jam session!
What's really shocking is that it's not public domain by now.
To: naturalman1975
Too bad they aren’t black and their music isn’t rap or hip hop.
Cause if it was they’d be free to rip-off any riff from any artist in recorded history. And if they said ‘boo’ about it they’d be RAAAACISTS!!!!
To: mkmensinger
NebHas a nice ring to it. Would be a good name for a boy.
To: WOBBLY BOB
I guess the court didnt speaka their language. Nope.
They just smiled and ruled it a plagiar-ite sandwich
13
posted on
10/10/2011 1:20:53 PM PDT
by
kidd
To: Rennes Templar
Ron Strykert, rhythm guitarist, is a good friend of mine. He said they did not copy the flute riff from Kookoobura, but admits it is similar, but only coincidental. Very hard to prove if a riff is stolen, unless it's perfectly obvious (and even then the evidence is circumstancial).
The one that comes to mind for me is Lionel Ritchie's "Mighty Glad you Stayed" (or whatever the hell it was called) having Clapton's "Wondeful Tonight" riff, albeit with a little effect and in a different key.
14
posted on
10/10/2011 1:30:02 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(...then they came for the guitars, and we kicked their sorry faggot asses into the dust)
To: naturalman1975
If copping phrases from popular tunes is now actionable there are a whole lot of jazz musicians in trouble. BTT.
To: Buckeye McFrog
Cause if it was theyd be free to rip-off any riff from any artist in recorded history. And if they said boo about it theyd be RAAAACISTS!!!! Isn't that a fact. Quite over hearing that, myself.
Try writing something original that doesn't contain a bunch of foul and violent language.
16
posted on
10/10/2011 1:32:17 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(...then they came for the guitars, and we kicked their sorry faggot asses into the dust)
To: Rennes Templar
Ron Strykert, rhythm guitarist, is a good friend of mine. He said they did not copy the flute riff from Kookoobura, but admits it is similar, but only coincidental. It's possible. I play the Renaissance lute, and I know of at least two pieces from the sixteenth century that open exactly like later works. One is "The Earl of Derby's Galliard," whose opening is exactly the same as "When the Saints Go Marching In." The other is a Vihuela piece titled "Pavana de Alexandra," whose opening is nearly a dead ringer for "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly."
17
posted on
10/10/2011 1:32:34 PM PDT
by
Mr Ramsbotham
(Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
To: Rennes Templar
A lot of song copying goes on unintended by the composer, who pursues a melody he conceives as original, but is subconsciously from another song. I have written two full songs in the past couple years that turned out to be generously borrowed from “Independence Day” and “That’s What I Like About Sunday” One even made it on our CD efore I realized the similarities.
18
posted on
10/10/2011 1:34:03 PM PDT
by
ez
("Abashed the Devil stood and felt how awful goodness is." - Milton, "Paradise Lost")
To: Dick Holmes
What's really shocking is that it's not public domain by now. What matters is whether it was public domain in 1981 when the recording was released. The woman who wrote the song was still living till 1988. I'm sure that under Australian law like American law, copyrights extend for some time period beyond the death of the creator.
To: the invisib1e hand
Try writing something original that doesn't contain a bunch of foul and violent language.
Or, as Thomas Dolby put it after some hip-hop artist stole riffs from "She Blinded Me With Science" and filled them with obscene lyrics, "if anybody is going to create a sampled hip-hop version of my song and fill it with obscene lyrics, it is bloody well going to be me!"
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-45 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson