Under US Copyright Law, once a tune is recorded and released, others may record and release their own versions without explicit permission from the writers or the publisher. The process is simple: pay for a compulsory license. The rate is preset by statute.
I recently learned that in addition to the Jesters’ very successful 1948 album, [...]
Category Archives: Music
Little Songs on Big Subjects–Cover Records
February 22, 2010 – 10:47 pm
Blue Moon Bloops
January 2, 2010 – 5:22 pm
According to almost every online source that commented on it, the round disk in the sky on the last day of 2009 was a “blue moon,” a term commonly used for the second full moon in any calendar month.
Commonly—and erroneously.
The internet offers near-instant access to information. It is ironic that in some cases this easy [...]
Little Songs on Big Subjects: “Ol’ Commodore Gray”
November 18, 2009 – 11:12 am
In a previous post, I spoke about “Little Songs on Big Subjects,” tunes of tolerance written by Hy Zaret & Lou Singer and performed by The Jesters.
The album, recalled with great nostalgia by many, was recorded in the late-40s. It is long out of print and almost completely unavailable. The album was widely played on [...]
Buffy Sainte-Marie
November 11, 2009 – 11:03 pm
Earlier this year Buffy Sainte-Marie released her 18th album, Running for the Drum.
Her first album, It’s My Way, for which she was awarded Billboard’s Best New Artist in 1964, included Universal Soldier, which has become an anthem for peace. Her song, Until It’s Time for You to Go, was a huge popular success and has [...]
Little Songs on Big Subjects
March 8, 2009 – 12:53 am
When we were very little, my brother and I had a record entitled Little Songs on Big Subjects. Sung by The Jesters, one of the first groups to record commercial jingles, the tunes, written by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer, emphasized tolerance. Zaret, who died in 2007 just a month shy of 100, told me [...]
Draw Your Brakes–A Jamaican Creole Shout
September 20, 2008 – 1:13 am
Some art, like the 1969 Hopper/Fonda film, Easy Rider, flashes boldly in its moment and ages to insignificance or embarrassment. Some, like the soundtrack of the 1972 reggae film, The Harder They Come, is timeless.
I owned the soundtrack early and played the cassette until it was lost. Almost 35 years later, I bought the CD [...]
Little City in the Everglades
March 15, 2008 – 4:14 pm
Everglades City, FL
I stood on the bottom coast of Florida, with the Gulf offshore, mangrove and grassy everglades in every other direction, two hours to Miami, but times away from big town currency and gloss. There are no big boxes, chain motels, or fast food franchises in Everglades City. It doesn’t look like Interstate Everyplace, [...]
Bear Market Rap
February 13, 2008 – 7:14 am
In December 1990, when I was working as an investment banker in San Francisco, I wrote and recorded a rap song.
