Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Organist From Procol Harum Wins Court Case

Forty years after "A Whiter Shade of Pale" becomes a hit, the organist on the track decides he's a co-writer and deserves royalties? A dangerous precedent that may mean anyone who does any solo on any song can claim they wrote it. What's next? The guy who did the organ intro on Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" demanding a piece of the pie? The trumpet soloist on Sinatra's "I've Got You Under My Skin"? Eric Clapton is suddenly very glad he played the guitar on "Layla." One hates to cut off any artistic contribution, but soloing on a song doesn't mean you've written it (I'd say) and if you DID make a significant contribution to a tune, I'd suggest waiting 40 years to make that claim severely hampers your believability.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds like a simple clause in the contract will close up that loophole

priv8pete said...

I think Dylan should sue the Keith Green estate for his harmonica solo on Pledge My Head To Heaven.

Michael in New York said...

Dang, priv8pete, that's a pretty obscure reference! Hat tip to you? What Dylan solo is Mr. Green ripping off and didn't he know stealing was a sin?