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Post by rick on Jan 2, 2013 19:56:03 GMT -5
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 2, 2013 20:01:53 GMT -5
Linda has referred to this song more than once:
Patti had some other good songs though. RIP
although I heard Tennessee Waltz was stolen from the real composer
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Post by erik on Jan 2, 2013 20:18:24 GMT -5
We're not even two full days into this year yet, and already we've lost a legendary lady (aside from "Doggie In The Window").
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 2, 2013 20:27:23 GMT -5
People are dropping like flies...
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Post by sliderocker on Jan 2, 2013 20:45:22 GMT -5
although I heard Tennessee Waltz was stolen from the real composer I never heard the story on that, although as it was in the 1950s, a lot of people were claiming part or all of the authorship on songs they didn't actually write. How many of the claims were actually legitimate, I think, was more difficult to determine in the 50s simply because there were so many filing plagiarism charges in the country, rock and R&B genres. But, it did happen. It was easier for an unscrupulous songwriter or music publisher to steal a song in those days, but I think what happened was that a naive songwriter would sell his or her song to another songwriter or music publisher for a small amount of money, and relinquish any and all future royalties to their songs. Or maybe they thought that what they received was an advance against future royalties and didn't realize they had given away their authorship rights. Either way, there the naive songwriter would be awaiting future royalties that would never come in. Songwriters pretty much wised up to unscrupulous publishers or other writers during the 60s, although there were still some barracudas in business and probably still are to this day.
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 2, 2013 21:00:22 GMT -5
I wrote a couple of songs with the nephew of the guy who actually wrote that song and like his uncle he was pretty bitter about it even after all of these years.
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Post by sliderocker on Jan 2, 2013 22:45:24 GMT -5
I wrote a couple of songs with the nephew of the guy who actually wrote that song and like his uncle he was pretty bitter about it even after all of these years. I would be bitter too, especially if I was the one who wrote it. But, the questions would still be did he and what did he or his nephew have in the way of evidence to prove his claim? In the court, it isn't enough to say you came up with the melody or the lyrics to prove plagiarism. You have to prove the party or parties you're accusing of stealing your song somehow gained access to your song and then claimed it for themselves. That's not easy. It's a hard case to prove when a songwriter is someone with a proven track record of writing hits. Someone with a proven track record of writing hits doesn't need to steal someone else's song. It wouldn't be worth the headaches or the lawsuits it would bring. I looked up the entry for the song on the wikipedia website to see if there was any dispute mentioned on the writing of the song. The song's authors are Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart, two musician-songwriters who wrote a few hits back in the day. According to the entry, "Tennessee Waltz" was first written and recorded in 1948. Another website mentioned that King and Stewart (who was also a singer) had been inspired to write "Tennessee Waltz" after hearing a song on the radio titled "Kentucky Waltz" and wondering why there wasn't a "Tennessee Waltz." Sounds plausible enough, but as mentioned, that song was written back in the day when an unscrupulous publisher or songwriter could've bought a song from another songwriter and then transferred the song's authorship to another songwriter. If it happened, I'm guessing the person it happened to received a small amount of money or paid money and then signed away his rights, not realizing the song would be a BMI MillionAir song, with more than three million airplays on radio and tv (or 17.1 years of continuous airplay) - the royalties from a record were small but the royalties paid to songwriters for airplay apparently could make up for the puny record royalties.
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Post by the Scribe on Jan 3, 2013 13:28:36 GMT -5
I lost contact with my friend and when I entered his name into google I found his obituary so I will never have any more details than what I can remember which right now is next to nothing. Evidently there is little room left in my brain for much more.
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Post by sliderocker on Jan 3, 2013 16:26:42 GMT -5
I lost contact with my friend and when I entered his name into google I found his obituary so I will never have any more details than what I can remember which right now is next to nothing. Evidently there is little room left in my brain for much more. On the subject of songwriting credits being stolen, I recall reading there were quite a few songs credited as being written by A.P. Carter, who was the leader and head of the Carter Family, that he actually didn't write but learned from others in the south who did come up with the songs. That allegedly took place in the 1920s and 1930s and again, could've happened but here again, there was no evidence to document the claim. Somes though, you have to take the claims with a grain of salt as to the believability of the tales or the persons making the claims. It's like a story on an R&B singer from the 50s that I read about in the now-defunct Discoveries magazine, who was claiming she was still owed royalties on her record, which she claimed was a million seller. She claimed her record sold a million copies and that all she made from the record was about $50,000. Well, if she was paid that much money in the 1950s, she was paid 100% of the artist royalties she was owed as the artist royalties then were only about a nickel per single. Album royalties were usually fifteen cents to a quarter then. Many recording artists were never as rich as some imagined them to be back then. In the case of that singer, she never had another hit record or a hit album for that matter, and she was one of the few singers whose recording didn't become a staple on oldies radio. She claimed she was owed millions, not just hundreds of thousands of dollars but she had no proof. Record companies screwed artists royally in the 50s but it didn't sound like that particular artist got screwed. I don't remember her name or the name of her song but I do recall reading it didn't actually make the Top 40. Based on that and that she wasn't a hosehold name in the 50s and later, her claim that she was cheated out of millions wasn't believable. But she was luckoer than many of her fellow artists in in that she actually got paid what she would've been owed for a million selling single. .
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jazzper
A Number and a Name
Posts: 3
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Post by jazzper on Jan 5, 2013 14:05:19 GMT -5
Iconic in her own right, Patti should also be noted as a prime formative influence on both Karen Carpenter & Anne Murray - hey Anne has a nice voice even if her typical choice of material might leave something to be desired!
One of Patti's 60s hits that might interest Linda's fans is One of Us Will Weep Tonight - #31 in 1960 - which was written by Clint Ballard Jr of You're No Good fame:
And altho Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte - #8 in 1965 - ended her Top 40 tenure, Patti's version of Gentle on My Mind was what might be termed a strong regional hit in early 1968 reaching #66 & spending 16 weeks on the Hot 100 actually eclipsing the Glen Campbell version in its original release as Glen had reached #62 but only charted for 7 weeks (Glen's version did get re-released to reach #39). Here's a re-recording of Gentle on My Mind Patti made in the early 80's:
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Post by terryarceneaux on Jan 5, 2013 14:57:04 GMT -5
I lot of the great ones died but they live in our hearts.
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