Men at work

[astroron (Ron)]

Men at work Iconic song "Down Under" in plagiarism court case
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8175974.stm

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

That's a bit crook now isn't it.
And they didn't notice until 2007 when it was mentioned in a quiz!!
Some people will do anything to make money.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

What are the odds, with all the songs in the world, with all the combinations of notes available to composers, eventually a string of 9 or so musical notes will eventually repeats themselves somewhere in the universe!

[matt]

Yeah...it's a pretty sad state of affairs and a total crock.

And even if you accept that they 'used' those few notes, isn't the song an homage to Australiana? So, it shouldn't surprise that a little of that tune finds its way into a tribute, along with references to vegemite and the land of plenty!!

Personally, I think they should have been flattered.

[DavidU (Dave)]

I will ask Colin Hay about this one.

[AdrianF (Adrian)]

Does that mean that technically anyone who writes a tune and it just happens to have a combination of notes, which wouldn't be hard to do, that can be recognisable as from some other tune they would be technically be plagarising other songs? So anyone who has written a song in the last 200 years had better watch out. There is only a certain amount of notes to go around and it is inevitable that combinations of notes will be repeated by all music writers

Adrian ( my 2 cents worth)

[leon]

So many people have so little to do.

Leon

[Robh (Rob)]

That's laughable!
Every second song I hear sounds like something I've heard before.

Rob

[marki]

Just another reason why courts of law should be off limits to corporations.

Mark

[astroron (Ron)]

Someone else who made a claim about a tune and won
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8176352.stm

[DavidU (Dave)]

I spoke to Colin Hay this morning and he is appealing the ruling on this.
He is finding it stressful but remains positive as always.
Being sued 27 years after the fact is a long shot

[AstralTraveller (David)]

I might have some sympathy if it was the song writer who was sueing but it isn't. It is simply a company looking after the bottom line. Worse, they didn't even discover the 'plagarism', it was someone on Spics and Specs.

From what I saw there are two bars which are lifted from 'Kookaburra' and these are in a solo, not part of the basic tune. If this consitutes plagarism what about the overseas guitarists who've thrown a bit of Waltzing Matilda into their solo when playing in Oz, what about Jimi at Woodstock and what about just about every classical composer in history?

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by DavidU

I spoke to Colin Hay this morning and he is appealing the ruling on this.
He is finding it stressful but remains positive as always.
Being sued 27 years after the fact is a long shot

Wow David I had well and truly forgotten that post
I Hope all turns out well for them
That song is one of my favourite Aussie songs.
Cheers

[Waxing_Gibbous (Peter)]

Preposterous. Another daft ruling that will hopefully be turned over on appeal.
I can't even play a radio so I won't pretend to know the correct musical terms, but I listened to it last night and couldn't hear more than a 'smidgen' that slightly resembled "Kookaburra".

That woman that wrote Happy Birthday and the geezer that penned "fiiiiive gooo-old riiings" could REALLY clean up if this one stands.

[Roobi]

Yeah, hopefully they wont have a leg to stand on. It happens fom time to time, especially nowadays. I dont get how these "new artists" can take an entire bass line from an older song, and then just rap over the top and call that a hit. Surely it'll be thrown out on appeal. A great Aussie song, Much more like an Aussie icon to plenty of us me thinks.

[toryglen-boy (Duncan)]

Originally Posted by DavidU

I spoke to Colin Hay this morning and he is appealing the ruling on this.
He is finding it stressful but remains positive as always.
Being sued 27 years after the fact is a long shot

Namedropper!!



Actually i seen something on the news about it last night, he sounds like me!


when you think about it, most scales, and music theory is based around the number "8", 8 notes in a scale (usually, to stop the pedants from mentioning Pentatonic and other wierd numbering scales) 8 modes of the major scale, and in the grand scheme of things, 8 isnt an awful lot.

i think its all cobblers

[Outbackmanyep]

I'd rather listen to Down Under than Kookaburra!

[acropolite (Phil)]

It's a sad reflection on lawyers and our judicial system, what the hell has the owner of the copyright Larrikin music (the original author is long dead) done for Australia, the down under song on the otherhand, is a national anthem, how anyone could seriously consider the riff in question could resemble the kookaburra song is beyond me.

You can count me as one person who will not buy anything associated with Larrikin music.

[GrahamL]

I never really listened to the song that much, but with the airplay its been getting lately the part in question, to me sounds
very much like Kookuburra Sits .

But Mr Hay said since 2002 he had, on a few occasions, performed the Down Under song replacing the flute riff with the Kookaburra lyrics, often to ``quizzical stares'' from his audience, he added.
"That really must show that the band has always known that Kookaburra Sits was sitting there in the song?'' Larrikin Music's lawyer Richard Lancaster asked.

Pity both parties couldn't of sorted something out before the courtroom
it seems a mess that didn't need to get where it is .

[astroron (Ron)]

Anyone point me to a place where I can Hear "Kookaburra Sits" on the net/UTube