Listening to the latest would-be state song, I’m starting to suspect that songs written explicitly to be a state song will inherently suck. With the legislature’s knuckleheaded requirement that the creator of the state song surrender all copyright to the state, we basically guarantee a loser of a song; is there anything more fundamentally unconservative than expecting the creator of a work to give up ownership to the government in exchange for nothing? (Via the Daily Progress)
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In defence of the copyright issue, I think it’s safe to say that the utterly dictatorial RIAA’s stances on copyright are what have led to the requirement that Copyright be surrendered to the Commonwealth more than anything. The last thing that our Delegates want to do is increase liability for lawsuit, right?
Unless you know of some magic way for the Commonwealth to use a copyrighted work that doesn’t cause us to potentially be liable for damages?
:)
Most Respectfully,
Brian L.
Easy: License the song for a fee. As the author of one of the songs explains in the above-linked Hook article:
(Oops, meant to add: For the record, modern “State songs” do stink. Why can’t we return to something classical instead of trying to draft something new? :) )
R&H’s offer seems reasonable to me, and I would wholeheartedly support anything similar here in the Commonwealth. Notice, however, that the offer was artist-initiated (i.e., RIAA didn’t chime in on it), and that the State of Oklahoma rejected it. Which means that Oklahoma was banking on receiving the copyright to, well, Oklahoma.
At least we’re not the only ones, eh? ;)
I still think that there’s an overlawyered aspect to this story that explains this situation fairly succinctly, but what can ya do?
Regards,
Brian
Probably. Too earnest, too high falutin’, too sentimental, or some combination of the three. Give me a good “Carolina in my Mind” by James Taylor, or “Tennessee” by Mindy Smith, or a hundred other popular “state” songs.
I think you’re on to something. Writing a good state song has a strong parallel in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s instructions on how to fly: You have to hurl yourself at the ground and simply forget to fall. Likewise, a good state song comes from writing a good song with no intention of writing a state song.
Designing art, or writing music, to please a committee — especially a committee made up of politicians looking over their shoulders — is tough duty. Most people with a genuine talent for such work know better to even try. So, this is a process that is almost bound to produce an unsatisfying product.
In this day, I don’t see much difference between an official state song and the official candy bar of the Olympics.
Not Virgil Goode is back Jaquith, check it out and link to it if you will http://virginiapoliticalwire.blogspot.com/
Thanks
I’m in the process of writing a state song for Virginia right now. The working title is “Marshall/Newman Blues.”
To answer the question in your title, maybe, but “Georgia on My Mind,” by the late, great Ray Charles, is the exception that proves the rule.
I will agree the lyrics for the latest state song candidate (as linked to in your post) are pretty bad. But get rid of the lyrics and everything else sounds pretty decent if you like that genre of music.
The copyright issue is deceptively important. If you remember from the Olympics, Australia is not allowed to play “Waltzing Matilda” — the song that everyone identifies with Australia and which was for some years thought of as the National Anthem, because it turned out that it was still under copyright, and the Australian Olympic Committee would have had to pay royalties to the copyright holder every time that an Aussie won a gold medal. About 15 or 20 years ago the Parliament in Australia recognized “Advance, Australia Fair” as the National Anthem That We Are Allowed to Play, and that’s what they used when Ian Thorpe won another race.
I should have added a little detail here — the song is NOT copyrighted in Australia. It was written in about 1892, and any copyright there has long since expired. But in the U.S., there is a bogus copyright recorded in the Copyright Office in Washington in 1941. It should never have been accepted for copyright. Had someone been on the ball, or if someone wanted to contest the issue now, the copyright could be invalidated. But who wants to buy a lawsuit?
The point here is that when you’re talking about a NEW song, get the copyright issue solved early. The Rogers and Hammerstein approach makes good sense; I wonder who didn’t see it that way?
Well, I’m a fan of 1 modern state-song possibility: The Road to Appomattox, by Drew McKnight, available as a download at Falling Mountain Music. It is an amazing song, even though I’m not sure if it would get the popular vote to be our anthem. It might prick Confederate pride too hard–it has too much depth of soul to be a popular choice.
He’s got another song from an earlier CD, “Shenandoah Moon,” which is a waltz with a much sweeter story line. Drew’s got a talent for telling other people’s stories. Haven’t heard his like since Harry Chapin.
TL, that’s a great song, but it has zero chance of being a state song. Too thoughtful, introspective. And while I quite enjoyed the song (I think I’ll see if I can find an album), it’s time for Virginia to stop looking back to 1865 every few steps.
There’s a song that Sarah White has been singing pretty often recently (an old-timey one, not one she wrote) which she has often remarked would make a great State Song for Virginia, and I’m inclined to agree, although my faulty memory prevents me from recalling the name of this song at the moment, or the name of its author — I think it’s a Carter Family song?