Johnny Cash ripped off Folsom Prison Blues

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 2 Jan 2014 8:34 am

Glen [quote]Lets just enjoy the song".
I guess you never had a song ripped off from you. I had one and almost two. One landed on a Jim Reeves album. I made a mistake to show it to a person to get an opinion. Luckily I got co- writer but little else.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 2 Jan 2014 9:35 am

"Borrowing" or selling songs was so prevalent at that time, that, when Hank Williams showed his compositions to Fred Rose, Rose's first question was whether Hank had written them at all.

There are so many examples of starving musicians selling their compositions for a few bucks, only for the songs to turn into worldwide hits and them receive nothing.

And then let us not forget the number of "traditional" tunes. Songs don't write themselves. When you see (Trad.) after a number it either means that the song was written so long ago that no-one remembers who wrote it, or that no-one wants to do the research to find out who the composer was. The Kingston Trio once joked that they went researching in the field with a tape recorder and an "Automatic Copyrighting Machine."

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ling+songs

Check out the above thread from a couple of years ago.

Joe Miraglia · Post by **Joe Miraglia** » 5 Jan 2014 2:42 pm

All I can say is-Neither one used a STEAL (steel) GUITAR when they played it.

.And with Steel Guitar you get a train whistle free of charge

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 6 Jan 2014 6:06 am

Alan Brookes wrote:"Borrowing" or selling songs was so prevalent at that time, that, when Hank Williams showed his compositions to Fred Rose, Rose's first question was whether Hank had written them at all.

Isn't that the story on Hank writing "Mansion On The Hill"?
Fred Rose questioned Hank about writing all his songs or "buying" them. Rose gave Hank a challenge to write a song about someone in love with someone living in a mansion. Hank went into Fred Rose's office scribbled down some lyrics and 15 minutes later sang "Mansion On The Hill" to Fred Rose.
It's also the reason that Fred Rose has writer credit on that song.

This is what Hank came up with, in just minutes, on a challenge:

Tonight down here in the valley
I'm lonesome and o how I feel
As I sit here alone in my cabin
I can see your mansion on the hill.

Do you recall when we parted
The story to me you revealed
You said you could live without loving
In your loveless mansion on the hill.

I've waited all through the years love
To give you a heart true and real
Cause I know you're living in sorrow
In your loveless mansion on the hill.

The light shine bright from your window
The trees stand so silent and still
I know you're alone with your pride dear
In your loveless mansion on the hill.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 6 Jan 2014 7:52 am

In October, 2001, I had the pleasure of chauffeuring members of the Delta Blues Cartel back and forth between MSP International, their hotel in North Branch, and their concert venue in Cambridge, MN. On one of the excursions, I had David Edwards and Robert Lockwood in the back seat of the van. They were discussing their days at Chess Records. Robert said something to the effect that Leonard Chess still owed him a million dollars, and he was gonna get it too (language cleansed for family reading). He probably knew that Leonard had been dead at that point for over 30 years. Robert left Chicago for Cleveland in 1961, and Chess died in 1969.

The Delta Blues Cartel
Top, left to right: David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Robert Lockwood, Jr.
Bottom, left to right: "Homesick" James Williamson, Henry "Mule" Townsend

http://www.mnblues.com/review/2001/delt ... 01-rb.html

Sadly, all of them have since passed.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 6 Jan 2014 8:13 am

As far as I know the Stones always gave credits to their covers (I wish I still had their records to be exact).
Led Zeppelin stole amongst others "Dazed And Confused" from Jake Holmes.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 7 Jan 2014 4:27 am

It's really interesting to read about Gordon Jenkins, the man who wrote the song Crescent City Blues. He was a very popular arranger in the 40s and 50s, doing arrangements for the Andrews Sisters, Louis Armstrong, Nat Cole, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, etc.

When Johnny Cash steals, he goes right to the top!

Here's more about Gordon Jenkins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkins

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 7 Jan 2014 9:32 am

I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that whoever ripped off "Steel Guitar Rag" first, he heard "Guitar Rag", figured out how to play "Guitar Rag" on a "steel guitar", and quite reasonably - really - said that's "Steel Guitar Rag." And it's an even safer bet that the direct ensuing result wasn't that he could snort cocaine out of a B-starlet's bellybutton while cruising on his yacht in the Mediterranean, unlike, say, our boys in Zeppelin. Life in the good old days, before they invented too-much-money, really was a whole lot easier. Except when you starved to death.

And as Lane Gray says, there are only five blues songs anyway. Try taking the words "blues" "shoes" "flooze" "news" "Tebow*" "booze" "grooves" (Glues? Zoos?) throw 'em in a sack, Mack, shake it around (the track) and see if you come up with something that doesn't sound just like all the other crap. attack....

*(copyright-protection boobytrap

)

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 7 Jan 2014 3:58 pm

Over the years we fill our brains with thousands of songs. Then when we come to write we find ourselves presented with a melody from our subconscious. I don't think that most composers set out to copy others; it just happens.
I always remember a friend of mine pulling out a new composition of his that he was very excited about. When I pointed out that it was the same tune as Perry Como's "Magic Moments" he was a bit disappointed, and, as far as I know, hasn't sung the song from that day to this. A shame, because they were good words.