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I think this may be plagiarism...Floyd Cramer vs The Skatalites


davd_indigo

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I have the Skatalites on my phone. Never listened to them before this morning while walking. I have the CD reissue "Ska Bonanza" at home, but I'm on vacation in the N. Georgia mountains and can't check the song writing credits on the CD notes. The Skatalites called the song "Spred Satin". The melody sounds to me lifted from "Last Date" by Floyd Cramer. I googled and read that "Last Date" was from 1960 and written by Floyd Cramer.

 

 

[video=youtube;6Pvg55denQM]

 

[video=youtube;JvfG9uFswis]

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Well, reggae got its start from Jamaican musicians listening to the Miami AM radio stations. They tended to fade in and out (and of course, with sufficient ganga the listeners probably faded in and out a bit too), which left the musicians to fill in the blanks. "Last Date" was very popular, it's very likely they heard it.

 

But in terms of ripping people off, it's horrible how those shameless old black blues musicians ripped off the Rolling Stones :)

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Early ska and reggae was filled with unauthorized instrumental covers of American and UK pop hits. Jamaica wasn't a signatory to the International Copyright Convention for a number of years, as I recall.

 

The Skatalites and other instrumental bands have a lot of 'stealth' covers under different names.

 

And, of course, the dub culture was heavily recombinant -- although in many cases, it was the label/studio owner who would use and re-use backtracks again and again under different singers. Sometimes for the same song, sometimes for a different set of lyrics.

 

For a long time it was a very musical culture with not much money and few resources. Blackwell changed some of that but, he's nonetheless heavily resented by many musicians and others in JA as a cultural imperialist and exploiter.

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Might be a case for plagiarism there, but from a legal standpoint that assumes two things. 1) that the original copyright holder has ever actually heard the later piece of music in order to file a complaint and 2) any actual money was ever made from the latter in order for there to be something to claim against.

 

 

 

 

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Might be a case for plagiarism there, but from a legal standpoint that assumes two things. 1) that the original copyright holder has ever actually heard the later piece of music in order to file a complaint and 2) any actual money was ever made from the latter in order for there to be something to claim against.

 

...and 3) the money recovered would be more than the lawyer fees need to recover it...which I would file in the "Highly Doubtful" folder.

 

 

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One of my granddaughter's favorite songs has a riff that comes straight from the Munster's theme.

 

 

Well, in this case I think they are using a sample of the original recording, aren't they? I presume proper royalties are being paid for such use.

 

I like this song too, but always thought it odd they use the Munsters theme. Considering that the lyric is a nod to Uma Thurman's character in Pulp Fiction, I would have thought it would make more sense to sample the Chuck Berry song she dances to in the movie, or the Dick Dale song used in the movie.

 

Instead they decided that another familiar surf-guitar riff from the 60s was close enough? Or maybe it's actually a better choice to not be so literal.

 

Seems to be as the song is certainly working for them.

 

 

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Well, in this case I think they are using a sample of the original recording, aren't they? I presume proper royalties are being paid for such use.

 

I like this song too, but always thought it odd they use the Munsters theme. Considering that the lyric is a nod to Uma Thurman's character in Pulp Fiction, I would have thought it would make more sense to sample the Chuck Berry song she dances to in the movie, or the Dick Dale song used in the movie.

 

Instead they decided that another familiar surf-guitar riff from the 60s was close enough? Or maybe it's actually a better choice to not be so literal.

 

Maybe they couldn't get a release / license to use the Chuck Berry or Dick Dale tracks. :idk:

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Maybe they couldn't get a release / license to use the Chuck Berry or Dick Dale tracks. :idk:

 

Maybe. But the way the song is so built around that riff I'm gonna guess the riff came first. I can easily picture one of the guys in the band sitting around playing the Munsters riff on the guitar and another guy then says "oh, man that reminds of me of Uma Thurman dancing in that one movie. Wasn't she hot?" And pretty soon a new song is born.

 

One that references a 25 year old movie, a 50 year old television show and a 50 year old musical genre all at the same time and young kids familiar with none of it find it to be their new favorite song.

 

The cycle continues.

 

 

 

 

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Well, in this case I think they are using a sample of the original recording, aren't they? I presume proper royalties are being paid for such use.

 

I like this song too, but always thought it odd they use the Munsters theme. Considering that the lyric is a nod to Uma Thurman's character in Pulp Fiction, I would have thought it would make more sense to sample the Chuck Berry song she dances to in the movie, or the Dick Dale song used in the movie.

 

Instead they decided that another familiar surf-guitar riff from the 60s was close enough? Or maybe it's actually a better choice to not be so literal.

 

Seems to be as the song is certainly working for them.

 

 

Sure sounds like the original. You're probably right - it's a sample.

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