Chicken Dance
The song, The Chicken Dance, was a favorite of my mom and dad. We used to sing it at family gatherings and in the car. I have to admit that it's not one of my favorites, but because it is in the public domain, it can be played on radio stations for free.
I have been following this story about the chicken dance for a while now. It seems that an old man living in Germany had written the music back during World War II as propaganda to make people feel good. From what I understand, he was using some Latin words and alliteration in the lyrics as well. It became a hit during the war years and has been around ever since.
I am not sure how they tracked down who wrote this song or how they found out that he was still alive, but last year (2008) there were news stories about him being alive and wanting royalty payments from those who were using his music without permission. He said that he wanted money from anyone who sang or danced to his song anywhere in the world. Well, I don't know if he got any money or if anyone is paying royalties to him now that he is dead, but Apple® has made it available through iTunes® for 99 cents each.
It would be interesting to find out if anyone else has written any songs using current event references or anything like that just to see if anyone else would have a copyright claim on them today. It seems like with so many people making electronic copies of everything, we could run into something like this again at some point in time...maybe even soon!
Chicken Dance
The song, The Chicken Dance, was a favorite of my mom and dad. We used to sing it at family gatherings and in the car. I have to admit that it's not one of my favorites, but because it is in the public domain, it can be played on radio stations for free.
I have been following this story about the chicken dance for a while now. It seems that an old man living in Germany had written the music back during World War II as propaganda to make people feel good. From what I understand, he was using some Latin words and alliteration in the lyrics as well. It became a hit during the war years and has been around ever since.
I am not sure how they tracked down who wrote this song or how they found out that he was still alive, but last year (2008) there were news stories about him being alive and wanting royalty payments from those who were using his music without permission. He said that he wanted money from anyone who sang or danced to his song anywhere in the world. Well, I don't know if he got any money or if anyone is paying royalties to him now that he is dead, but Apple® has made it available through iTunes® for 99 cents each.
It would be interesting to find out if anyone else has written any songs using current event references or anything like that just to see if anyone else would have a copyright claim on them today. It seems like with so many people making electronic copies of everything, we could run into something like this again at some point in time...maybe even soon!