I suspect this has been posted before, as it's an old news item (1996!)
but I find it so amazing. Imagine little girls scouts being threatened
with jail sentences for singing campfire songs without paying copyright
fees!
http://www.s-t.com/daily/08-96/08-23-96/b02li056.htm
favorite parts:
<<<<Even harder than figuring out which songs are which, directors say,
is explaining it all to young Brownies. "They think copyright means the
'mean people,'" says Debby Cwalina, a 14-year-old Elf. Mr. Holly
explains it
to them this way:
"The people who wrote it have a thing on it. A little 'c' with circles
around it. There's an alarm on it. And if you sing it, BOOM!"
That explanation doesn't always sink in. Alissa Fiset, age 8, crinkles
her nose when asked why she can't sing "Puff the Magic Dragon." While
squirting a friend with a water bottle, she says: "They did a rewrite on
it.
A copy thing. But why can't they just take the 'c' away?" >>>>>>
But those shrewd Brownies were already scheming to dodge the strong
arm of the ASCAP:
<<<<<After finishing the Macarena at the Diablo sing-along, one mother
whispers that today is the sixth birthday of David Warneke, a camp
volunteer's son. "We're not allowed to sing 'Happy Birthday,' " warns
Debi
Jansen, a co-director. Huddling with the Elves, the directors come up
with
a plan: Sing a modified "Happy Birthday" to the tune of "Ninety-Nine
Bottles
of Beer on the Wall." But Mrs. Jansen is worried. "I hope that's not
copyrighted, too," she frets. >>>>>>>>
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