Posted by admin on 08 Feb 2010 | Tagged as: news, plagiarism
Amazon.com WidgetsOne of popular music’s most remarkable songs, “Dans le port d’Amsterdam” made famous by Jacques Brel, has now been linked to an old Irish song called “Since Greybeards Inform Us That Youth Will Decay” by T. Toms. In 1814-16, Beethoven (no less) was asked to transcribe 20 Irish songs (lieders) for the Scottish publisher [...]
Posted by admin on 21 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: meanings, politics
This title from the Ha’aretz newspaper caught my eye. Why do Israeli singers sing in English rather than Hebrew? The debate is an old one, and has been mirrored in many countries. On the one hand, there are the people that worry about cultural identity. On the other, are performers that either don’t care or [...]
Posted by admin on 13 Oct 2008 | Tagged as: news
This is always an odd question: what is the value of words? It’s strange that the answer comes from auctioneers, who seem to have a better idea of what song lyrics are worth than other people. The recent sale of Brel lyrics and memorabilia generated intense interest in Paris recently, as it coincided with the [...]