An old folk singer / teacher told me once: "If you steal from one person it's stealing. If you steal from two or more, it's research!" On the Video, "Irish Music in America" Pete Seeger suggests that it's easier to write a song than to find an original tune for it and that we've been using, editing tunes that already exist since the first minstrels began singing. In that same video the Clancy brothers point out that Bob Dylan's song "With God on Our Side" has the same tune as "Patriot Game," which has the same tune as the "Bold Grenedier" which has the same tune as "One morning, one morning.." A lot of research there. Z
|