Hey Genie, I wrote it sometime before 1988 but it was recorded and copyrighted in 1988 when I was playing with a little jug band called Strangers with Candy. When I tried to post this post by copying and pasting from my Word program I see the copyright symbol did not transfer correctly. It changed somehow to that funny looking Spanish "a" with the ~ over the top. Strange!

Reggie, I'm not sure about the specifics of the law, except that you own the copyright to your creative works from the time of their creation.   Registering the copyright is mainly for purposes of proving in court, if necessary, that you are the author and when it was created/published.  I always state the copyright dates for my poems and songs as the date they were created.  - Genie