The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102240 Message #2072749
Posted By: MikeofNorthumbria
10-Jun-07 - 07:02 AM
Thread Name: Collecting,and Ethics (moderated)
Subject: RE: Collecting,and Ethics (moderated)
Jim,
I was deeply moved by your account of the fate of the singer from whom "The Maid and the Palmer" was collected. Such things should not happen – but how can we best act to prevent them from happening?
If publishers and record companies won't do the decent thing, could it be possible to organise some kind of internet "honesty box", where anyone who has ever enjoyed listening to (or singing) field-collected songs could make a voluntary contribution, which would eventually find its way back to source singers and/or their families?
An afterthought: I'm not one of those who regard Dylan as the Shakespeare of our generation – but there is at least one thing that Bob has in common with the Bard. Somewhere in his collected works, you can find an appropriate quotation for almost any occasion. Here are a couple for this one.
"I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter."
"Money doesn't talk, it swears."
Wassail!