G'day Sorch, Joe and kat,

I'm glad to see this thread here, as I was just pondering the same sort of ethics, having just posted a tune from commercial sources (albeit 1954). Presumably the song will be in copyright for some time ... 50 years after the demise of the last of the named writers - and that might be another 50 years!

Normally this is not a worry for me because my forte is Australian folk song and most of this is squarely in the anon camp - and the others, where I do know an author are mostly ones submitted at some time to Singabout or Mulga Wire and generally let adrift toward the public domain. In the case of He Holds the Lanter ..., I reason that the song is way back in the pop music past, the sheet music long out of print and thereby somewhat fair game and, if the posting stirs someone to record and pay royalties, I am actually doing a service to the copyright owners. Maybe Harry Foxx Agency views it differently but I work in more realist interpretations.

Reagrds,

Bob Bolton