Well, if a song unsung is a dead song, the US Supreme Court just put another nail in the coffins of many songs by upholding the ridiculously long and retroactive copyright protection extension passed by the US Congress on behalf of Mickey Mouse.

I don't want to sidetrack this thread into a discussion of copyright issues. (There are other threads on the topic.) But consider the recent Mudcat CDs, for example. The choice of which songs to include was definitely influenced by consideration of whether we would have to pay royalties.

Copyright protection of your songs while you're alive means your labor is compensated. Such copyright protection for 90 years after you're dead (i.e., after your grandchildren are also most likely dead) is more likely to mean a lot fewer people will hear your songs.

Is a song "dead" if unsung? Dunno. Maybe even in its unfinished form inside the composer's head/heart it started a ripple that will spread to who knows where. The same might be said for Gray's "flower" that's born "to waste its sweetness on the desert air."

I do think, though, that songs that are sung and heard by many have more vitality, other things being equal, than very obscure songs.

Genie