I was discussing today with a friend the fact that Elton John repurposed his song Candle in the Wind<\/i> for Lady Diana’s funeral. Our topic of discussion was: Is this legitimate?<\/p>\n
In other words, can a writer cannibalize his own work? Is it ok to take a song that eulogizes Marilyn Monroe, change around a few lyrics, and end up with a song that eulogizes Princess Diana Spencer?<\/p>\n
In this case the question is particularly fraught because the original lyrics were actually written by Bernie Taupin, not Elton John. But for now, let us gloss over that inconvenient fact.<\/p>\n
Suppose we decide that it is ok to borrow a song you wrote honoring deceased person A, and re-purpose it to honor recently deceased person B. Are there any limits?<\/p>\n
For example, could Elton John legitimately go on the road with variations of this song, performing custom versions for Micheal Jackson, George Michaels, Davy Jones, Prince? Would anybody have a problem with Candle and the Prince<\/i>? I mean, you know, on ethical grounds.<\/p>\n
If not, I see a rich future ahead for once top-charting singer \/ songwriters. Why not repurpose those old songs, and bring comfort to new generations of grieving fans?<\/p>\n
I can see a whole new career ahead for Elton John and other intrepid troubadours, based on a sound and time tested business model. After all, one thing we know for sure about the future is that famous people will continue to die.<\/p>\n
It is only prudent to have a song ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was discussing today with a friend the fact that Elton John repurposed his song Candle in the Wind for Lady Diana’s funeral. Our topic of discussion was: Is this legitimate? In other words, can a writer cannibalize his own work? Is it ok to take a song that eulogizes Marilyn Monroe, change around a … Continue reading “The funeral singer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18761"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18761"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18768,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18761\/revisions\/18768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.kenperlin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}