Stephen E. Bacher wrote:

>David Runnion <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>Have to wonder what Santana'd think of a Theme and Variations on Black
>>Magic Woman with no attribution, calling it original material??
>
>Actually "BMW" was originally by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac, wasn't it?

Yes, and the attribution to Green is right there on the jacket of Abraxas.

>Emerson, Lake & Palmer, for example, "borrowed" Bartok's "Allegro Barbaro"
>and Janacek's "Sinfonietta" for their first album without any nods in the
>original composers' direction.

It is true that the jacket for ELP's first album does not mention the
inspiration for either "The Barbarian" (adapted from the Allegro Barbaro)
or "Knife Edge" (adapted from the Sinfonietta), the two songs that open
the album, in their very sparse album notes.  I do tend to think that they
probably didn't think it was a big deal as the origins of these adaptations
are so clear to anyone who knows the originals.  Keith Emerson was
classically trained, and it's often a sin of those who know such things to
assume that others are similarly informed.  For instance, the title of the
first track, "The Barbarian", is a clear nod to the original composer in
my opinion.

>To their credit, in later years they acknowledged, or at least confessed
>to, the origins of their "adaptations" of works of Bach, Copland,
>Ginastera, and (heaven help us) Mussorgsky.

This is, however, not correct.  They were extremely clear in later albums
as to the origins of their adaptions.  For instance from the album Brain
Salad Surgery, the second track is labeled:  Toccata (An Adaption of
Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto, 4th Movement).  Can't get much clearer than
that.  Such attributions can be found in all their later albums, so there
was nothing for them to "confess".

>And how many old blues tunes have Led Zeppelin "appropriated"?

And they always gave credit to the songwriters.  Frankly, I resent the
tabloid tone of this post.  There's a clear inference here that something
at least inappropriate, if not illegal, is happening, and that is simply
not even close to accurate.  Composers have burrowed tunes (not to mention
cadences, rhythmic sequences, etc.) from each other - both credited and
uncredited - for at least five hundred years that we can document, and
almost certainly centuries more that we can't.  That poor guy Anon is
the most plagiarized guy in history, but where would any kind of music
be without this constant cross-fertilization?

Dave
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