Angie Aparo v. Five For Fighting (Part 3 of 3)
PART 3 of 3We left off in this cliffhanger with the promise of an ending in this highly abbreviated fictionalized account of what could have been a copyright infringement action brought by Angie Aparo and affiliated parties against Five For Fighting and affiliated parties.Plaintiff: What country song features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: “Tomorrow Never Comes” by Ernest Tubb does. Conway Twitty’s “I’m Not Through Loving You Yet” also features 1-2-3-5.Plaintiff: What rock song features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: “I’ll Follow The Sun” by The Beatles.” The Beatles‘ “You Won’t See Me” also features 1-2-3-5.Plaintiff: What soul/R & B song features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: “My Girl” by The Temptations.Plaintiff: What Brazilian song features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: “Canto Do Povo De Um Lugar” by Caetano Veloso.Plaintiff: What song recorded in Minnesota features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: “Paisley Park” by Prince.Plaintiff: And you stated, yesterday, that you do not know a song recorded in Iowa that features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: What is Iowa? Is there a gas station near there?Plaintiff: You also stated yesterday that you do not know a 17th century popular Persian song that features 1-2-3-5?Defendant: No, my life up until this point has been incomplete as I do not know any 17th century Persian popular songs.Plaintiff: Is there something you want to tell me?Defendant: What?Plaintiff: You seem to be almost laughing, or is that a smirk? Is there something you would like to share with us?Defendant: Well, when you put it that way, yes, there is something I would like to say.Plaintiff: Go ahead.Defendant: I have the best example to show that we did not copy your client.This is a very famous example of 1-2-3-5. And although your client’s song and our client’s song has the same 1-2-3-5, this really famous song from the 1970’s should put an end to this foolish lawsuit.Here’s what I want you to do:I want you to sing three (3) phrases from the first chorus of Aparo’s song. Or we could cue the iPad or iPod (I brought both with me today - one can never get too redundant on the preparation thing, you know? ) - to 1.21 of the live version:
Angie Aparo - “Seed”(YouTube: http://bit.ly/Ri53Wr )“For every seed” [1-2-3-5]“once there were two” [1-2-3-5]“wrestle your heart” [1-2-3-5]
They’re the same, right? Now I want you to sing the first chorus of Five For Fighting’s song. Or we could cue the iPad to 0.37:
Five For Fighting - “Superman (It's Not Easy)”(YouTube: http://bit.ly/QlaDHC )“I’m more than a bird” [1-2-3-5]“I’m more than a plane” [1-2-3-5]
Those phrases from Five For Fighting are the same melody as the analogous phrases from Angie Aparo, right?Now I want to introduce a new song as part of our evidence:A fairly famous song from 1971 that your expert seemed to either overlook, or perhaps he doesn’t know this song.“All The Young Dudes” by Mott The Hoople - their most famous single.And as with Aparo and Five For Fighting, guess what melody is at the heart of the chorus? Yes: 1-2-3-5.Now I want you to sing the first chorus of Mott The Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes” Let's cue the iPad to 0.52:
Mott The Hoople - “All The Young Dudes”(YouTube: http://bit.ly/Rl1sXA )“all the young dudes” [1-2-3-5]“boogaloo dudes” [1-2-3-5]“all the young dudes” [1-2-3-5]“boogaloo dudes” [1-2-3-5]
These three (3) songs, byMott The HoopleAngie AparoFive For Fighting...and these specific melodies are interchangeable! You don’t have a case! Or perhaps now we should both worry that David Bowie, who wrote “All The Young Dudes,” and related parties will sue us?No, they won’t. They won’t sue because this melody is:too short;not original enough to be copyrighted, and;has occurred in many songs/compositions in many styles of music dating back to Bach.The short and simple melodic gesture, 1-2-3-5, is in the public domain.This just goes to show that if not Mott The Hoople, a lot of great music can be traced back to Bach, don’t you think?(And did you notice that the chorus of Mott The Hoople consists of two (2) nineteen (19)-beat phrases? Four (4) measures of 4/4 plus one (1) one measure of 3/4 with that entire thing stated twice, i.e. 19/4 + 19/4. Cool, huh?)Anyone up for lunch?