…That’s it. Happy birthday. The man hit one hundred years old today, and is in hospice. I’m not mean. Besides, Carter set in motion the movement to give Americans drinkable beer again. I was there when the beer renaissance happened, and I’m absolutely grateful for it.
So, you know: fair’s fair, and all that.
A poem. A filk, if you will. In the interests of staying true to the Muse, I have decided not to bowdlerize. Profanity warning, after the fold.
Genevieve Cogman is very clever. You should buy her books. The first two books in her Invisible Library series are available in the USA now. She also writes roleplaying game material. She is a better writer than I am*. Writing sentences in this style looks just as odd to me as it does to you.
Moe Lane
*I mean it.
I first wrote about it in 2013: short version is, the people who ostensibly owned ‘Happy Birthday’ have been real nasty about it, the better to rake in about two million bucks a year in royalties. Well, the gravy train may have derailed:
The world’s most popular English-language song is potentially free from copyright after a federal judge ruled on Tuesday that filmmakers challenging Warner/Chappell Music’s hold on “Happy Birthday to You” should be granted summary judgment.
Continue reading News from the Happy Birthday wars: judge rules song is free from copyright.
A new lawsuit being filed today aims to have “Happy Birthday” declared as belonging to the public domain. The proposed class action is brought by a film company that is working on a documentary about the “Happy Birthday” song. During the making, the producers were informed that they would need to pay a $1,500 synchronization license fee to use the song in the documentary. The producers paid for fear of being liable for up to $150,000 in penalties for copyright infringement.
But now, Good Morning to You Productions Corp. has filed a lawsuit on behalf of all those in film, television and elsewhere who are paying for rights to “Happy Birthday.” The plaintiff aims to force Warner/Chappell Music to return millions of dollars collected over the years for what the lawsuit calls “the world’s most popular song.”
Yup. Starting in one minute I become the answer
I have known this song to go on for ten minutes or more. Children usually have to flee after five or six.
Moe Lane
*You know. Geeks.
**I never said that I was happy about everything involving the ME3 ending.
…from RS Constant Reader mailloux:
…or more accurately, his kids:
…in reference to this post about a counter of the meaningless gesture of sitting in the dark for an hour today to show your opposition to global warming. As it is my birthday*, mailloux’ children made me a cake out of Lite Brites
Moe Lane
*Tip jar, etc, etc, etc.
Crossposted to RedState.
Thirty-nine today, and darned if I know how that happened, either. It just sort of… did.
What the heck: R.S. McCain does this all the time, and it doesn’t seem to hurt him in the readership department. If you like the site, feel free to hit the tip jar.
