About the Chump(s) Who MIGHT Have Tried to Sue Paul Westerberg

(Lynnsters Music Zone) And the Westerberg controversy just gets groovier and groovier.

I’m a couple of days late on this because (as noted on my other blog) I had to run out of town for a couple of days, but as you will recall, Paul Westerberg’s 49-cent full-length one-track album release 49:00 was mysteriously pulled from purchase availability from Amazon and TuneCore the other day.

There has been no official explanation as yet, though there has been much speculation that the album was pulled due to potential copyright infringement issues over the medley of songs on one part of 49:00 that included one-liners from gems such as Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”, The Kinks’ “Dandy”, and many more, plus a little bit more than one line of The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You” (something Paul’s been performing live on stage for eons).

Well, now what has appeared but 5:05, which appears to maybe be a response to 49:00’s disappearance and, after listening to it, I’d say the speculation about copyright infringement issues is probably right since it includes wonderful lines such as“if you wanna sue me…” and “bring on the lawsuit…” ** I love it and I laughed my ass off (in fact I’m laughing right now as I type). There’s also an absolutely tongue-in-cheek snippet of, um, something else at the end that’s obviously there on purpose. And a few “f*** you”s at the end, hehe. I’m not trying to fuel any rumors further here (yes, I am) but copyright infringement threats would very much appear to be the mostly explanation for all this weirdness lately.

Well, good for Paul! I wish in my lifetime that artists worldwide would basically mutually agree to chill out over the whole copyright thing when it comes to lines and snippets. It’s one thing to take a whole song and do it, and it’s probably always going to be a necessity in rap and hip-hop, which so often is totally or near-totally based on other people’s music. If you have an ENTIRE album that’s woven around somebody else’s stuff, then yeah, okay.

But something like this, where one single solitary big deal of a line from your song was obviously beloved enough to be included in a few seconds of tape by such a legendary artist as Westerberg? You oughta be proud and pleased and thrilled, not calling your lawyers, you greedy little #$@&%(s). Whichever greedy little #$@*&%(s) you are, acting like a crying wimp on the playground or the sniveling little tattletale that everybody in school hates and makes fun of because you’re always crying and whining about something stupid. Yep, that’s pretty much about how I feel about the whole issue.

Most of you artists have stolen from each other at one time or another ANYWAY, whether outright or in passing. Why not just agree that there’s a limit and stop being big crybabies suing each other over every little measure or note?

Think of it this way, you litigious money-grubbing morons out there. Your song, which possibly few people care about anymore but old hippies or grandmothers (or artists with good taste like Westerberg), just got smacked with a whole bunch of cool it really no longer had before 49:00 was released, and possibly because of that one single solitary line being included in Westerberg’s song, your has-been music just got introduced to a whole sea of young music listeners who a month ago probably could have cared less who you were because of its inclusion on that MP3. *** (Okay, if Ray Davies is one of the potential litigants I’m going to regret saying “has-been music”, but most any of the rest - pfft.)

And really, of all the people to threaten to sue. Paul Westerberg is undoubtedly one of the most respected and adored artists of the last three decades, beloved by critics, fans, and other musicians alike.

I would hate, hate, hate to be the person(s) who may soon become known as “the chump(s) who sued Paul Westerberg”.

In any case, pick up your copy of 5:05 here, and hurry in case it disappears too - you can pay by Google Checkout or Paypal. Go, go, go!!! I know there’s an army of us out here breathing a sigh of relief that we grabbed 49:00 when we could, don’t wait to grab this one. You can buy 5:05 for either 99 cents or $5.05, whichever you choose - it’s the same track.

On another note, I sure could get used to this new Westerberg release every couple of weeks deal. Woohoo!

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