[78-L] 78-L Digest, Vol 51, Issue 22 -" Everybody loves Somebody"

Mon Dec 17 12:40:45 PST 2012

Thanks for confirming my memory.

Jeff

On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 12:56 PM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>wrote:

> I've found the book. No reference to the song, to Irving Taylor or to Ken
> Lane,
> or even to Dean Martin.
>
> An odd thing about the book..the dustjacket has an odd finish and was
> sticking
> to the inside pages.
>
> dl
>
> On 12/17/2012 11:50 AM, Jeff Sultanof wrote:
> > I read the book a couple of times and I don't remember this coming up.
> But
> > it has been several years since I last read it. Coslow wasn't the sort of
> > person to bring this up, contrasting with Jerry Herman's book, where he
> > doesn't give details, but certainly is quite emotional over the Hello
> > Dolly/Sunflower situation. He certainly could have skipped it, but
> didn't.
> >
> > When I first joined WB Publications back in 1979, a lot of the old guard
> > was still there. For this sort of situation, I used to ask a man named
> > Walter Evans, who had a memory that was simply amazing. If I mentioned a
> > case of this sort, he would find data from his office library and leave
> it
> > on my desk for me to read. What an education I received from these
> people!
> >
> > As I said earlier, it all boils down to what was agreed at the time.
> > However, the courts tend to rule that since there are several new
> > technologies that generate income for songs, movies, etc., that the
> estates
> > should benefit from them. The other side of course is that this makes a
> > mockery of the idea of public domain. How much money do these people want
> > anyway? The original writers are long gone, but companies like Disney
> have
> > powerful people working in their favor.
> >
> > This subject always generates a spirited discussion from my show-business
> > lawyer acquaintances.
> >
> > Jeff Sultanof
> >
> > On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 11:28 AM, David Lennick<dlennick at sympatico.ca
> >wrote:
> >
> >> 8 million showbiz books here and I know I have "Cocktails For Two" but
> >> haven't
> >> found it yet.
> >>
> >> Fascinating stuff, hey?
> >>
> >> dl
> >>
> >> On 12/17/2012 11:25 AM, Jeff Sultanof wrote:
> >>> Now this is interesting. I checked ASCAPs website, and the song is
> there
> >>> with Coslow's name. When I worked at Warner Music, I used to use this
> >> song
> >>> in folios all the time. On no piece of printed sheet music was Coslow's
> >>> name listed, and I've never seen it listed on any recording.
> >>>
> >>> Which makes me think of a possible scenario which took place with "Here
> >>> Comes Santa Claus" and other songs: Lane may have written the song
> >> without
> >>> ever hearing Coslow's song, Coslow heard it, took Lane to court, and a
> >> deal
> >>> was made for Coslow to collect royalties. In such cases, the rights to
> >> the
> >>> song usually remain with the publisher and the writers (in this case,
> >>> Sinatra Songs, and later Sands Music) with Coslow getting whatever
> >> percent
> >>> everybody agreed to, but him having no individual rights to the song.
> Of
> >>> course this is all moot until someone can produce the records of the
> >> court
> >>> decision, which would certainly spell out what Coslow's rights were.
> >>>
> >>> Jeff Sultanof
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 9:50 AM, David Lennick<dlennick at sympatico.ca
> >>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Interesting that Nat Shapiro's Popular Music books list only Taylor
> and
> >>>> Lane as
> >>>> composers, and the song being published in 1948. The Variety book
> >> doesn't
> >>>> list
> >>>> it at all, so I presume it's non-ASCAP.
> >>>>
> >>>> dl
> >>>>
> >>>> On 12/17/2012 9:32 AM, Kristjan Saag wrote:
> >>>>> The court has probably decided long ago. The article was from 1997.
> >>>>> Kristjan
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 2012-12-17 14:38, Jeff Sultanof wrote:
> >>>>>> Unfortunately, my copy of Coslow's autobiography is in storage. Does
> >>>> anyone
> >>>>>> have access to a copy? Does he bring this up?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Midnight Moon may not have been published. Sam was a great salesman
> of
> >>>> his
> >>>>>> own music, and perhaps he played the melody for Ken Lane. Lane was
> all
> >>>> over
> >>>>>> Hollywood as a vocal coach at the time; he was also on the radio as
> a
> >>>> vocal
> >>>>>> group leader. By all accounts, he was a nice guy and not a crook;
> this
> >>>> is
> >>>>>> certainly not a scenario where a song was simply stolen, or the
> artist
> >>>> had
> >>>>>> his name attached to get royalties.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I think the court will probably side with Coslow's daughter.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Jeff Sultanof
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 5:45 AM, Kristjan Saag<saag at telia.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> And the interesting thing is how Ken Lane got to be the composer...
> >>>>>>> Kristjan
> >>>>>>> --
> >>>>>>> On 2012-12-17 11:25, Nigel Burlinson wrote:
> >>>>>>>> John:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Here's the answer:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> SAME OLD SONG: A New York music company is asking a Superior Court
> >>>> judge
> >>>>>>> in
> >>>>>>>> Los Angeles to review a 47-year-old case and declare that the wife
> >> of
> >>>>>>>> composer Sam Coslow is no longer entitled to royalties from the
> >> 1960s
> >>>>>>> Dean
> >>>>>>>> Martin hit "Everybody Loves Somebody."
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Coslow, who died in 1982, got his start on Tin Pan Alley, and some
> >> of
> >>>> his
> >>>>>>>> songs became well-known standards for such artists as Bing Crosby,
> >>>> Billie
> >>>>>>>> Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Spike Jones. He even
> >>>> won an
> >>>>>>>> Academy Award as the producer of a short film featuring Groucho
> Marx
> >>>> and
> >>>>>>>> Carmen Miranda.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> At issue is an agreement reached between Coslow and two lyricists
> in
> >>>>>>> 1950 to
> >>>>>>>> split royalties from "Everybody Loves Somebody." A court fight
> >>>> determined
> >>>>>>>> that Coslow wrote the melody during the 1920s, only he called his
> >> song
> >>>>>>>> "Midnight Moon." Ken Land and Irving Taylor penned the
> now-familiar
> >>>>>>> lyrics.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Sands Music Corp., which according to the suit obtained "Everybody
> >>>> Loves
> >>>>>>>> Somebody" from Sinatra Songs Inc., claims that the copyright to
> >>>> "Midnight
> >>>>>>>> Moon" expired on Dec. 31, 1995. Therefore, the company no longer
> >>>> wants to
> >>>>>>>> pay royalties to Coslow's heirs.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> But the copyright held by the two lyricists still has years to go,
> >> and
> >>>>>>>> Coslow's daughter thinks it's unfair that two men who slapped some
> >>>> words
> >>>>>>>> onto her father's song should receive all the royalties.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> But fair or unfair, "that's the way we interpreted the agreement,"
> >>>> said
> >>>>>>>> Sands' lawyer, David S. Olson. "We're just asking the court to
> tell
> >> us
> >>>>>>> what
> >>>>>>>> to do."
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Coslow's daughter, Cara, says the copyright's clock should have
> >>>> started
> >>>>>>>> ticking for everyone in 1950--when they signed the agreement
> >> splitting
> >>>>>>> the
> >>>>>>>> royalties.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> "They took a song and attached different lyrics to it," Coslow
> said.
> >>>> "I
> >>>>>>>> could add lyrics to 'Rhapsody in Blue' tomorrow and it would still
> >> be
> >>>>>>>> 'Rhapsody in Blue.' "
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Coslow, who is director of casting at Carsey-Werner in Studio
> City,
> >>>>>>> insisted
> >>>>>>>> that everyone is still singing the same old song. "I can give you
> >> all
> >>>> our
> >>>>>>>> records,' she said. "I'll show you the sheet music. I'll even hum
> a
> >>>> few
> >>>>>>> bars
> >>>>>>>> for you."
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> As for "Everybody Loves Somebody," its latest incarnation was as a
> >>>> jingle
> >>>>>>>> for Western Union commercials. The lyrics went something like
> this:
> >>>>>>>> "Everybody needs some money sometime." Try singing that to
> "Rhapsody
> >>>> in
> >>>>>>>> Blue."
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> (taken from "The Los Angeles Times"" August 3 1997)
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> I found no recordings of "Midnight Moon" and it's not listed on
> his
> >>>> ASCAP
> >>>>>>>> file!
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Nigel Burlinson (burlinson at orange.fr)
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Message: 14
> >>>>>>>>> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:04:58 +1100
> >>>>>>>>> From: "John Rogers"<johnhrogers at optusnet.com.au>
> >>>>>>>>> Subject: [78-L] Everybody Loves Somebody question
> >>>>>>>>> To:<78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> >>>>>>>>> Message-ID:<000001cddc35$9a81fd00$cf85f700$@com.au>
> >>>>>>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Everybody Loves Somebody (Sometime) was published in 1947 and
> >>>> recorded
> >>>>>>> by
> >>>>>>>>> Frank Sinatra.  It was successfully revived by Dean Martin in
> 1964
> >>>> and
> >>>>>>> was
> >>>>>>>>> used as the theme of Martin's television series.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Sheet music from 1947 and 1964 shows words by Irving Taylor and
> >>>> music by
> >>>>>>>>> Ken
> >>>>>>>>> Lane.  However, a number of internet sites including the ASCAP
> >>>> database
> >>>>>>>>> credit Sam Coslow as co-lyricist.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> I would appreciate it if anyone can explain how Coslow was added
> to
> >>>> the
> >>>>>>>>> lyric credits.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> TIA
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> John Rogers
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> *****
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