Hi

I was wondering if anybody knows whether Gordon approved the use of his tune 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' for the song 'Back Home In Derry' that Christy Moore did. From what I've heard the words to Christy's song were written by Bobby Sands of the IRA. I've been wondering if Gordon knew who wrote the words to 'Back Home in Derry'. I don't really see Gordon giving permission to an IRA guy to do that but maybe he did.

Just curious.

I doubt it.

Wrist is feeling better today.

As I understand the legalities (lawyers, feel free to step in and correct me), once a song is "published" (on a record or CD, for example) anyone can record it for release on another "record". There is no requirement to get permission. That is why the license is called "compulsorary". You need only pay the license fee (many but not all songs are handled by Harry Fox and can be licensed by an individual online for $42 for 500 copies).

This does not apply, however, for other uses of the song, for example in a movie or a commercial.

Often, when a major artist or studio records a song by another artist, they send a demo to the songwriter. But this is courtesy and not mandatory.

In the case of Back Home In Derry, it was Irish singer/songwriter Christy Moore who set the song to the tune of The Wreck. So it was he or his record company that would have been responsible for getting the compulsory license.

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Valerie Magee

Visit my GL fan site at gordonlightfoot.com and Cathy Cowette's web site at cathycowette.com

Hi all

Thanks for the replies. From what I've been able to gather from this and other sources Moore got the words for Back Home in Derry from Bobby Sands and used Edmond Fitzgerald tune. Guess Gordon didn't know about the words when gave Moore permission to use the tune.

Dulcimergal
Check out the other link by catmanron regarding this.