Hippies Sue Redneck
The Black Crowes, a rock group classified by some as grunge and some as Southern rock, but not on the jukeboxes of any bars which get my business, are claiming that "Work Hard, Play Harder", performed by redneck woman Gretchen Wilson, is a rip-off of their 1991 song "Jealous Again".
The Gretchen Wilson tune in question recently was released to promote the TNT drama "Saving Grace", and has been used in TV commercials for that show.
According to numerous reports, the Black Crowes have had their own rednecks in suits, i.e., lawyers, serve copyright infringement notices on everyone in sight, including our darling redneck woman, TNT, record company Sony BMG, and publishing company J Money Music.
Videos of both songs are below, so you can make the call yourself. The opening few bars certainly do sound quite similar, but not the entire song. Whether or not that constitutes copyright infringement will be decided by people with whom you and I probably don’t want to have a beer.
According to another report, the songwriting was credited to Wilson, John Rich, and Vicky McGehee. Who wrote the lyrics, which do not seem to be an issue here, and who wrote the music, is not specified, but it seems likely that Gretchen had a hand in the lyrics, while Rich and McGehee had a larger role in the music as well as the lyrics.
Here are the two videos (and you can guess which one is better regardless of the copyright issue):
"Work Hard, Play Harder", Gretchen Wilson
"Jealous Again", Black Crowes
The Gretchen Wilson tune in question recently was released to promote the TNT drama "Saving Grace", and has been used in TV commercials for that show.
According to numerous reports, the Black Crowes have had their own rednecks in suits, i.e., lawyers, serve copyright infringement notices on everyone in sight, including our darling redneck woman, TNT, record company Sony BMG, and publishing company J Money Music.
Videos of both songs are below, so you can make the call yourself. The opening few bars certainly do sound quite similar, but not the entire song. Whether or not that constitutes copyright infringement will be decided by people with whom you and I probably don’t want to have a beer.
According to another report, the songwriting was credited to Wilson, John Rich, and Vicky McGehee. Who wrote the lyrics, which do not seem to be an issue here, and who wrote the music, is not specified, but it seems likely that Gretchen had a hand in the lyrics, while Rich and McGehee had a larger role in the music as well as the lyrics.
Here are the two videos (and you can guess which one is better regardless of the copyright issue):
"Work Hard, Play Harder", Gretchen Wilson
"Jealous Again", Black Crowes
Labels: Black Crowes, copyright, country music, Gretchen Wilson, J Money Music, Jealous Again, John Rich, Play Harder, redneck woman, Saving Grace, Sony BMG, TNT, Vicky McGehee, Work Hard
| By Eddie Goldman | Permalink 
