I’ve started work on the second edition of Tomorrow’s Songs Today, my history of filk music. The information is on a page rather than a blog post on this website, so it won’t fade as quickly. The page includes a form where you can submit any bits of information you think are useful.
The new version, like the current one, will be available as a free download.
My article on Goethe’s dramatic ballad “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” (the first Walpurgis Night) and Mendelssohn’s musical setting of it is up on the Liberty Fund website.
After an unpleasant online discussion yesterday, I’m more convinced than before of the need to push back against “phobia” as an epithet. The amount of sheer rage directed at those who question the term — it seems I’m a promoter of “genocide” — shows that something important is going on.
A phobia, as I’ve said before, is a habitual, involuntary, irrational fear. Acrophobia is fear of heights; people with it get dizzy when looking down from high places. Claustrophobia is fear of enclosure in a small space; it can lead to a panic attack when stuck in an elevator that stops moving (or for some, being in an elevator at all). And so on. The involuntary aspect is central. The refusal to think is wrong because it’s irrational and voluntary, and it’s an entirely different case. People aren’t morally responsible for their phobias, though they can be responsible for the degree to which they let them control them.
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Reports about a copyright lawsuit by Ed Townsend’s estate against Ed Sheeran recently caught my attention. The suit claims that Sheeran’s song “Thinking Out Loud” infringes on “Let’s Get It On,” usually attributed to Marvin Gaye but co-authored by Townsend. The claim was that Sheeran improperly used “harmonic progressions” and “melodic and rhythmic elements” from the earlier song, but a federal court has ruled there was no copyright violation. That got me thinking about the whole issue of song copyrights.
To start by making my own views clear, I’m in favor of copyright. Some libertarians argue that creative works aren’t tangible objects and thus shouldn’t be subject to property rights, but I think the concept of ownership is as applicable to creations of the mind as to physical creations. Copyright prevents one person (or corporation) from taking someone else’s creation and profiting without getting consent or offering compensation. I think 95-year copyrights are inappropriate, but living creators should enjoy protection against the appropriation of their work.
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Since I’ve commented on the 2023 China Worldcon and the bid for one in Egypt, I should mention that the odds of my attending the 2024 Glasgow Worldcon, which were already low, have dropped to near zero.
The government of the UK has stomped on the right of mere commoners to criticize “His Majesty,” just when the world’s eyes were on it. I’m not calling for a boycott, but I don’t feel like setting foot in the UK if I don’t have to.
Security Minister Tugendhat declared, “The coronation is a chance for the United Kingdom to showcase our liberty and democracy, that’s what this security arrangement is doing.” The showcase has included suspicionless detention, bans directed at specific people, and restrictions on Internet speech. Volunteers in a women’s safety program were arrested for handing out rape alarms, because they could in principle be used to disrupt events. The charge: “Conspiracy to commit public nuisance.”
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