Men at Work

Is this just "Overkill" or perhaps "It's a Mistake."  As reported by Adam Gabbatt and the Associated Press in Sydney, The Guardian, Friday 5 February 2010: "A federal court in Sydney ruled today that the group's best-known track Down Under plagiarised a campfire song about the penchant of a native bird, the kookaburra, for eating gum drops and counting monkeys, written more than 70 years ago by the late Marion Sinclair, a teacher and girl guide leader.  "I have come to the view that the flute riff in Down Under … replicates in material form a substantial part of Ms Sinclair's work," the federal court justice Peter Jacobson said.  The parties will reconvene in court on 25 February to work out an agreement.  Larrikin Music's lawyer, Adam Simpson, said outside court the company may seek up to 60% of the royalties earned by Down Under, an amount that could total millions.  Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree was penned by Sinclair in 1932.  She reportedly introduced it at a world scouting jamboree in Victoria in 1934, and it quickly spread among guiding associations.  Men at Work lead singer Colin Hay told ABC News that the flautist Greg Ham used two bars from Kookaburra, but said the flute bits were added to Down Under after it was composed.  "When it was written, there was no Men At Work," he said. "There was no flute in the band at all and so when you talk about Down Under, that's what Down Under is to me. I'll go to my grave knowing Down Under is an original piece of work.  "When I wrote that with Ron, we took nothing from anybody and it was a musical accident that happened."

Jeff Beck - Les Paul Tribute at the Grammy's

Jeff Beck performed in honor of the passing last year of Les Paul at the Grammy's award show this past Sunday. Beck and his band performed Les Paul's How High the Moon, with vocalist Imelda May.  Jeff Beck was a tremendous and perfect choice to give this poignant Les Paul tribute on the Grammy's show. You can see and hear a YouTube clip of the performance if you click on this post's title, above.  When I do consider the Gibson Les Paul guitar, Jeff Beck is not the first guitarist I think of  as the most well-known for playing that brand of guitar.  Most photos and videos I've seen of Jeff Beck show him playing a Fender Stratocaster, but that's OK.  As for the records shown, here are the two Jeff Beck records I own, his best two I'd say.  They are 1976's Wired, (right) produced by Sir George Martin, MBE.  And on the left is Blow by Blow, from 1974, which contains Freeway Jam.  The cable TV station Palladium is showing a great Jeff Beck concert video, called "Jeff Beck, Performing This Week...Live at Ronnie Scotts."