Vince Lavieri <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Prior to Jefferson Airplane's "We Can Be Together" ('we cheat lie forge
>fred fuck hide and deal' and I never knew what 'fred' was),
Being a Fred myself, I certainly know what "fred" is ... the lyric is printed
in the liner notes as: "we steal cheat lie forge fred hide and deal." "fred"
is obviously a typographical placeholder for what they actually sing, which
is "fuck."
>the first use that I can recall was in the opening words of another San
>Francisco band's song, "Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die" which opened the
>"Fish Cheer" - Give me an F! Give me a U! etc...
Speaking of which, check this out:
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Country Joe McDonald is being sued for allegedly stealing
the tune of his 1965 protest song ``I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die-Rag'' from
a 1926 song by famed jazz trombonist Kid Ory.
Ory's daughter, Babette Ory, filed the lawsuit last month in U.S. District
Court in Los Angeles. She claims McDonald stole the tune to her father's
``Muskrat Ramble'' and argues that McDonald's infringement was intentional.
According to the lawsuit, Ory told McDonald in July that his song infringed
on her father's copyright, but he continued to perform it. Under copyright
law, she may seek damages for performances of the song only in the past three
years and for any performances since its filing.
``Damage for intentional infringement can be up to $150,000 for every time
the song has been performed over the past three years,'' Ory's lawyer,
Neville Johnson, told the Los Angeles Times. ``McDonald released it on a
record, sang it on a TV series, 'Tales of the City' - it's hard to tell how
much that will amount to. His song is an American classic, it's just too bad
that it infringed on another one.''
The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages and an order barring McDonald from
performing the song. It comes just at the time when the recording may be
gaining new popularity because of the military action in Afghanistan.
The 59-year-old McDonald, head of one of the leading psychedelic political
bands of the 1960s and a solo artist since 1970, conceded that he's been a
fan of Kid Ory but denied he copped the tune.
