CHAUCER BEATS THE RAP!

I have been meaning to write something about this story since I first read about it in The New York Times last fall but since this news was first reported in 1380, I guess I'm not all that late.

 

In 1873, a court document was discovered from the year 1380 in which a woman named Cecila Chaumpaigne "released" Geoffrey Chaucer from "all manner of actions related to my raptus".  According to the Times, scholars assumed for years that Chaucer had been accused of rape by Chaumpaigne and had somehow settled the case (something they didn't teach this English major).

 

New research suggests that the word "raptus" used in this context did not mean rape or assault at all but that this release arose out of a labor dispute where a gentleman named Staunton had accused Ms. Chaumpaigne of leaving his employment and going to work for Chaucer unlawfully.  In the ensuing litigation, it was necessary for Chaumpaigne to release Chaucer from liability. 

 

There  has been a strain of literary criticism developed over the years that labeled Chaucer a rapist (as well as being racist and anti-Semitic). Full disclosure- I found The Canterbury Tales  almost incomprehensible (although I did like The Wife of Bath). One really has to think about the years of critical theory  which may be premised upon a misunderstanding or faulty translation of a single word.  But the case involves so much more   than that; as the article explains, this work in attempting to vindicate  Chaucer as an individual has been going on for decades and involved a deep dive into ancient legal documents.  To me, it is amazing that these documents still survive in England and could be traced to Geoffrey Chaucer. I’ll have to think about that the next time someone asks me to dig out a contract or case file from the 1980’s. 

Lennon, The Mobster and the Lawyer

I have been meaning to write a blog about the book Lennon, the Mobster and the Lawyer by Jay Bergen since I saw the author speak here in Nashville last year.  As an obsessive Beatles fan, I find that one of the most interesting chapters in John Lennon's life concerns his convoluted involvement with Morris Levy.

 

To recap, Levy, the notorious mobster who had far-reaching connections in the music business (owning among other entities, Roulette Records, Birdland and the Strawberries record store chains, as well as numerous publishing companies) sued Lennon for copyright infringement for "borrowing" a bit of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" in the song "Come Together".  (As an aside, I always wondered if that claim would have had any chance of success at trial).

 

Lennon did not want to litigate the case, and as a settlement, he offered to record several of Levy's other copyrights on an upcoming oldies album he was planning to record with Phil Spector.  Spector proved difficult to work with and eventually absconded with the master tapes, and Lennon had no choice but to delay the album while he finished a new album, Walls and Bridges (which included a bit of a Levy copyright ("Ya Ya ") but in an incomplete version. Levy was apparently not happy.  

 

Lennon and Capitol Records eventually retrieved the tapes from Spector, and Lennon began to arduously rework and finalize the recording Spector had started.  Without spoiling the plot, Levy decided he could somehow market the recording (sourced from an unfinished reel-to-reel tape Lennon had given him) as a sold-on-television-only album – which he did – despite the fact that Lennon was unquestionably signed exclusively  to Capitol Records as a recording artist.  The saga of the Roots album, John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits, with its cheap incongruous photo of White Album period Lennon on the cover, continues to perplex Beatles fans to this day.  

 

We know that lawsuits commenced immediately with Levy's company suing Lennon, Apple Records, Capitol Records, Lennon's attorney, Harold Seider, etc.   Lennon, Capitol and Apple filed counterclaims.  This book is the story of the ensuing  trial.  From a lawyer's perspective, Bergen's work is fascinating.  He describes the missteps made by Levy's counsel and  the importance of educating the judge as to why Lennon's claims of damage to his career were significant.  The parts where Bergen quotes directly from trial transcripts are amazing.   We also learn that Dave Marsh  was an expert witness for Lennon. The only complaint I have with the book is Bergen's re-creating dialog between Lennon and himself – although, in hindsight, this may have been the only way to convey Lennon's state of mind at the time.  It's interesting to see how Lennon was so engaged in every aspect of the trial.  It is also fascinating  to learn more about Morris Levy, one of the most  colorful characters in the music business.  (I still need to read Tommy James' book about his dealings with Levy).  I'm pleased  that Jay Bergen got to tell this story and I recommend it to both Beatles fans and courtroom drama enthusiasts.

Let Us Now Praise David Jacobs

 I recently finished reading Darryl H. Bullock's entertaining book The Velvet Mafia.  The subtitle pretty much explains the whole premise: The Gay Men Who Made The Swinging Sixties.  The book  presents a detailed portrait of some people I know a lot about – Larry Parnes, Brian Epstein, Sir Joseph Lockwood, Joe Orton and Joe Meek as well as people I knew a little bit about including Robert Stigwood, Lionel Bart and the infamous Lord Boothby.  All of these players were instrumental in the British entertainment industry of the 1960s and, coincidentally, they were all gay.

 

The character who fascinated me the most is David Jacobs, the solicitor to the stars.  At one point he had offices in both London and Hollywood.  He had both The Beatles and Brian Epstein as clients as well as Winston Churchill's daughter, Judy Garland, Diana Dors, Shirley Bassey and John Profumo.  At one point he sued the Daily Mirror for libel on behalf of Liberace, for implying that Liberace was homosexual – and won!  He apparently was known to appear in court in full makeup.

 

Tragically, Jacobs died a sad death  – found hanging in his garage.  The book questions whether his death was a drug induced suicide or something far more sinister.

 

I found the story of David Jacobs positively inspiring in some ways.  One doesn't hear about entertainment lawyers being as interesting as their clients.  The idea that Jacobs could be negotiating major deals for Brian Epstein one minute and getting a famous politician’s daughter out of the jail the next makes most contemporary law practices  seem positively dull. 

 

It’s a fascinating book and gives a lot of deep background into the entertainment business in London before and during the British Invasion. I have only one criticism. In an otherwise well written work, I came across  the worst sentence I think I've ever read:  "According to the inquiry, Halliwell used a hammer to strike Orton, whom he had met at RADA,  on his head at least nine times."

Online Legal Research back in the Day

 I was leafing through the SMU Law School alumni magazine when I came upon this photograph of the school's first online computer research terminal from Lexis. This is the exact machine we learned to do legal research on in my first year of law school. It took hours. No wonder I preferred to use the books. I still do, although I have to admit online legal research has become a lot easier. 

Co-Writing, Works Made for Hire and Happy Birthday Bob

(collage by Gwil Owen)

 It's Bob Dylan's 80^th birthday, and I wanted to mark the occasion by reviewing the complaint in one of the strangest lawsuits I have seen in some time. 

 Late last year, it was announced that Bob Dylan had sold his catalog (including the writer's share of income) to Universal Music Publishing Group for approximately $300 million, one of the highlights in  the recent frenzy of catalog acquisitions.  Shortly thereafter, on January 20, 2021, Claudia Levy, the widow of songwriter/psychoanalyst/theater director Jacques Levy, filed suit against Dylan and Universal for breach of contract, alleging that the Levy estate was somehow due some part of the proceeds that Dylan received from the sale because of the fact that Levy co-wrote ten songs with Dylan, including the majority of the songs on Desire ("Isis" is a personal favorite).

 

None of that is surprising; contractual disputes occur all the time.  What intrigued me is that Dylan's co-writing arrangement with Levy was a "work made for hire" agreement where Dylan not only owned Levy's share of the copyright, but that for copyright purposes, Levy was Dylan's employee – with no ability to ever recapture his share of the copyright.  Even more surprising is the fact that the contract specified that Levy would receive only 35 percent of the writer’s share of income from the songs, rather than the traditional 50/50 co-writer's share.

 

  The complaint goes on to list a litany of complaints against Dylan and his associates, but I remain most fascinated by the whole work-made-for-hire concept.  It seems so foreign to any traditional notion of co-writing – although the history of the music business is full of examples of artists and performers making "unique" deals with their collaborators – this one is fairly new to me.  Oddly, Dylan's Motion to Dismiss the claim, which was filed in March, refers to the work-made-for-hire arrangement as "standard." Maybe these deals made more sense back in 1975.  I wonder if he had a similar arrangement with Sam Shepard? I will say that I agree with Dylan's attorneys that the complaint is without merit – the contract clearly gave Dylan the right to assign the copyrights and the deal doesn’t disturb Levy’s continued income stream.  It doesn't look as if the court has ruled on the. Motion  yet.  

 

 Anyway, happy birthday, Bob.  We're lucky to be living in the same time as you.  

 

 

 

 

 

The Boss Approves

 I have neglected my little blog for a while now.  It looks like I only posted seven times in 2020.  It's not like I had anything else going on. 

 

 Seriously, this was not intentional.  I have several things I really want to delve into and hope to get them up soon.

 

  However, I did want to mention how cool it is that Bruce Springsteen has his own radio show, From His House To Yours on Sirius XM.  I have been a fan of Springsteen's since before he was the Boss, and I have known since the first time I saw the E Street Band live that he has excellent taste in covers.  So I was thrilled to find out that last November, he played Jeffrey Foskett's version of "Cool and Gone," written by my compadres Bill Lloyd and David Surface (originally recorded by Bill on his Standing on the Shoulders of Giants album).

 

 Then on March 11, 2021, Bruce opened the show with the great Bobby Sutliff and his song "Kings of Flannel" followed a little later by Bobby and Tim Lee's band The Windbreakers doing "Girl from Washington," a song I've had stuck in my head since the first time I heard it.  This was followed a little later by Webb Wilder and his recording "Battle of the Bands".

 

How cool is that? I count all of these guys as clients and friends, and there is something really significant about their music getting acknowledgement from the Boss.  These are all great songs and great artists.  Check them out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GRATITUDE

 This being Thanksgiving, I see a lot of commentators reflecting on the concept of gratitude, especially in this strange (and let's face it, awful) year.  It seems weird to ponder gratitude while there is so much suffering.  However, I feel it.  My wife and I just celebrated one of those milestones of parenthood when our daughter graduated from college.  She had a rough start to her college career, through no fault of her own, and to see her bounce back and finish strong (cum laude – dad brag) fills me with pride and yes, gratitude.  

 

            I've also been thinking this week about a conversation I recently had with a  client.  She thanked me for some advice I gave her, probably 25 or more years ago, when she was a young songwriter just starting out.  She had been offered a deal with a company I knew to be less than reputable, and I advised her to pass on the offer.  I didn't hear from her for some time after that, but when I started working with her again on some new matters, she reminded me of that first consultation and how she appreciated the counsel.  I was genuinely thrilled to hear that.  Lawyers try hard to make a positive difference in their clients' lives, and when one can actually see tangible proof of that effort and acknowledgement, there's no better feeling.  So my Thanksgiving wish for everyone, to paraphrase writer, Brene Brown, is to "Stop and celebrate one another and our victories … we need to celebrate our accomplishments right now".  I can think of no better way to end 2020.

 

Or to quote Paul McCartney: https://tinyurl.com/y68g4lfz