Friday 28 June 2013

Post Title Deleted - Explanation Below

I was going to use a couple of lyrics from a song as the title of my post this morning, but now I'm not.
You see, I should have spent this morning and yesterday morning doing some more writing, coming up with various theories about the universe for inclusion in a particularly critical (and thought-provoking) part of 'The Book That IT...'
Instead, I found myself going through the three parts of 'The Book That THEY...', checking that I hadn't used any song lyrics.
Why?
Well, it's all to do with an article by Blake Morrison in the Guardian which was highlighted by my publisher, regarding the use of copyrighted lyrics within novels and the costs associated in doing so.
Here's an extract (which I'm hoping is not, itself, copyrighted!)
I still have the invoices. For one line of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”: £500. For one line of Oasis’s “Wonderwall”: £535. For one line of “When I’m Sixty-four”: £735. For two lines of “I Shot the Sheriff” (words and music by Bob Marley, though in my head it was the Eric Clapton version): £1,000. Plus several more, of which only George Michael’s “Fastlove” came in under £200. Plus VAT. Total cost: £4,401.75. 

And what did I discover, after reading through my work...?
Well, it appears that I have, on one occasion, used a few lyrics and as a result, said lyrics are being savagely culled from the Part 3 because they are not critical to the plot and the book will be re-published. Annoying, but there you go. It's better than an invoice for £500 landing on the doormat!

Looking on the bright side, I am, in a way, glad that I found this out now before I got into writing the detail of the last few Diary Entries in 'The Book That IT...' because I had planned to use some of the words from Simon and Garfunkel's 'I am a Rock' - well, seeing as I'd probably be charged a couple of thousand quid for the privilege, I think they can all just bloody well 'Garfunkel-Off'!
Instead, I think I'll use 'The Owl and the Pussycat.'

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