Being familiar with my story, you’ll know Sir Percefal can’t die till he has asked the Right Question. Well despite being over 1500 years old, at least I don’t age as generations pass and vanish with their dreams.
Nor do I have ‘My Generation’ to champion and compare the last one to (‘things they do look awful c-c-cold’) with the risk my songs come back to haunt me. The question I am asking today is whether Pete Townsend wishes his hope for an early death had come true.
The sad fact is you become querulous bored and grumpy the longer you live with all your best work behind you. While you can’t dispute that people should be paid fairly for the work they do, instead of grousing about iTunes profiteering from the Who’s catalogue, Pete should count his blessings. Thanks to this change in the law, he will benefit from copyright on the Who’s recordings till he dies.
If his pocket has been feeling the pinch, he should now be able to entertain us on tour again smashing up his guitars, knowing his royalties will cover him well into his dotage. For ordinary folk struggling to get by, life is enriched and eased by the inspiration of artists like Pete but the egotism of his reference here to flower sellers and Zeppelin grate.
I prefer Sir Paul’s attitude. When Michael Jackson bought up the Beatles catalogue from under his nose, Macca was gracious. He said we don’t own the songs we write. They already exist - songwriters just capture them out of the ether.
I prefer Sir Paul’s attitude. When Michael Jackson bought up the Beatles catalogue from under his nose, Macca was gracious. He said we don’t own the songs we write. They already exist - songwriters just capture them out of the ether.
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