Taking Too Much Credit

When None Is Deserved At All

November 5. 2007

Mozart - A Historic Victim Of Song Jacking

For centuries, frauds have sought to take credit for music they did not author. It didn’t begin with modern day fraudulent artists like Madonna and Beyonce. It’s something that’s been happening for quite some time. A look back if you will…

Mozart rocking the historic Jeri Curl: those thieves stealing my music wish their curls were as tight as mine:

In 1791, a rich wannabe, Franz Count von Walsegg, commissioned "Requiem" from a then struggling composer named, Mozart, then tried to pass it off as his own work.

This so called nobleman wasn't noble at all, as he had a contemptible track record of stealing other people's music by recopying the original sheet music in his own handwriting, then playing it for audiences, taking credit as the composer. By all accounts, he was an untalented hack of a musician as well. Ah yes, the granddaddy of the lip-syncers.

To those of you who know what Requiem by Mozart sounds like when played properly, just imagine it being performed by someone that got yanked off the stage at the Apollo or sent off on American Idol, while claiming they actually wrote the rip off.

For another modern day example, imagine what "Respect" would have sounded like had sticky fingers Madonna stole it and performed it live and Aretha Franklin hadn't recorded it. Ok, that's what Franz Count von Walsegg did.

Franz Count von Walsegg probably didn't fathom Mozart would become so successful in the future or he probably wouldn't have stolen his work, as this is all he is known for today. History reversed itself and in an ugly way.

Many of you know the 50's hit song "Why Do Fools Fall In Love." Not only was it a hit in the 50's, it has been licensed and remade many times since its initial release. So much so that the song earned $4,000,000 in royalties that a dishonest music manager, Morris Levy, kept for himself by unlawfully taking credit as the writer of the song. It spawned a big court case and was featured in a movie of the same name starring Halle Berry.

The initial release of the song "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" did not bear Levy's name as a songwriter, but he deceitfully added it later to collect money that was not due to him after Frankie Lymon's untimely death from a drug overdose.

Lymon never received a dime in songwriter's royalties and died broke, while crooked Morris Levy lived in the lap luxury with $4,000,000 in ill-gotten gain. That's an accurate picture of the entertainment industry for you - and one that Congress to this day has left unregulated.

It is really hypocritical when you see frauds like Edgar Bronfman jr and others in Congress spouting off about issues affecting them, while they rob, rape and pillage artists who are mostly minorities. What does that say about Congress as well that they entertain such fools criminals.