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At the Aspen show 12/22, JB said he wrote Bama Breeze. At first I though it was just a slip, but then he said it again.
The BN song database lists the songwriters as Chris Tompkins, Josh Kear, and Mark Irwin.

So why is Jimmy taking credit for someone else's work?

Mr Play wrote:At the Aspen show 12/22, JB said he wrote Bama Breeze. At first I though it was just a slip, but then he said it again.
The BN song database lists the songwriters as Chris Tompkins, Josh Kear, and Mark Irwin.

So why is Jimmy taking credit for someone else's work?

He may not have written it, but would you have ever heard the song if Jimmy had never recorded it?

Jimmy can do what he wants, after all.

trojan_sixtyone wrote:

Mr Play wrote:At the Aspen show 12/22, JB said he wrote Bama Breeze. At first I though it was just a slip, but then he said it again.
The BN song database lists the songwriters as Chris Tompkins, Josh Kear, and Mark Irwin.

So why is Jimmy taking credit for someone else's work?

He may not have written it, but would you have ever heard the song if Jimmy had never recorded it?

Jimmy can do what he wants, after all.

until he's sued for copyright infringement.

Who made the song popular is beside the point. He didn't say he recorded it or rearranged it, he said he wrote it. Where do you draw the line for "He can do whatever he wants"?

I'm not a lawyer but the copyright issue is probably a little gray if proper credits are given on the CD jacket, video titles, and other published outlets.

To me it's just about giving credit where it's due. As a songwriter himself I would think JB had more respect for other people's creative work.

Mr Play wrote:Who made the song popular is beside the point. He didn't say he recorded it or rearranged it, he said he wrote it. Where do you draw the line for "He can do whatever he wants"?

I'm not a lawyer but the copyright issue is probably a little gray if proper credits are given on the CD jacket, video titles, and other published outlets.

To me it's just about giving credit where it's due. As a songwriter himself I would think JB had more respect for other people's creative work.

I can promise you that he has the rights to the song from the original artist, Josh Kear, and I would say Mr. Kear is probably happy just to have the honor of being covered by JB. Furthermore, he changed up the song a little and altered some lyrics, so it's not a straight cover, either. Therefore, I think he can definitely get away with saying he wrote it. It's not like he takes credit on the album itself, he just said it live. There's a large difference there.

I also don't think Jimmy meant any disrespect by it. Think of all the times he's messed up his own lyrics because he's distracted or tipsy or laughing at the crowd. He probably didn't mean it the way it sounded, therefore a mountain is being made of a molehill.

He said it twice, so I don't believe it was a slip of the tongue. Also, making minor changes does not equate to writing a song. If it did, he would have registered a songwriting credit and listed it on the CD.

Think what you will about making a mountain out of a molehill. I'm a believer in making sure people are recognized for their contributions.

Mr Play wrote:He said it twice, so I don't believe it was a slip of the tongue. Also, making minor changes does not equate to writing a song. If it did, he would have registered a songwriting credit and listed it on the CD.

Think what you will about making a mountain out of a molehill. I'm a believer in making sure people are recognized for their contributions.

If you're so bent out of shape about it I guess you could take the initiative and sue Jimmy.

I'm not interested in suing anyone. I didn't bring up the copyright issue in the first place, and that's not my point.

Mr Play wrote:

So why is Jimmy taking credit for someone else's work?

If that's not a copyright issue, what is?

And what is your point? I guess I'm not following what you're really trying to say.

My point is that JB said he wrote a song that he didn't write.

I guess that's a fine point to make, I just don't see what it accomplishes. I stand by the statement that he didn't mean it the way it sounded and this isn't a huge deal. More likely than not Jimmy paid for the rights to record the song, so there's not much wrong with him saying that (legally, at least). Just doesn't seem that big a deal to me, but maybe I'm just not understanding something.

(After all, it's Christmas and I could be a little gooned-up on egg nog.)

trojan_sixtyone wrote:I guess that's a fine point to make, I just don't see what it accomplishes. I stand by the statement that he didn't mean it the way it sounded and this isn't a huge deal. More likely than not Jimmy paid for the rights to record the song, so there's not much wrong with him saying that (legally, at least). Just doesn't seem that big a deal to me, but maybe I'm just not understanding something.

(After all, it's Christmas and I could be a little gooned-up on egg nog.)

That's cool - I can accept that point of view a lot more easily than "He can do whatever he wants".

I'm not interested in any copyright angles. I know that proper written credits were given and I'm sure all of the writers are getting their royalties on time. I'd just rather hear Jimmy acknowledge the true origins of a song in its introduction rather than claim credit for it himself.

Nothing more to it than that.

I will give you this much:

I have noticed over the years that more than 50% of the songs I really love and really associate Jimmy with were in fact written or originated by other artists. Only a minority of the songs I really, really like are written by Jimmy and Jimmy alone.

That bothers me a little bit, but I can't argue with the end result. Good music is good music.

It doesn't bother me at all that he didn't write the song. What bothers me is that he said he did.

Gotcha.

The only only thing about what I said last that really bothers me is it makes me (unfortunately) have a thought in the back of my mind that maybe he's not the songwriter he once was, but is just one helluva showman and salesman. All-in-all, though, it doesn't matter too much because the end product is still entirely captivating to me. It just sometimes really makes me wonder when i hear him being given credit as a pure songwriter, because these days that's not really his schtick.

Is it possible that even though Jimmy is not listed on the credits that he helped write the song. (after all it has his sister's name in it...)

I remember reading an article that Bob Seger wrote about helping someone write a song and saying "Nah, you don't need to credit me....It turned out to be a big hit...."

I cought that too and thought it a bit odd. Maybe he thinks that since he changed the LuLu verse he thinks he wrote it. And no he can't do whatever he wants just cause he paid for the rights to the song. Maybe he paid for the rights to say he wrote it too . Although the writers are most likely tickled pink just to have him record it, needless to say the royalties they are getting from him.

i have a live recording of holiday where jimmy says "ralph mcdonald wrote that song" but on banana wind the credit goes to jimmy as well as ralph and other members of the band.what jimmy does alot is what he calls "buffettize" someeone elses material and he probably feels it makes it his.right of wrong.

Mick Jagger wrote all the words to Wild Horses except for the chorus, which was Keith. Keith always says That's Mick's baby.

Sympathy For The Devil - that's Mick's song.

A lot of other tunes. And it's the other way around too.

From 1978 to now all Stones songs, with just a couple of exceptions, are credited Jagger - Richards (anything before that is Jagger - Richard). Who wrote what % of the song isn't obvious on paper - it's always the 50/50 split. Happy and Before They Make Me Run say Jagger - Richard but Jagger had ZERO to do with either of them.

So JB saying Ralph wrote that song, he's right. Maybe Jimmy came up with the Weather Channel girl part. Whatever - JB had something to do with it, even it's hardly anything.

If Jimmy is taking credit for 'writing' Bama Breeze it's a little after the fact to get credit for it. But it's obvious he didn't write it.

Yeah, I also found his comment during the show odd, where he took credit for writing Bama Breeze.

I don't know why he said that given the album credits are different, and he's changed a few lyrics of many other songs he covered without taking songwriting credit. Maybe it was a senior moment where it's such a Florabama song he feels as though he wrote it...or maybe he read on BN where folks said it sounded like a song he'd have written...so now he's taking credit, confused, or perhaps just trying to confuse us....