The LWS “Animal Hop” Page
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“ANIMAL
HOP” was the opening track on the first Listen
With Sarah demo CD sent to John
Peel, just two months before he died. He played it on his radio show the
day it arrived (August 2004). It
later reached number 27 in the Festive Fifty 2004 (BBC Radio One). In
Dec 2004, I included it on a 14-track, self-released digipack CD:
“Animal Hop” proved
popular with listeners of all ages and received generous airplay from radio
shows around the globe, including WFMU’s
“Greasy Kid Stuff” (8 times), Another
Nice Mess (5 times), The
Rachael Neiman Show and Andy
Kershaw. In 2005, Listen With Sarah
was invited to contribute “Animal Hop” to
Rough
Trade’s Counter Culture CD. At this point, I attempted to gain clearance
for the samples of the Ivor
The Engine theme, which I had used in “Animal Hop”. Sadly, this
resulted in legal threats from Oliver
Postgate (creator of Bagpuss)
and the eventual withdrawal from sale of the ‘AYSC’ CD in November 2005,
leaving me with 800 unsold copies. Needless to say, “Animal Hop” was not
included on the Rough Trade release. Ivor The Engine was a
much-loved British children’s TV animation, which began in 1959 and ran for
30 years. The theme tune was originally written and performed by Vernon
Elliott as a commission for Smallfilms (aka Oliver
Postgate and Peter Firmin) who, allegedly, own the mechanical rights to its
recording. The recording in question, incidentally, is 12 seconds long. “…Your letter admits that you used a
recording of Vernon Elliott's work, one which Smallfilms had commissioned,
paid for and now owns, without even asking, and that you have included it in
a compilation as if it were your own work, a compilation which you have
published as being your own work. That is, simply,
illegal, as well as dishonest.
I appreciate that you may feel that the work is lovely (I do not share that
feeling) but this is not germaine to the offence, which is that you took
something that didn't belong to you and used it for your purposes...” Mr Postgate proved unwilling to negotiate and
refused all of my offers of payment, royalties and donations to charity. His final words were: “Smallfilms did not, do not and will not give you permission to take Vernon Elliott's music and recording and use it in your work: Animal Hop. We have therefore asked you to cease offering the said work for sale. If you will do this we shall not proceed with legal action against you. If you do not we reserve the right to do so.” (Oliver Postgate 2005)
Sarah Nelson 2007 (aka Listen With
Sarah) |
