[Dixielandjazz] More on You Can't Cheat a Cheater

[Scott Anthony]

Dick,

Does registration of copyright imply that there is some sort of written manuscript or sheet music of the tune somewhere?

Scott
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Scott Anthony
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On Nov 3, 2013, at 6:56 PM, Dick Baker <djml at dickbaker.org> wrote:

> Noticing the exchange about lead sheets, I'm reminded that I did battle with this tune for the Stomp Off index this morning, and it's an example of all the ways a compiler of such an index can get a headache.  Most sources agree that the tune was written by Phil Napoleon, Frank Signorelli and Tommy Dorsey (although the 1993 Stomp Off CD had Jimmy Dorsey).
> 
> It was recorded 23 April 29 by Tom Dorsey & His Novelty Orchestra (Tommy Dorsey, Frank Signorelli, Eddie Lang, Stan King), OKeh 41422.
> Then a month later by Napoleon’s Emperors (with the Dorsey Bros. on tb & cl and Frank Signorelli on pno), Victor V-38069.
> 
> Now get this:  The composer credits on OKeh 41422 are Dorsey, Lang & Signorelli.  The credits on Victor V-38069 are Napoleon-Signorelli-Dorsey.
> 
> Now comes the copyright registration, and it gets stranger yet:
>        You can't cheat a cheater; melody by Phil Napoleon, Henry Signorelli and
>        Tom Dorsey. © 1 c. Sept. 28, 1929; E unp. 11391: Southern music pub. co.,
>        inc. New York.
> 
> BUT wait a minute: The 1929 copyright catalog index places this under "Thomas Dorsey," who also wrote "Hokum Boys from Tennessee" that year, i.e., Thomas A. "Georgia Tom" Dorsey!  There's no other Dorsey entry in the index.  And Frank and Henry Signorelli are separate listings in the index, so its editors definitely considered them different people.
> 
> Well, I guess that of the conflicting label credits, we take the one that more or less matches the copyright registration.  But what about the true composer names?
> 
> The Victor Project (http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php -- a great source) entry also shows Phil, Tommy and Frank as composers, citing as source "Disc label (BHC)" or "Victor blue history card," presumably a recording studio document.  Since there's no other Henry Signorelli in the copyright books 1927-31, I'm going to cross my fingers and guess that (a) "Henry" was a joke played by Frank and (b) "Tom Dorsey" on the copyright was our trombonist, but the copyright book compilers presumed he was the earlier Dorsey, who used "Thomas Dorsey" on his other copyrights that year and was listed in the index that way.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --Dick Baker
> Working on an updated version of the Stomp Off Records Tune Titles and Composers Index
> See working draft at http://dickbaker.org/stompoff/index.pdf
> 
> 
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