TELSTAR- THE JOE MEEK STORY

[Martin Page]

...and The Tornados' Globetrotter sounds like Mark Wynter's Venus in Blue Jeans...

Martin.

[JimN]

...and The Tornados' Globetrotter sounds like Mark Wynter's Venus in Blue Jeans...
Martin.

Back in '62, the BBC's Sunday morning radio pop music programme (I think it was "Easy Beat") had a Juke Box Jury / Spin-A-Disc type sequence with a teenage jury listening to new records. I recall one pundit commenting on Globetrotter precisely that it sounded like Telstar In Blue Jeans...

JN

[abstamaria]

I am reminded constantly by how ignorant I am in many things. I always thought that "Telstar," being about a satellite, was from the US and that the most interesting thing about it was that Don Wilson played lead fire extinguisher in the Ventures hit.

I didn't know it was composed by an Englishman in London and that it was first played by an English band. And that it was Margaret Thatcher's favorite pop song.

That was a sad story about Joe Meek, though. For those who don't know (and I may be the only one), the case was resolved in his favor. Here's a quote from Wikipedia:

"A French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score that Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austelitz. This led to a lawsuit that prevented Meek from receiving royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in Meek's favour until three weeks after his suicide in 1967. Austerlitz was not released in the UK until 1965, and Meek was unaware of the film when the lawsuit was filed in March 1963."

Andy

[Martin Page]

Dave Colin and Neil only appear very briefly as crowd scene extras at an awards presentation.
Blink and you will miss it!!

Mike

Yes, they were standing next to (the real) John Leyton giving Meek an award...

Martin.

[Martin Page]

I must confess that until watching "Telstar" last night, I had not heard of the plagiarism case that robbed Joe Meek of his royalties. However I do recall as a child, the feeling that the theme from "The High Chapperal, sounded rather similar.
http://youtu.be/xfSdTa-vKQ4.
Just how close does a tune have to be , before it can be considered a copy?

Yes, I thought exactly the same.

Martin.

[JimN]

Doris Day's I'll Never Stop Loving You and Eric Coates' The Dambusters' March, anyone?

JN

[neil2726]

Yes Jim I will have to agree with that one!

[Martin Page]

Doris Day's I'll Never Stop Loving You and Eric Coates' The Dambusters' March, anyone?

JN

Yup, agree - just had a listen to DD on YouTube...

Martin.

[keithmantle]

How about ELO 'Its a Living thing' and Craig Douglas 'When my little girl is Smiling'

[Didier]

That was a sad story about Joe Meek, though. For those who don't know (and I may be the only one), the case was resolved in his favor. Here's a quote from Wikipedia:

"A French composer, Jean Ledrut, accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score that Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austelitz. This led to a lawsuit that prevented Meek from receiving royalties from the record during his lifetime, and the issue was not resolved in Meek's favour until three weeks after his suicide in 1967. Austerlitz was not released in the UK until 1965, and Meek was unaware of the film when the lawsuit was filed in March 1963."

Andy

I had seen the film when it was released in France in 1960, but didn't remember anything about the music. Here it is :



Didier