2 September 2000

Dear Diary:

A thought just occurred to me - if someone changes the lyrics to a song or a poem, or any sort of text, does the new text belong to the original author, or the "innovator"? Is the final product still the original, a branch of the original, or a totally new creation? Because in fact, all the "innovator" has done is take an existing piece of work, modify it and tagged his name on it. Come to think of it, there are quite a few variations of songs around. There's one about burning the school down (to the tune of "Deck the Halls") and another about Batman smelling ("Jingle Bells"), just to name 2 examples. Who actually started singing the new versions, and how did they spread?