Brian Wilson's "private songs"

[astroray]

From a new interview with Jack Tempchin  -  Rock Cellar Magazine: Is there a difference between the songs you record as an artist and the ones farmed out to others?

Jack Tempchin: Well, no. If someone wants to do one of my songs they can. I don’t care which one it is. Maybe I wouldn’t play certain things for people ‘cause I thought they’re not gonna really respond to that. At one point my friend sat down one night—he was good friends with Brian Wilson and Brian played a couple of songs on the piano and sang them. My friend was just sitting in the corner and said, “What are those, I’ve never heard those?”


And Brian said. “Oh, those are my private songs.”  (laughs) I’m thinking, well, what if Bob Dylan has a whole bunch of private songs? “Oh no, these are just mine; I don’t let anyone else hear these.” (laughs)
- See more at: http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2015/08/05/jack-tempchin-interview-eagles-songwriting/#sthash.PAEHrd9m.dpuf

[bgas]

Nice interview, Thanxx!
and by Ken Sharp, that's good also;
waiting for Ken's  BBs book to come out, thought it should be here by now...

[HeyJude]

If the question is about whether someone is allowed to cover someone else’s song (which may well not be the question at hand at all), I think it’s free reign as long as the song has been published/copyrighted. If you just overhear Brian Wilson playing a song you’ve never heard, on the other hand, I don’t think you can just record it yourself, even if you give him credit. I’m sure there are some grey areas and weird scenarios.

I know in a few cases unreleased tracks have been covered. I think “Carry Me Home” was covered back in the 90s, and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice To Live Again” was also covered of course prior to release. I think a cover of “Soul Searchin’” may have come out prior to Brian’s 2004 version. But in those cases, while unreleased, the songs may have either already been published/copyrighted, and/or arrangements were made to make sure the songs were published/copyrighted prior to someone covering them.

Obviously, if you somehow hear an unreleased and unpublished song, you can *ask* the songwriter for permission to cover it, and I would imagine at least *sometimes* they’ll agree to it.

[The Shift]

Soulful Old Man Sunshine springs to mind…

[Joel Goldenberg]

From a new interview with Jack Tempchin  -  Rock Cellar Magazine: Is there a difference between the songs you record as an artist and the ones farmed out to others?

Jack Tempchin: Well, no. If someone wants to do one of my songs they can. I don’t care which one it is. Maybe I wouldn’t play certain things for people ‘cause I thought they’re not gonna really respond to that. At one point my friend sat down one night—he was good friends with Brian Wilson and Brian played a couple of songs on the piano and sang them. My friend was just sitting in the corner and said, “What are those, I’ve never heard those?”


And Brian said. “Oh, those are my private songs.”  (laughs) I’m thinking, well, what if Bob Dylan has a whole bunch of private songs? “Oh no, these are just mine; I don’t let anyone else hear these.” (laughs)
- See more at: http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2015/08/05/jack-tempchin-interview-eagles-songwriting/#sthash.PAEHrd9m.dpuf

I gather Jack Tempchin didn't hear "Song to God." 

[adamghost]

If the question is about whether someone is allowed to cover someone else’s song (which may well not be the question at hand at all), I think it’s free reign as long as the song has been published/copyrighted. If you just overhear Brian Wilson playing a song you’ve never heard, on the other hand, I don’t think you can just record it yourself, even if you give him credit. I’m sure there are some grey areas and weird scenarios.

I know in a few cases unreleased tracks have been covered. I think “Carry Me Home” was covered back in the 90s, and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice To Live Again” was also covered of course prior to release. I think a cover of “Soul Searchin’” may have come out prior to Brian’s 2004 version. But in those cases, while unreleased, the songs may have either already been published/copyrighted, and/or arrangements were made to make sure the songs were published/copyrighted prior to someone covering them.

Obviously, if you somehow hear an unreleased and unpublished song, you can *ask* the songwriter for permission to cover it, and I would imagine at least *sometimes* they’ll agree to it.

This is basically correct, and we were only able to do WIBNTLA because Alan Boyd was able to go directly to Stan Shapiro and Dennis' publishers to get clearance to do the song.