Actually, it's not from a film but from a Lawrence Welk Show special that aired in March 1958.

The Wolf

it was always well known that yidden was copied from dgsingis kahn. (there are several other "jewish music" songs copied from them as well.)
the fact that it was copied from dhsingis kahn was even mentioned in the old shlock rock parody "yiddish")

It's all over the Jewish music scene now. Stealing songs from Coca Cola among other sources is common practice; I have to believe that people assume that we haven't heard the songs before or just don't care.

A few years ago when this phenomenon became apparent I stopped buying music from such artists and only support people who are truly innovative - Shlomo Katz, etc.

1) i was thinking what is the difference between him and groups (like the above-mentioned shlock rock) that sing non-jewish music with jewish lyrics. the difference is that latter is a form of parody, and everyone who listens to these songs knows very well what their origins are. (or is that too much of an assumption to think that most people who listen to this genre are familiar with non-jewish music?)

2) my friend's brother told me that he had a shiur at gush on copying music. the rav said that halkhah does not recognize intellectual property. i asked what about dina de-malkhuta dina. the rav said that this only applies when the government actively enforces a law against everyone. later i wondered if i agree that halakhah does not recognize intellectual property, as one of the purposes of early haskamot in books was to serve as copyright protection.

3) in general i don't listen to jewish music. it just isn't good, for a number of reasons. including lack of originality. talking about ripping of songs (whether right or wrong) reminds me just how unoriginal jewish music is.

anonymous - that is true, but I love that video clip and I could not resist the urge to include it in the post.. :-)

natan - I agree with you. But I am curious - did you stop because you found them unoriginal and uninspiring or because you were upset with the fact that they used other people's music passing it off as their own?
I always have said that many of these singers (I will nto name names) are untalented and simply have nice voices. I particularly do not like the singers who use songs bought from other people as 99-100% of their albums. It is lack of talent and I know plenty of people with nice voices, so I buy very few of such cds. I do buy more from artists who write much of their own music.

ari - the difference is everybody knows, as you write. BTW, on that topic, Lenny Solomon of Shlock Rock once told me a long time ago that when he firststarted out he used to send letters to the artists whose music he wanted to use, asking permission to use their music. He said just about none of them ever responded. Though by law he did not need to because parody is protected by law. Then he stopped because nobody was responding anyway.

2. I did not discuss the halachic aspects of intellectual property. I know there are various opinions and did not want to get into it here.. But for someone who speaks so much about not copying his music, to then find out that his music is copied, is intriguing, to say the least.

From MBD's wikipedia page:

The Yiddish song on Solid MBD (1993) (with the chorus, "Vie gliklich iz der vus der shabbes hiet er") is an adaptation of "Close Every Door To Me", from the musical theater production "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber.

Here is the link to that song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McojYpF1t-0

-Zevy R.

There's some great music like this

nochi-krohn-band

azamra

And this album
elyon