The only reason they gave a cease and desist was because they couldn't make any cash off it. As soon as Geisel was cold in the grave, his wife began whoring the Seuss legacy and selling rights to Seussify every cheesy trinket on the planet. She's the anti-Seuss.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/03/mp3_truffles_sp_1.html

The intent was clearly to make fun of the Dr. Seuss original - and setting it to music and singing it would arguably qualify as "transformative". I think it could at least be argued.

But the pernicious effect of copyright law as currently applied is that a simple threatening letter, combined with the insane cost of litigation, can shut down anyone's First Amendment right to free speech. It doesn't even need to get to court; and the senders of these threatening letters know full well that it never will get to court, so they can send them with impunity.

I have a baby shower to attend this weekend and it has been requested that gifts be of the literary sort to build a 'library' for the child-to-be. Suess, Inc.'s actions just got any Suess books crossed off my list of potential presents! (of course anything with even the faintest odor of Disney was long ago banished)

Is there any corporate dirt on Richard Scary?

The idea to do this was genius and the execution is incredible. I think if Seuss was alive, he would be delighted with these. They need to be released.

Brilliant and worthwhile mashups of copyrighted works seem to survive. Just witness the Gray Album, which combined the Beatles and Jay-Z. The simple guitar riff of "Mother Nature's Son" mixed with Jay-Z's lyrics in "December 4th" is phenomenal - and really, who would have ever thought of that? Every jerkoff in the world has done the Bob Dylan voice at some point or another, and the Dr. Seuss parody was already done much better by Saturday Night Live when they had Jesse Jackson read "Green Eggs and Ham". Copyright is copyright. If you're going to try to violate it, at least come up with a a better idea. Then, your work will live forever. This Dylan/Seuss crap will be forgotten by the 4th of July.

Seuss' history with IP law didn't begin with the case in the 1990s. In the '60s, Geisel found to his dismay that an unlicensed company was producing Seuss-related toys. Because he hadn't developed the Seuss trademarks, he had little grounds to stop the infringement (which was not in any way a fair use exemption -- it was an unaffiliated company trying to sell fake merch). It was only after this case that Geisel authorized merchandise -- done in part to prevent unathuthorized uses.

The two cases are not at all the same, and Geisel's individual judgment has now obviously been replaced by what sounds like an aggressive estate. But I'm slightly more inclined to be sympathetic to the family's position than I otherwise might be, since they were once burned by being complacent in defending their trademark.

first you post a great contest, now you give us the link to DylSeuss. Thanks.

the link you posted only has two of the songs on this album. Anyone know where there may be more of these out there in internetland?

Brilliant and worthwhile mashups of copyrighted works seem to survive. Just witness the Gray Album, which combined the Beatles and Jay-Z. The simple guitar riff of "Mother Nature's Son" mixed with Jay-Z's lyrics in "December 4th" is phenomenal - and really, who would have ever thought of that?

-- I envy us

`

I also thought about THE GRAY ALBUM as I was reading this article. I don't download unauthorized music, so I've never even heard it, but the idea fascinates me. I wonder why the copyright holders didn't get together and have it released. It's the only way Jay Z would ever get money from me, and the Beatles would get another sale. It's a cross promotion that couldn't miss. I am one of a gazillion people who bought Danger Mouse's Gnarls Barkley effort, so now that he's a mega star, what's up with THE GRAY ALBUM?

Maybe the Suess estate and Bob Dylan should get with the 21st century and try to capitalize on this.

Not that it really matters, but I suppose we should be correct in referencing the work. And you're missing out if you haven't heard it. But I respect your stance.

I can't help but side with the Seuss guys on this one. The work doesn't simply borrow a Seuss element, it appropriates whole sections of it. I think the artist should have tried a little harder and made up his own Seuss-like rhymey words. Then I imagine the Seuss estate wouldn't have any grounds for their position.

For a funny Dr. Seuss parody, I recommend you watch "The Dr. Seuss Bible," a sketch by Kids in the Hall. Maybe you can find it posted on YouTube, or maybe not... Anyway, they make up a pretty goofy Seussian version of the story of Jesus, which ends with Christ in "Sam Ziffle's Crucifixian Machine..."

Twirl the ga-whirl

Release the ga-wheez

And in go the nails

Just as fast as you please!

I'm all for artists being subversive, but I think grabbing other works wholesale crosses a line. I thought Negativland (and Mark Hosler) had their heads up their asses when they thought they had a right to package and release a modified version of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," and I thought the people who defended Napster file-trading were completely nuts. (People tried to defend it by claiming the record companies had forfeited their right to profit by gouging consumers with the well-documented price-fixing of CDs, but since when do two wrongs make a right?)

If Duchamp's Mona Lisa (with van Dyke beard) can be considered transformative, there's no reason these tracks can't.

There is a craftsman's attention to detail on the recordings, and while, as one poster above said, "everyone has done the Bob Dylan voice at some point or another", Ryan does the whole thing well enough to trick you at times. The timbre of the voice, not to mention the backing instrumentation, is exceptionally faithful to that late 60s Dylan sound.

But the real genius of the thing is that there are moments while listening to these songs that you can't help but think that, lyrically, it might as well be something off of Blonde On Blonde!