This is the second in a series of examinations of music legends and whether they are true or false.

Let’s begin!

MUSIC LEGEND: A musician was sued for infringing on the copyright of a silent song.

STATUS: True

Mike Batt has had a long and storied career as a composer and music producer beginning in the late 60s, writing hits for performers as eclectic as Steeleye Span…

Art Garfunkel…

and, of course, The Wombles…

More recently, in 2002, Batt formed the classic rock crossover band, The Planets, and released the popular (well, popular for classical music, at least) album, Classical Graffiti…

On the album, Batt has a “song” titled “A One Minute Silence,” which is just that, one minute of silence.

That wouldn’t be such a problem, except Batt credited the song as written by Batt/Cage.

John Cage, of course, was a world famous avant garde composer, perhaps most famous for his 1952 composition, “4′33″,” which consisted of four minutes and thirty three seconds of seeming silence (the point of Cage’s piece was that of course there is no such thing as PURE silence, so in reality, what the song was made up of was the ambient noise of the audience as they watched a performer do nothing for four minutes and thirty three seconds).

If Batt had not mentioned Cage, that would be one thing, but the administrators of the John Cage Trust felt that by calling attention to it, he was clearly attempting to use Cage’s song - this was not just silence in their minds, this was silence meant to evoke Cage’s work and that the idea of showing “silence” in this regard was an artistic concept that could be protected by copyright, and thus they felt that it was copyright infringement, so they sued Batt.

Soon before the case went to trial, Batt eventually settled by making a “donation” to the John Cage Trust for somewhere in the low six figures.

Before settling, Batt had a great line about the songs, “Mine is a much better silent piece. I have been able to say in one minute what Cage could only say in four minutes and 33 seconds.”

MUSIC LEGEND: Graham Nash once wrote a hit song on a limo ride on the way to the airport on a dare from the driver.

STATUS: True

Crosby, Stills and Nash was a popular folk rock “super group” consisting of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, all of whom were earlier in other popular bands (The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Hollies, respectively).

They had broken up after some success in the late 60s and early 70s (they also had a fourth member, of sorts, in Neil Young, making the group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sometimes), but were back together in the late 70s and came out with a hit album titled CSN (only Fleetwood Mac’s insanely popular album, Rumours, kept CSN out of the top spot on the charts).

The biggest hit off of the album was called “Just A Song Before I Go.”

Just a song before I go,
To whom it may concern.
Travelling twice the speed of sound
It’s easy to get burned.

When the shows were over
We had to get back home,
And when we opened up the door
I had to be alone.

She helped me with my suitcase,
She stands before my eyes
Driving me to the airport,
And to the friendly skies.

Going through security
I held her for so long.
She finally looked at me in love,
And she was gone.

Just a song before I go,
A lesson to be learned.
Travelling twice the speed of sound
It’s easy to get burned.

Stories circulated that the song was written by Graham Nash as a dare by a limo driver, basically a “I bet you can’t write a song in the time it takes for us to get to the airport.”

And the lyrics certainly support such a reading.

And, well, surprisingly enough, that’s exactly what happened!

Multiple members of the band have supported the story, but most notably, David Crosby told the story in the liner notes of their Greatest Hits that Nash wrote the song in about fifteen minutes as the group traveled to the airport in a limo, after the driver dared him to do so.

Pretty darn cool (although inaccurate, vis a vis the whole “traveling twice the speed of sound” line - but we can forgive him for the time constraints).

MUSIC LEGEND: “Softly as I Leave You” was written by a dying man as his wife slept at his bed side.

STATUS: I’m Going With False

The song, “Softly as I Leave You,” was a pretty big hit for a number of singers, most particularly Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra (both during the early 60s). A lot of other people have recorded it over the years, including Elvis Presley, who is actually quite important for this story.

In any event, as the story goes, “Softly As I Leave You” was written by a dying man while his wife slept next to him.

Softly, I will leave you softly
For my heart would break if you should wake and see me go
So I leave you softly, long before you miss me
Long before your arms can beg me stay
For one more hour or one more day
After all the years, I cant bear the tears to fall
So, softly as I leave you there

(softly, long before you kiss me)
(long before your arms can beg me stay)
(for one more hour) or one more day
After all the years, I cant bear the tears to fall
So, softly as I leave you there
As I leave I you there
As I leave I you there

As you can see, the lyrics pretty clearly show that it is a guy sneaking out on a woman he’s been in a long-term relationship with. It’s actually a fairly cowardly act (but it’s a beautiful song). In any event, it really does not suggest that particular reading of a dying man with his wife beside him, but I guess it isn’t 100% NOT counting such a reading out.

But in any event, no, that’s not what happened. Some time before the song became a hit, composer Antonio De Vita wrote an instrumental song that he simply called “(Piano) Softly.” Popular pop Italian songwriter, Giorgio Calabrese, wrote Italian lyrics to the song, and it became a minor hit in Italy.

Songwriter Hal Shaper “wrote” English lyrics, but what he really did was just translate the Calabrese lyrics.

So it became a hit for a few artists.

But neither De Vita, Calabrese nor Shaper were ever in said situation. Calabrese is even still alive!

No, this story came about because of Elvis Presley, who started AND propagated this rumor to add some schmaltz to his performances of the song during the 1970s.

Here is what Elvis would say when he introduced the song…

This next song, lady’s and gentlemen, is a song that’s been around for a long time. And uh, I’ve never recorded it. I know you’ve heard it, you know, by a lot of different people, but I’d like to give you the story behind the song.

There’s a man who was dying in the hospital and his wife has been sitting by his bedside for 3 days and 3 nights. And somewhere on the 3rd day between midnight and day, she laid down beside him and dozed off to sleep. And he felt her when she dozed off to sleep and at the same time he felt himself start to die. And he didn’t want her to see him…. pass away. So he took his notepad from the side of the bed and he wrote…..

(cue song)

So yeah, it is all malarky created by Elvis.

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com