Rick Beato on copyright claims

Rick Beato on faux copyright claims.

Quite by accident, my research into the long history of the song "St. James Infirmary," has become entangled with copyright.

Essentially, copyright is meant to reward the creator "for a limited time" before returning the creation to the commons, where others can use it for building the future. That is, nothing (songs, sewing machines ...) is created out of nothing - we all depend upon what went before. And we all build upon the past. There is no unique creation. But ...
Corporations want to protect what brings them money. And so, successfully, they have pressured governments to lengthen copyright restrictions.The more lengthy and restrictive the copyright laws become, the more impoverished do we all become as creators, or even just as listeners/viewers/readers ...
This contemporary notion of monetization has become an infectious illness.
Thanks, Rick, for your post!

Composer of "Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues" - date of death found

One of the few
photos of P.G.

When I began research into the history of "St. James Infirmary," it was obvious that Porter Grainger would become a major character in the book. It wasn't long before I came to the realization that Grainger is one of the great-but-forgotten songwriters of the early 20th century.

He composed or co-composed hundreds of songs, including "Ain't Nobody's Business (If I Do)," "One Hour Mama" and "Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues." He was Bessie Smith's musical director and pianist for years and wrote songs tailored for her. He composed music for Orson Welles'  critically acclaimed, immensely successful 1936 staging of MacBeth - set in Haiti and featuring an all-black cast.

1939 photo of black musicians/composers
in Harlem. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

Until I looked into census records, his birth date was unknown. Not because it was hidden, but because interest in him was so low that nobody had bothered to look.

Still, here he is in a 1939 photograph of major black composers/musicians in Harlem. Jelly Roll Martin, Eubie Blake, Kay Parker, Perry Bradford, James P. Johnson ... Porter Grainger (right of photo, beside Claude Hopkins in the white suit).

Death Certificate for Porter Grainger

Gradually he sank out of sight. He remains in the pantheon of the forgotten. 

It was long thought that, due to dating of copyright renewals in his name, Grainger died in New York between 1951 and 1955. In fact, he died on October 30, 1948. (A genealogy researcher who goes by the name ladylorax recently unearthed the death certificate on ancestry.com.)

When the certificate was completed, his name was entered as "Porter, Granger" (that is, Granger Porter)—hence the difficulty in finding the record. He was living at 1300 Wylie Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was brought to the Passavant Hospital at noon, where he remained for twenty minutes (which suggests he was DOA). Cause of death was written as "Pneumonitis, due to dentures lodged in his trachea." In other words, he choked on his dentures. He was 57 years and 9 days old.