NEWS........

NOVEMBER 2009

John is currently working as Art Department Co-ordinator on television series 'The Elephant Princess 2' being filmed on the Gold Coast of Australia at Warner Roadshow Studios. More about the show here.

John has just finished a new song for the Gold Coast United soccer team - co-written with his long time guitarist Pete Devine. The song is being mastered this week by Sony in Sydney before we contact the team executives to let them hear it. They didn't ask us to write it...but it's a beauty and we hope they like it enough to get behind it! Paah, a football song!' I hear you say. Well, here in Australia sport is bigger than music so it's yet another kick in the right direction for award winning songwriter John Harley Weston. The song is currently in the hands of club executives and the word is they like it....keep you posted.

JULY 2009

Busy, busy, busy last few months.

ABC COAST FM RADIO SESSION
On 9th July 2009 John Harley Weston was interviewd by ABC Coast FM Radio presenter Briony Petch on their 'Soundwaves' show. If you didn't get a chance to tune in you can hear part of the interview featuring one of the 5 songs - an acoustic version of 'Welcome Back To Reality' and the story behind the song here.

FILM MUSIC
John has signed contracts with 3 major film music production houses that provide music to national and international film and television shows. One in New York, one in Los Angeles and the other in Australia. John's also written a brand new song for another possible movie placement that is now in the hands of the producer and music supervisor. Fingers crossed! We'll keep you psoted.=

WIKIPEDIA LISTING
You can now find John Harley Weston on Wikipedia the respected online encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harley_Weston

TWITTER
Follow John on Twitter here http://twitter.com/jhw1

APRIL 2009

John is currently working on television series 'H2O Just Add Water' being filmed at Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast of Australia. (As well as being a musician John is also an Art Department Coordinator in film and television. It's a great way to pay the bills and keep the music coming!)

MARCH 2009

After hearing that Channel 7 Television playlisted John Harley Weston's music during the Biejing Olympics, respected Blue Pie Records have released 'Waltzing Matilda' and 'Believe In Yourself' as standalone digital singles. http://www.mybluepie.com

What does this mean? Well, we hope that by having Blue Pie and our team working together we can pick up even more radio play and for those who haven't yet bought the album it's only 99cents per song. And if you're a real fan it's worth having just for posterity. The digital singles have their very own artwork.

We now have over 30 radio stations playing John Harley Weston. For list of stations where you can email and request more airplay click here then click on 'radio' at the top of the page.

JANUARY 2009

Waltzing Matilda owned by America - Media Release (26 Jan 2009)

Yes it’s sad but true. Did you know ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is no longer Australian! It’s owned by an American company!

Few Australians know the song 'Waltzing Matilda' is owned by an American company raking in thousands of dollars. The Australian writer Banjo Patterson would be turning in his grave....he only got 5 pounds for the song.

It’s all about intellectual property.....which is seldom intellectual.

Roger Clarke of Xmax Consultancy writes about the difficulties involved with ‘Waltzing Matilda’ copyright at http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/WM/Copyright.html

He says, ‘Because of the Carl Fischer copyright, the use of the Australian tune in the Atlanta Olympics Closing Ceremony resulted in a payment by the Australian organisers to an American company. Ergo ... If we decide to make 'Waltzing Matilda' the real national anthem, we will have to either negotiate the copyright back from an American company, or pay royalties on such occasion that our national anthem is played in the United States’.

Australian National Songwriting Contest winner John Harley Weston (originally from Scotland - the birthplace of Banjo Patterson's father) has recorded a version of the song that an Australian movie want to use. Great news! Some critics say John’s version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ ‘should be added to the gallery of the greatest’. Channel 7 Television Network also used it during the Beijing Olympics.

John was happy to offer the song to the movie ‘Shadows Of The Past’ for a minimal fee because many well known Australian musicians are to appear on the soundtrack. Unfortunately, the New York publishing house Carl Fischer Music that own the copyright of the original song want $10,000. Too much for a small Aussie film production.

If you broadcast 'Waltzing Matilda' in Australia there's no copyright issue at all. Australian law says the song is in the public domain. (70 years after the death of the author it belongs to the people). In America they have different laws. Their copyright expires in 2031.

So, John Harley Weston has written a new version of what the song may sound like after a few years of American ownership. All the Australianisms are gone and it’s a pale imitation. John says, 'This is a bit of a dig at U.S. publishing laws. I've got nothing against America - some of my best friends and musicians hail from there but come on, that’s like them owning the Sydney Opera House. Enough is enough....give Australia back 'Waltzing Matilda' or at least let us put it in Australian movies for a better price than $10,000. I was up at 5am this morning to do an Australia Day breakfast gig for Gold Coast City Council. Yes it’s Australia Day here. I played my real version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ which went down a storm. I’m so glad I don’t have to pay royalties when performing on Australian soil’.

Click here to listen to John’s real version (radio single) http://www.myspace.com/johnharleyweston (press and radio can also use media only links at bottom of this email).

Here’s John’s Americanised version (see lyrics below) now on youtube with about 700 views so far http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSfQYJ4BljE

Please note - if you wish to print or recite the following poem in North America you'll require an expensive license from John Harley Weston. Perhaps we can do a swap and return the original version to the Australian people.

Y'ALL HAVE A NICE DAY (Was Waltzing Matilda)
By John Harley Weston (all rights reserved 2008)

Once a jolly pilgrim
Camped in a trailer park
Under the shade of an American oak tree
And he sang as he watched his U.S. bank account growing
You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me

Now muffins and pancakes
Are all were really good for
The Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge
We aint got no classics to sing around our barbeques
I guess well have to steal old Banjos tricks

So y'all have a nice day
Y'all have a nice day
Cause well have a g'day with your royalties
And he sang as he heard Australian hearts a-breaking
Uncle Sam's a-Waltzing Matilda with me

Well I guess we've got Yankee
Do...oo...oodle Da...andy
Maybe we should stick an emu feather in ours hats
And tell all our Aussie mates or better still our buddies
Next were coming for your cricket bats

So y'all have a nice day
Y'all have a nice day
Cause well have a g'day with your royalties
And he sang as he watched his U.S. bank account growing
You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me

Well, what about that brown stuff
I think they call it Vegemite
No wait a minute, we already own that
The Barrier Reef and Uluru, Ned Kelly and the kangaroo
It wont be long before were wearing Akubra hats

Well y'all have a nice day
Y'all have a nice day
Cause were redistributing your royalties
And they sang as they watched their U.S. bank accounts growing
Uncle Sam is Waltzing Matilda with me

Ok enough is enough.

 

2008 news here

2007 news here

2006 news here

2005 news here

2004 and before news here