So THAT's why that song is so groovy. Not overly religious, but really very groovy. (Lams did a great job!)
Now if we can get Victor onto Dan Schutte for plagiarizing the Brady Bunch theme for "Here I Am, Lord"...
Hilarious! Unfortunately, plagiarism in the music biz is pretty rampant. Consider John Williams. His Star Wars soundtrack has themes and motifs that appear to be directly lifted from Holst's "The Planets."
Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Lang said in a speech before the House of Lords that he wished that he could gather all of the contraceptives in the world, place them in a bonfire, and dance around it. I feel very much the same way about OCP and all of its publications, works, and vanities.
Of course it wouldn't have to be conscious plagiarizing. Happens all the time that you heard a riff 20 years ago and it comes out as "original."
Considering Brubeck's prominence and hipness, I rather doubt amnesia can serve as an excuse.
That said, I don't think that "plagiarism" is really applicable in the music context. I don't think it's immoral or evil. But, if you're a hymnodist and you rip-off themes from secular music, be prepared for the sniggers as people are reminded of the association, a la Brubeck or Brady Bunch.
I tend to save my fury for hymn-texts that are bowdlerized for dubious politically-correct causes - not "plagiarized" motifs. Such things unleash my inner Ignatius Reilly.
Patrick, they really put stress on your valve, eh?
Wasn't George Harrison sued over "My Sweet Lord?" If I remember correctly, it was judged to be too close to "He's so fine, doo lang doo lang doo lang."
Kathy,
Yes, indeed my valve closes up everytime I hear "that saved a wretch like me" eliminated from "Amazing Grace."
You are right that Harrison lost a copyright infringement case for "My Sweet Lord," so I was wrong in suggesting that plagiarism doesn't apply in the music context. What happened in the Harrison case was that the two songs consisted of two identical motifs with the exception of a grace note that - I believe - Billy Preston added to "My Sweet Lord." The judge ruled that Harrison subconsciously copied "My Sweet Lord," but didn't realize he did so. The copying, nevertheless, constituted copyright infringement because the two works were substantially similar and that Harrison must have known "He's So Fine" because it was such a well-known pop hit.
But, this is an extreme case. The same result probably wouldn't apply to "Here I am Lord," because the motif that sounds like the Brady Bunch theme appears in only a part of the chorus. Overall, however, "Here I Am, Lord" is an original work and the two aren't substantially similar, however funny and inappropriate sounding the Brady Bunch theme is. The same may be true for the Brubeck thing. There are only so many combinations of notes, pleasing or otherwise, that one can make, obviously.
Patrick, sorry about your valve. Eat something, take the day off, you'll feel better.
I think the Brubeck is much closer than the Brady Bunch. It's an unusual meter, 5/4 (I remember learning it on the guitar) and a very specific chord progression that sounds just like the Brubeck (what I can hear under Lams' singing.) em-bm7-em-bm7 (over and over) and then for the refrain am7-D-Gmaj7-am7-bm7-em (twice). It's an exact copy, I think--just substituting Christian song words for the sax solo.
The Stones were threatened with a suit by k.d. lang over the song "Anybody Seen My Baby?" It bears a striking resemblance to lang's "Constant Craving" (hum them if you know them) IIRC the parties settled for an undisclosed sum and lang's name appears in subsequent pressings of the liner notes.
Harrison got hosed. The whole song "My Sweet Lord" is that modulation through the diminished second from the B section back to the A section (or from the chorus back to the verse if you like) with the cool descending guitar lick. Everything else in both MSL and HSF is just candy you could put in any song.
The Young Rascals plagiarized "Live for Today" from a song by the Drifters---I mean virtually note for note. I forget the title of the Drifters song they plagiarized--I think it contains the words, "Na-na-na-na-na, late at night." Can anyone help me out here?
+J.M.J+
Isn't "sampling" very common in pop music nowadays? That's a form of plagiarism - though the performer does get permission first and pays royalties.
Sampling has really been with hip hop music since the beginning. The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", one of the first recorded rap songs, was sung over the bass line from Chic's "Good Times". MC Hammer sampled Rick James' "Super Freak" in his "U Can't Touch This", and David Bowie and Queen were not too pleased when Vanilla Ice sampled "Under Pressure" (adding but one "grace note") on his "Ice, Ice Baby" without their permission.
Poor George Harrison. Had he written "My Sweet Lord" ten years ago instead of 35 years ago, he could have pleaded "sampling"! 
(Yeah, I know it's not really the same thing....)
In Jesu et Maria,
Rosemarie, if I understand correctly, in order to make a recording that "samples" one must first obtain permission from the person who owns the copyright to the sampled song/ recording.
Oh, many of us Catholic musicians were aware of this back when the song debuted in the '80s.
I will say, however, that borrowing musical themes and chord progressions is in general terms a time-honored tradition in church music. It's only the advent of the era of long-term copyright that has altered this equation.
In fact, as I point out to my contemporary musician friends, it's the industrial production and protection (via copyright) of contemporary liturgical music that will serve to freeze or ossify it in time and hinder its joining the organic development of church music.
Older music and texts (anything before 1923 and many things for a few decades thereafter) are in the public domain and public domain is where the real action is these days. It's interesting to watch publishing houses try to create versions of materials in public domain so they can copyright them....
Liam, it's not a theme or a chord progression. It's the whole song! Was this ever considered okay?
Somebody at the original post on Lams' board said that this was done with permission.
For six years, I attended a parish where the music director wrote her own music for the liturgies (I didn't know much about the phenomenom of dissent until the last year I was there). The songs were mainly of a new age flavor, of course. Songs sung during Communion with titles such as "Who is she?" (needless to say, NOT in reference to the Blessed Mother) actually made me long for "On Eagle's Wings."
I kid you not.
+J.M.J+
Well, sampling can technically be done even without permission, but that's copyright violation, of course, and can land an artist in court. The Wikipedia article on sampling music explains it pretty well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam...ing_%28music%
29
I was being a little facetious about George Harrison, in part because I am a sort-of Beatles fan and in part because I don't really care for the practice of sampling. I feel it is just another example of Western pop culture cannibalizing itself, along with constant movie remakes of decades-old TV shows, Broadway shows based on Hollywood films or old pop tunes, and the like. I seriously think that modern Western culture has run out of new ideas and is just on a nostalgia recycling trip right now to compensate for its lack of creativity. But that's a bit off-topic for this combox. 
In Jesu et Maria,
I think I'll ask the organist to play T5 as a descant the next time we sing SOTLG.
No need to wait for the organist: just scat-sing your own descant. I think that's what Victor does.
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