Burns night
Last night was Rabbie Burns night, and we sat down for a nice Burns Supper of haggis (the chieftain of the pudding race), neeps and tatties, accompanied by the fine sounds of The Real McKenzies. Robert Burns is regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and a Burns Supper is a celebration of his life and work, as well as of all things Scottish.
If I can tie it in to IP law for a moment, Burns’s work is all firmly in the Public Domain and thus freely usable by all. His poem Auld Lang Syne is sung all throughout the world, especially at Hogmanay (New Year’s to the rest of the world). The Real McKenzies have a punk cover of the poem, and would not have had to pay any royalties or had any license to play it. If I wanted to subject the world to my horrible singing, I could even release an album of it.
