Quote:
Originally Posted by jcmoorehead
Just on the above, unless I'm missing something wasn't it originally released in the late 80s as part of the Pandora's Box album? So based on what was said he'd have been fine to cover it?
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It was not released in the U.S. (the album tanked everywhere except South Africa, and Virgin declined to take it to the States), which was the key factor in Jim's being able to stop him the first time. A quirk of American copyright law.
The whole thing appeared in stories about Jim at the time, including (for example)
this one (quote: "He considers his songs his children, and he is fiercely protective of them, to the extent that he successfully sought an injunction against Meat Loaf to prevent him from recording 'It's All Coming Back to Me Now' because he thought it was more appropriate for a woman."). I even remember the lawyer on the case was a guy named Kenneth Freundlich, who now mentions Jim only in passing in
his C.V., though he used to elaborate more.
All that to say, if Jim
ever said "We'll save it for
Bat III," it was a "Sure we will, Meat...
(pat pat)" moment if there ever was one. Once Celine had recorded and released it, however, all bets were off, and Jim had no say.