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Originally Posted by JonPR
It's a little different, in that lyrics and melody are copyright. The identity of the song resides in them. The key of the song is irrelevant (nothing to do with its identity), the chords are secondary, and as for improvised solos then the sin is arguably the reverse: to copy a recorded one instead of improvising your own.
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Perhaps some further clarification is in order as far as simply a cover "performance" goes, changing either the lyric or the melody is not really a legal issue or specifically protected under copyright law in the US. Where as publication of a cover song with changes to lyrics and or melody, could definitely run afoul of copyright protection ( unless prior permission is granted by the copyright holder under the "derivative" provision of copyright law)
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He didn't rewrite it, he re-arranged it. He sang the same lyrics, and hardly changed the melody at all. He certainly seemed to be trying to sing it the same way Dylan did. But he obviously designed a monster arrangement around it, which highly impressed Dylan himself.
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Correct
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If the composer is known, then I wouldn't change anything - not the lyrics anyway. If I didn't like some of the words, I just wouldn't sing the song in the first place. Why bother? Why not just choose songs where you're 100% happy with all the words? There's surely enough of those about. If not - then write your own songs!
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this is generally my feeling also
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The point is that I only choose a song to perform in the first place because I love it - meaning all of it. The words as written would speak to me as powerfully as the tune does.
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Agree completely