RECORD SHELF

CBS Records is changing the title of country music star George Jones’ latest song, “Ya Ba Da Ba Do (So Are You),” to avoid infringing on trademark rights held by cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone’s owner, Hanna-Barbera Productions. Starting today, the title of the single, No. 26 and climbing on the country charts, will be “The King Is Gone (So Are You),” CBS Records said. Stickers with the new title are on the way to record stores to be pasted on all cassettes, compact discs, albums and singles and CBS is asking radio stations to refer to the song by its new title. In a statement, CBS Records said, “CBS and Hanna-Barbera have agreed that the general public be notified that the song, ‘Ya Ba Da Ba Do (So Are You)’ is not endorsed by Hanna-Barbera Productions Inc. or is in any way connected with ‘The Flintstones.”’ The song, written by Nashville’s Roger Ferris, is a humorous look at a man drowning his sorrows with a “Jim Beam decanter that looks like Elvis” being poured into a Flintstones’ jelly jar. “Yabba-dabba-doo, the King is gone and so are you,” the refrain goes.