No More Singing the Blues

Good news. It’s OK for the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. to gather ‘round the campfire and do the Macarena . . . with music.

It also is permissible for them to sing old favorites like “Da Do Run Run” and “Baby, I Need Your Loving” while the marshmallows roast and the s’mores sizzle.

And if they are in a patriotic mood, and who isn’t with all the political flag-waving going on, they can even belt out “God Bless America.”

Contrary to a published report, the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers does not intend to force your daughters to pay royalties or go to jail if they dare to sing anything written by one of its 68,000 members.

It is therefore not necessary for Scout leaders to study ASCAP’s Internet database of 4 million songs to determine which ones are unlicensed and safe to sing without fear of fee or incarceration.

The confusion arose over reports that ASCAP was requiring the Girl Scouts to pay an annual fee for the use of music licensed by ASCAP. Word got around among the Girl Scouts that to sing an ASCAP song around the campfire would mean facing the music, sort of.

But a spokesman for ASCAP sang a different tune. He told me yesterday that it was all a “gross misunderstanding.” They never intended to license Girl Scout camps and the girls could sing whatever the hell they pleased.

There hasn’t been such a sigh of relief in the mountains since the little dark things in the camp pudding turned out to be raisins.

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What worried everyone was that copyright laws allow composers to demand royalty payments for any public performance of their material. A public performance is pretty much defined as any gathering beyond family.

The Girl Scouts were in such a dither that they didn’t even know whether the music to the Macarena was covered by ASCAP. At some camps they were doing the dance without music, which is the emotional equivalent of marching down Main Street without a parade.

The singing of “God Bless America” also was in question, since it too is covered by ASCAP. Fortunately, however, at the height of the hoo-haw I telephoned Broadcast Music Inc., ASCAP’s competitor, and they offered to let the Girl Scouts sing without cost any of BMI’s 3 million songs that they cared to sing. This, thank God, included “America the Beautiful,” so the Scout quest for rousing patriotic music was never in jeopardy.

A spokesman for BMI says that the songs sung at Girl Scout camps are probably licensable, but hijacking cookie funds in the quest of royalties is not among its priorities.

Had ASCAP held the Scouts accountable they would not have been able to sing “This Old Man” and would never have been able to musically explore without cost exactly who in Dinah’s kitchen was plunkin’ on the old banjo.

I don’t know if anyone owns “Doing the Hokey-Pokey” since it is not listed by either ASCAP or BMI, but I suspect it is probably in the public domain. Feel free, therefore, to put your left leg in and shake it all about.

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I’m glad the panic has subsided. I understand the need of ASCAP and BMI to ensure royalties to their members since I occasionally receive royalty checks from the Writers Guild of America for television movies I have written. My last check was for $1.92.

But I was appalled by the notion that greed had reached such a level in America that even organizations like the Girl Scouts were to be held up for the few pennies in the pockets of their Levis.

By that measure, I probably owe ASCAP thousands of dollars for having sung “Ach Du Lieber Augustin” God knows how many times while a beery undergraduate at San Francisco State.

We sang it on buses, in cable cars and while staggering down Market Street, all of which would have to be defined as public places, and although we altered the words to suit our needs, the tune belongs to ASCAP.

I don’t sing drunken songs anymore, ASCAP or otherwise, but I do sing to myself endlessly, no matter where I am. The practice drives Cinelli crazy and I am sure she is hoping that someday there will come a knock on the door and a deep, melodious voice will say, “Music Police, open up!”

Basically, she doesn’t like the pop tunes I select, so in order to please her I am practicing arias from “Die Gotterdammerung.” I don’t know if royalties are involved, but I’m sure she’ll pay them gladly just to realize how far I’ve come from “Ach Du Lieber Augustin.”

Al Martinez can be reached through the Internet at al.martinez@latimes.com