They made a soundtrack of copyright-free music

The story of the Lemmings soundtrack.
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[@LARAUJO_0]

When I hear "public domain music" I immediately think of Kevin MacLeod, although his songs are technically royalty-free rather than copyright-free

[@notsyzagts7967]

The end result is similar enough though. The only difference is that explicit credit is required for RF music.

[@shuruff904]

Let me write that down✏

[@klerunder7769]

​@@notsyzagts7967 Stop stop stop. This is too much simplified. With Public Domain music you can do literally everything. Creative Commons (Attribution) music can be used on Social Media or other websites, but you can't use it freely for an event, release on Spotify, a commercial etc. For this you need extended licenses because you can't give credits properly enough there. Also the owner of the CC music has still the copyright. Some Creative Commons licenses have also some restrictions, like non commercially, Share-Alike etc.

[@Queer_Nerd_For_Human_Justice]

I love that Kevin MacLeod is basically a celebrity at this point. He makes it so easy to play the "six degrees of separation" game.

[@Queer_Nerd_For_Human_Justice]

@@notsyzagts7967 It's worth noting that "royalty free" ONLY means "royalty free" and doesn't mean anything else. Not having to pay the artist royalties doesn't mean you can avoid buying a license, for instance.

[@The98597thMark]

JJ: "That was probably pretty easy to recognise, right?" Me: "Yeah it's from Lemmings"

[@eac-ox2ly]

lmao

[@principetnomusic]

Fun fact: during the 1991 coup in Russia, when Soviet hardliners rose up against Gorbachev and Yeltsin, they also made the Soviet TV broadcast Swan Lake non-stop to deny coverage to their opponents. As a result, the Swan Lake ballet is now seen in Russia as one of the symbols of that era and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

[@RichardGarber]

Swan Lake is also what they would play when a leader would die. So you get people also associating it with the death of a leader. (A website that tracked Putin had it playing on loop.)

[@Belle-zq3xc]

Interesting that they were still able to break through, at least in Moscow so people could go protest

[@urmomsbestfriend]

It was first played when Brezhnev died. People who lived in Russia the 80s associate the song with political turmoil in general, not just with the coup.

[@Dr._Heinz_Doofenshmirtz]

it was broadcasted multiple times for various political reasons not just then

[@PhilLesh69]

I vaguely recall jokes about this being similar to the smoke signal at the vatican, or other strange ways of communicating regime changes.

[@Bailey_West]

Ah yes, DMA designs, the studio that brought us Lemmings and a small series called *Grand Theft Auto*

[@dodgyhodgyo4]

If it wasn't for them, We would never of received GTA Online.

[@ril_ey]

@@dodgyhodgyo4 I wouldn’t call that a good thing

[@clickhere2d1e]

@@ril_ey if it wasn't for them, we would have never received GTA Online (derogatory)

[@dodgyhodgyo4]

@@clickhere2d1e Ascend now brother, for you have correctly interpreted the text

[@ril_ey]

@@dodgyhodgyo4 I mean that GTA online isn’t very good and a grindy mess..

[@colonelb]

I'd add a few: The Entertainer, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, and Amazing Grace. They are all culturally significant songs in the public domain as well

[@jimstiles26287]

Maple Leaf Rag

[@sebastianoleary2743]

I think the cultures differences might be to blame here, many of these songs are more American so that's why they weren't on the Lemmings soundtrack.

[@colonelb]

@@sebastianoleary2743 Agreed

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

A lot of Stephen Foster's songs are pretty iconic in America although since many of them were common minstrel songs their legacies have been tarnished a bit.

[@mrturnip6641]

Isn’t it’s a long way to Tipperary in the public domain

[@octavefelix8278]

In France, Chopin's Funeral march is still used in very serious, official contexts, for instance for national funeral ceremonies, like for Jacques Chirac's funeral at the Invalides.

[@Majupm]

Still very much the same in Poland

[@Tzar1]

@@sohopedeco what is the 7th day mess?

[@Tzar1]

@@sohopedeco lol. I still don't know what that is

[@Tzar1]

@@sohopedeco ah, thanks

[@michaelroy6630]

Whenever I hear the melody to "Funeral March" now, I can't help but think of deadmau5' "Moar Ghosts n Stuff" hard intro mix

[@PlebFilms]

'JJ is so friendly, I want to be his friend. He gives off such calm wonderful energy.' My girlfriend just said this and I wanted you to know. I really appreciate your videos.

[@joshkomo7870]

Calm but eccentric, I know I'd like him. I also grew up very close to where he is from (Vancouver Island). Currently living a tad further east.

[@JJMcCullough]

I appreciate you guys!

[@myself2noone]

I saw a video where someone was calling all conservatives on KZbin "agressive" and my first thought was JJ just saying "hello friends!"

[@NeelLLumi-AnCatDubh]

@@myself2noone He can be more aggressive on Twitter, though

[@JJMcCullough]

@@NeelLLumi-AnCatDubh everyone is aggressive on Twitter

[@RolyWestYT]

I absolutely love that we never know what random topic we will get! This was really interesting and it never really accrued to me that it was all remixed music into 16-bit! Tho I will say hearing them all really punched me in the nostalgia nerve

[@tersrawr]

Roly omg! Nice seeing you here!

[@foggy227]

Hi ROLY

[@CascadeScents]

Roly! Love your piercing content too. 😃

[@luluciferia1948]

Love when my fave KZbinrs interact

[@hacim42]

I will have you know that I, an American, was scratching my head when you said Americans are scratching their heads, but it was because my head was itchy.

[@juliamavroidi8601]

The English song "How Much Is that Doggie In the Window" is actually based on "Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone" by Septimus Winner (1827-1902) which itself is based on the Austrian folksong "Zu Lauterbach Hab Ich Mein' Strumpf Verlor'n". So the Lemming arrangement which naturally doesn't have any lyrics can rely on the recognizability of the Pop/ children's song version while also staying in the public domain.

[@minebrandon95264]

them being sued reminded me about how Warner music claimed happy birthday even though it was in the public domain

[@troodon1096]

@@minebrandon95264 Well, but they weren't sued over this song, but over the British version of "Little Town of Bethlehem" composed in 1928 by a composer that died in 1958, so wasn't actually in the public domain at the time. "Doggy in the Window" was arguable, but nobody sued them over it.

[@minebrandon95264]

@@troodon1096 I think that I misunderstood the video, sorry about that!

[@austinreed7343]

I thought they were totally different songs?

[@lancecereal3673]

13:34 This reminds me of a song we have here in the U.S. called "99 Bottles of Beer." I don't know the origin but the song is popular on long road trips. It's just like Ten Green Bottles, where you count down the number of bottles that so happens to sit on a wall.

[@monochromeboy]

I was about to comment this same thing. It was made all the more popular on the school bus as teachers didn't like that the song had beer in it. But the tune is very different to the green bottle song. I wonder if it evolved in the U.S. from the green bottle song? Or if we just, for some strange reason, also invented a song about bottles on a wall

[@necromanzer52]

Yeah, we have that one too.

[@monochromeboy]

@J.W. S.D lol, we had to do the same thing, although we switched it to juice 😂

[@glenncaughey5044]

Anybody do the beer song as: “… take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall?” Ahh, school trips 😁

[@monochromeboy]

@@glenncaughey5044 exactly it! If I remember exactly, the lyrics were something like "99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall. 98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall..." and then it just kept repeating all the way down. It's so funny the things you completely forget about until a J.J. video comes out to humble you

[@thearea51raidwasboring]

"Too soon?" It's been 230 years. Of course it's too soon.

[@hillelkita2354]

He was so proud of that joke 🤣

[@NostalgiaCriticAnim1]

R/woooosh

[@imaboisir7227]

@@NostalgiaCriticAnim1 ?

[@shiningarmor2838]

A glimpse into the future where they're finally deciding whether or not to finally make Mickey Mouse public domain.

[@flo_i]

Re 'too soon': Monty Python actually have a song called "The Decomposing Composers". (Containing the unrivaled, genius line 'you can still hear Beethoven, but Beethoven cannot hear you.')

[@vitorafmonteiro]

It wasn't too soon to me too, I got a good snorted laugh from it, but I got a f*cked up sense of humour. And I forgot about that MP song, thanks for reminding me of it, listening to it next Florian.

[@ludamillion]

Was going to mention this is no one else had. Such a great little tune

[@_0______00__________0_______0]

Any time my brother tries to hum the wedding march, he ends up accidentally humming the funeral march. I'm thinking playing lemmings in his childhood is the reason now.

[@neo-eclesiastul9386]

Fun fact by a musician here: The colloquial "Turkish March" is neither a march, neither Turkish, let alone a standalone piece! It is the third movement of the Sonata in A major for Keyboard by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and it's actually called "Rondo Alla Turca", which means "Rondo in Turkish style". A rondo is typically a musical form notated ABACADA... etc. where A is the chorus, and the other letters represent the strophes; rondo meaning in Italian "round". About the "Turkish" quality, it is actually tied with the "march" thing; since the Ottoman army used a lot of percussion as a psychological tactic against the enemy, it was intended by the composer that the movement imitates the sonorities of the military percussion, hence the "march" moniker. It must by added that it was quite fashionable in Vienna to add some oriental exoticism in art, in order to appeal to the fantasies of the general public or/and the aristocratic class. A good example would be (i forgot the name of the opera, but it is about a Serail and it is a singspiel - a German form of comic opera). Have all a nice day!

[@MikuHatsune12]

Is it _Die Entführung aus dem Serail_ by Mozart?

[@neo-eclesiastul9386]

@@MikuHatsune12 Exactly! Thank you

[@seneca983]

@@neo-eclesiastul9386 "it's actually called "Rondo Alla Turca"" Wikipedia gives the name as just "Alla turca".

[@majedal-baghl4917]

Ah, but what's the Koechel number?

[@sickyDlx]

and Mozart was not Austrian.

[@overthecounterbeanie]

When you said 'British' and 'folk music' my mind immediately went to "Greensleeves" and "Scarborough Fair", lol. What a fascinating topic, wonderfully presented as always! Another award-winning video from the mind of JJ McCullough.

[@hydrogen3266]

As a musician, I can say that copyright can be very annoying, but as an avid reader of classic literature, public domain law is amazing

[@tchaffman]

As a pianist and connoisseur of classical piano music, I intensely agree

[@LeRossignol.]

@@tchaffman Ah yes, IMSLP

[@benirw1n]

I'm also a musician and it's funny because I feel the same way until I write a song myself and I think about releasing it

[@hydrogen3266]

@@LeRossignol. IMSLP is great for my classical stuff

[@wilh3lmmusic]

@@LeRossignol. I love imslp

[@paulol7224]

That decomposing line had me laughing so hard

[@ChrisSchwab216]

You might like this then (Monty Python) kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5q0gJSBbbKpbKc

[@ghintz2156]

Haha what a unique topic. This delights the music nerd in me.

[@danielreeves9785]

RE: popular western music public domain: Jazz! Although most popular jazz standards are not in the public domain, they are often covered and reinterpreted so much that they might as well be. For example, there are apparently over 1,000 commercial recordings of the jazz standard "Autumn Leaves" according to Wikipedia, even though it was written recently enough (1945) to still be protected from the public domain. (Also the Lemmings soundtrack has a distinct lack of Beethoven-- symphonies 5 and 9, moonlight sonata-- but I probably won't be the only one to point that out.)

[@sondrestrmme4006]

To add to that, the real book is a funny addition to this. The book is a collection of jazz standards with chords and melodies written rather crudely down. Although the book is almost a requirement for jazz students, the first 5 editions of the book are not legal at all.

[@johnchessant3012]

I just found out today that there are two different Wedding Marches. I had thought Wagner's "Here comes the bride" and Mendelssohn's wedding march were the same piece :O

[@ldsviking]

It wouldn't have fit the tone of the game, but the love theme from Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" is definitely part of the Western Public Domain Canonᵀᴹ. You probably know already, but it's the tune that's always played in cartoons when someone falls in love.

[@eccentriastes6273]

Yeah, unfortunately I feel like that's in the same category as the funeral march where it's hard to take seriously anymore.

[@jacobbass6437]

Ah the Sims uses it. And as a classical saxophonists, it’s got some nice saxophone writing in it.

[@chloejohnson6861]

Camptown Races is among the most famous American folk songs, although it started as a pop song by Stephen Foster.

[@Julianna.Domina]

An interesting song vaguely related is "The Ghost of Stephen Foster" by The Squirrel Nut Zippers

[@Larry]

Quite a few tracks are remixes of other DMA Design titles, Shadow of the Beast and Menace especially. But was "Diggers and Climbers" an original track? That[s one that's quite popular to cover in the remixing community.

[@rwenoch]

Greatest hits of the public domain is a pet interest of mine, and there are some surprisingly popular tunes that are technically public domain/folk/traditional songs: - "House of the Rising Sun" made famous by Eric Burdon & The Animals is an old folk tune, possibly English and from the Renaissance/Middle Ages - "Sloop John B" made famous by the Beach Boys is a Bahamian folk song known as "John B. Sails" - "La Bamba" made famous by Richie Valens is a Mexican folk song from Veracruz - "Rockin' Robin" made famous by Bobby Day is in the public domain prematurely due to oversights in copyright registration - "St. Thomas" a popular latin-jazz standard introduced to most of the world by saxophonist Sonny Rollins, is actually a Bahamian/Caribbean folk song known as "Sponger Money" or "Fire Down There"

[@Bacopa68]

Early versions of "John B. Sails" are recorded in the Foster Songbook around 1900 as a song popular in Charleston and New York likely from the Bahamas. I had to explain to a Metallica fan that "Whiskey in the Jar" was not by Thin Lizzy and was actually over 200 years old. Also "Black Betty" is at least 200 years old and was a song sung in Appalachia at a wedding reception game that had a bottle of whiskey as a prize. Another version of "Black Betty" was sung as a marching chant by runaway slaves recruited into the British army during the war of 1812. Look up Lomax recording of Black Betty from a Texas prison to hear something descended from the 1812 version.

[@JayoticMTG]

What a world to live in if we got the Beatles in Lemmings lmao

[@simonster-9094]

The UK version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and the Theme from "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" go surprisingly well together....

[@thespinningchickennugget7871]

WHY WILL NO ONE MENTION THAT THE BRITTISH BETHLEHEM SONG HAS THE SAME MELODY AS HET WILLHELMUS

[@6t76t]

If you thought the last one was bizarre, try listening to "Jimmy Crack Corn," where it's supposedly a song about a former slave reminiscent the time he allegedly murdered his slave owner by blaming it on the blue tailed fly that scared the horse and the horse knocking over the slave owner, died as a result, and the slave got away with it, all while he was drinking whiskey as he remembers it.

[@janX9]

Interesting and news to me.

[@Bacopa68]

Looking at the earliest recorded lyrics it's at least negligent homicide. The blue-tail fly is likely a horsefly of the genus "Tebanus". These are insanely vicious insects. I think of these flies as green, but the West African culture of the composer may not have had much of a blue-green distinction just like modern Japanese doesn't.

[@toomanymarys7355]

That's nonsense, just like lots of origin stories. Ring around the rosey also isn't about the Black Death.

[@IronCurtaiNYC]

@@toomanymarys7355 What makes you so damn sure?

[@KasumiKenshirou]

It seems like if you look up ANY old folk song on Wikipedia or other sites, there's almost always an alternate racist version. A lot of times, the racist lyrics were added to a pre-existing song. "Turkey in the Straw" actually has two completely different racist versions.

[@johnchessant3012]

"the famous Austrian composer, who began decomposing in 1791" lmaooo

[@lajya01]

The poison probably delayed the decomposing until the year after.

[@toomanymarys7355]

@@lajya01 A dumb myth.

[@o_oKazio]

I'm proud to live in the hometown of DMA Designs, in Dundee, Scotland. Dundee is known for being one of the best cities for game studios in the UK. Some other game studios based in Dundee are 4J studios (which is known for porting minecraft to most original consoles) and quite recently, Rockstar Dundee

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Dundee also has DC Thompson, the home of Scottish comics like the Beano and the Dandy!

[@o_oKazio]

@@SlapstickGenius23 I actually live near the DC Thompson Printing building, absolute unit of a brick cube

[@TurtleMarcus]

"Tarantella Napletana", a song which has become the international musical cue for "we're in Italy now." "Funiculì, Funiculà", an italian song written as an ad for the new cable railway on Mt. Vesuvius in 1880. Even its own time, it was mistaken for a traditional folk song. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg is also pretty iconic. Composed in 1875, it has a very strong "video game" feel because it starts out slow and becomes more and more intense, as if you're fighting the Mountain King and he enters the second phase.

[@fionavalkyrie]

I grew up playing this game on my Stepfather's Amiga. These songs are about as interchangeable with pure nostalgic emotions as rushing to buy a can of Crystal Pepsi before they were sold out each day at my elementary school's vending machine. Thank you for shedding light on something I thought no one else cared about but me. I very much love your content, good sir.

[@yobruddah8920]

Hey JJ, completely unrelated but I was curious if there was an interesting story to how the Northwest Territories split in two. When I was growing up I could always tell how well funded a school was just by how old their posters were of Canada and whether they had Nunavut on it or not. I've asked once or twice over the years but have never gotten a concise answer on how it happened or why it was wanted. The closest I got was somebody explaining it to me as something like the provincial/territorial equivalent of a tax dodge.

[@JJMcCullough]

It was because the federal government wanted to give the Inuit people of Nunavut self-government. There was a thinking at the time that giving First Nations territorial status within the Canadian system could be one strategy for aboriginal self government and sovereignty.

[@DrKosmos]

A general explanation is that the North West Territories are home to Native American folks, while Nunavut is home to Inuit people. The ultra low population density also meant that at the time administration was challenging. An example is that when there was a national election the only polling station would be in Iqaluit. So if you were on the far western side of the territory you had to spend a 3 day trip to get there, vote, and 3 days to get back. Mail was too inconsistent to reach Ottawa on time so you had to go in person. There are many other reasons the split happened, I am just recalling what one of my TAs in highschool said when she went up to Nunavut to teach.

[@DrKosmos]

@@JJMcCullough Beat me by a minute, Hats off.

[@wolfheartdarnell324]

@@JJMcCullough Growing up in America we were told two things about Canadians; that you guys all spoke French and how you managed to have your own expansion period without having to do all the nasty things that the US did to the Native Americans. Maybe something about the second one might be in order because I fell like a lot of what defines the differences is still based in something that a lot of your Canadian audience might not even recognize.

[@JJMcCullough]

@@wolfheartdarnell324 I talked about this in my Canada has failed video

[@TheMaplestrip]

Well, luckily "Happy Birthday To You" can now be added to this list.

[@canuckguy0313]

Interestingly, I played this on the PC around that time and I remember a very very different soundtrack. No recognizable songs (public domain or otherwise) but still catchy. The game play looked very slightly different too (I didn’t recognize the levels but I’m going back 30 years now). I recorded the songs on cassette (and maybe converted them to CD) because of their catchiness but I don’t know if I still have those recordings or if I did a way to play it. EDIT: OK a KZbin search tells me I played “Oh No More Lemmings”, which would explain a lot. Including why they seemed to go all original music for this sequel.

[@libertyernie]

I had a CD-ROM version of both games for DOS, but the CD audio was only the first game's soundtrack, so I was very surprised to learn that the sequel had its own music!

[@aestheticalrose4553]

The green bottles one kills me because it sounds so classy and you damn well know the American version is “99 bottles of beer on the wall” 🤣

[@drakewheeler8698]

A composer here, really love you shining the topic on this frustrating boundary that shows with copyright.

[@bauregard2171]

Love how you distilled this retro game's little soundtrack into a concentrated analysis of our collective cultural musical understanding. Your channel is one of a kind JJ. Love from Ontario

[@ThePooper3000]

Never was a fan of contemporary copyright laws. The term is too damn long, most bits of culture that become public domain tend to be culturally irrelevant due to the vast amount of time that has passed since its creation. I always liked the timeframe established by the American Founding Fathers: 28 years. In a world in which the 28-year term is still law, a young couple could watch the original Star Wars trilogy in theaters, and then see their Gen-Z kid writing their own Star Wars movie in the 21st century. People should be free to play with and re-use recent culture. Needing to ask a rights-holder's permission (who are often not even the original creators, but their descendants, or a company that purchased the rights from the estate) is stupid.

[@Zephyrus0]

You can thank Disney for it

[@AlRoderick]

Yes Disney, but also Mark Twain got the ball rolling pushing for copyright extensions before Walt was even born.

[@terrencecoccoli524]

The average life span in 1776 was 38 years, so your comparison is severely flawed.

[@riskybiznu9729]

@@terrencecoccoli524 that is caused by high child mortality. once you make it to adult hood you are likely to make it to your mid fifties.

[@Bacopa68]

The original US copyright law was the same as the Colonial copyright law, and had been established by the Whig Juncto reformers and enacted by Queen Anne over a half century before the American Revolution.

[@ash-1061]

For the Ten Green Bottles song, we have a song with bottles of beer on the wall that I think is pretty similar in the US. The music isn't the same, but the premise of having an amount then losing one each verse is the same.

[@thehounddogger8396]

Nothing like a guy in his late 30s talk about children’s music. Truly a great video JJ!

[@Claro1993]

9:50 I think the phrase “London Bridge is falling down” is a euphemistic or more formal way to say that the British monarch is dying.

[@JJMcCullough]

That's the code name for the Queen's passing within the British government.

[@DaraGaming42]

@@JJMcCullough really???

[@DaraGaming42]

I love that one, a Film called halloween 3: season of the witch (1983) used london bridge is falling down but put in the words "8 more weeks till halloween, halloween,Halloween, 8 more days till halloween, silver shamerock" look it up or watch the film if ur curious, its a good use of a Public Domain song.

[@jackdispennett744]

Hard to imagine somebody just sitting down and writing "How much is that doggy in the window?" It just gives off such thick traditional nursery song vibes...

[@austinreed7343]

Quite a few other traditional nursery songs were also written, not necessarily for radio though.

[@bes03c]

Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" is a part of every graduation ceremony.

[@postmodernrecycler]

Funny that--my prof was on the planning committee for our graduation (20 years ago) and mentioned to us that P&C was banned from their ceremonies.

[@fjalfredo]

I would add "Ode to Joy" aka "Symphony Number 9 in D minor, Opus 125" by Beethoven. This is probably the most pervasive of the music that come from the Western canon produced by one of the old Masters (Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Tchaikovsky, etc.) It became an Olympics song, church song, national anthem, children's song, drinking song, tv theme song, holiday song...

[@Pratchettgaiman]

The artist Charles Vess made a book that had comic book adaptations of traditional folk songs, only to discover that one of them, “The Black Fox” had been written relatively recently, so much so that the songwriter was still alive. Luckily he was cool about the whole thing when Vess gave him a credit

[@calboy2]

I didn’t expect that I would be watching a video today on the music from the video game lemmings but it brought back lots of happy memories. JJ your content is always so different from everyone else which I love

[@bigredradish]

I'm sure it's been mentioned already but the same practice applied to the Parodius series from Konami where it was mostly wacky remixes of classical tunes (as well as Konami game music) and it really adds to the vibe if that makes sense

[@DAndyLord]

I loved Lemmings, this is a fantastic nostalga trip. Thanks J.J!

[@StudioNama]

Not gonna lie, this dude did a good job remaking/remixing these songs. Track 8 especially...

[@ScottishDark]

Man this is why I love this channel, what an interesting and unique topic that's so well presented.

[@brandoncarey6877]

these full Length vids are nice man. would love to see more

[@Figureight]

Interestingly, the copy of Lemmings (+ 'Oh No! More Lemmings') I had on PC back in the 90s (UK market) seemed to have omitted some of the tracks you mention where the rights to it are more in contention. I was confused when they were brought up as I played that game to death and never heard them.

[@PAShattuck]

Great video! You could do a follow-up about the composer Kevin MacLeod. He releases all his music royalty free and is the source of like half the background music on KZbin.

[@writerinfact1768]

If he wrote so much of the background music on KZbin, then he should be tarred and feathered. No offense intended.

[@PAShattuck]

@@writerinfact1768 oh that's totally fair. So much of his music is ruined by association

[@tigdepp4484]

I love your accent & speech pattern/rthym! I could listen for hours!

[@marcello7781]

Everytime I hear this topic I remember about the tragic episode of Australian band Men at Work and the legal dispute with the copyright holders of the song "Kookaburra".

[@Bacopa68]

Rush had a similar issue with the owners of the jazz composition "Powerhouse". They settled for a fairly small cash payout since "Strangiato" wasn't a major hit. Since then "Powerhouse" has become public domain and "Megalovania" has had no problems.

[@austinreed7343]

@@Bacopa68 Ya mean THAT Megalovania?

[@Bacopa68]

@@austinreed7343 Yes! Listen to La Villa Strangiato, and then Powerhouse.

[@aijamberisabel]

This is such an interesting topic that I never knew I wanted to learn about. Thank you J.J.

[@tomaspalma5168]

Who would've imagined these guys would go on to make Grand Theft Auto.

[@Bacopa68]

This is totally a GTA precursor. Basically the lemmings fall into a level and will march as a group to suicide unless you select lemmings and assign them jobs. The jobs are digger, basher, climber, builder, parachutist, and bomb. Yes, you can assign a lemming to explode. Almost every level requires the sacrifice of some lemmings. Every level has a survival threshold, a percentage of lemmings that have to escape to advance to the next level. There's also a nuke button that will turn all lemmings into bombs if you want to give up on a level and start over.

[@Xtine_23]

So happy to hear all these again:) I used to play this with my mom on the PC forever ago! The music was Awesome especially the original pieces!

[@dmprotector]

Dude !!! You brought back memories here... Lemmimgs was probably the first ever video game I ever played on a PC... circa 1991/1992.

[@thebrognator3524]

The soundtrack for the first Doom games from the 90s is pretty interesting. Apparently it was created by some dude who had a deep knowledge of copyright laws. Every track is a super recognizable heavy metal song from those years, but with enough changes to make the game sue-proof

[@-gemberkoekje-5547]

Trance is iconic. You know, the songs that played during youtube tutorials back in the day

[@chuck1804]

Fascinating subject, exquisitely presented. I grew up in the UK in the 90s. Lemmings was the envy of the whole class, being as it were, the one video game on the lone classroom computer. Strong nostalgia vibes. Bravo!

[@nickporter9264]

One of my favorite inclusions was in Wild Gunman, when you would lose a duel, the Funeral March would play with "YOU LOSE" flashing across the screen. A nice touch imo.

[@GibusWearingMann]

The sequels appear to have even more public domain classics. I'd love to hear a breakdown of Greensleeves, it's a personal favorite!

[@matthewbless3335]

Extremely interesting... I know that Williams tune for O Little Town of Bethlehem about as well as I know the original one, and I'm from the states as well! I immediately picked it out though and was pretty proud of that! :D

[@Megaritz]

For most of my childhood, the Lemmings soundtrack (particularly the version I played, the DOS version) was my favorite music.

[@tlcferguson8243]

You are so full of information and the way you tell your facts is interesting and entertaining. Great video, love your channel.

[@noahsigs]

Considering almost all music composed before 1915 is public domain, and I think at least some music written before then is good, I would say yes! Lol

[@skellious]

bear in mind that's only the sheet music as printed at that time. recordings of performances or new arrangment sheet music are often still copyrighted.

[@qwertyTRiG]

@@skellious Since this was going through a synth, I'd say that the sheet music was enough.

[@canuckguy0313]

@@skellious yes exactly! As an anthematologist who uses recordings of anthems on my website for illustration purposes you’d think it’d be easy to get but most are recent recordings that are always arrangements.

[@hens0w]

I think before after 1915 is a much better way to describe copyright as given the 70 year rule the live action jungle book could not have been made when it was let alone the animated one

[@IronCurtaiNYC]

As of January 1, 2022, Everything copyrighted in 1926 or earlier is in the public domain in the United States. Your cutoff date of 1915 instead of 1927 is legally and factually wrong.

[@theobuniel9643]

Interesting thought I had about track #9: I actually thought it was “Ten German Bombers”, the infamous jingoistic football chant sung by some England fans at international tournaments. Knowing DMA Design’s (which BTW is now Rockstar North, the developers of the GTA franchise!) background, I feel like that was how they knew the tune in the first place.

[@matthewlafrance8817]

I didn’t think I would enjoy this video as much as I did! Very good JJ, thanks!

[@wilhelmvankortrijk1708]

A really interesting topic for a Video would be the topic of the most famous and iconic Folk Songs from each country

[@snuggery6486]

I no longer look at the calendar to see if it's Saturday. I check my notifications to see if there's a new JJ video.

[@qeijkak]

Fun fact DMA Designs turned into Rockstar North

[@RobertKreese]

Thanks for an excellent video of music history! Quite a smart idea to use old songs as a base in a video game. Now I have to check out your other videos. :)

[@helloeverybody9675]

The little Lemming animation listening to the music is so cute!

[@shanmurad1020]

I love these topics so much lol!

[@rino09876]

I've often heard that the lyrics to "She'll be coming round the mountain" were a coded star map that slaves could use to navigate when they escaped at night. The six white horses were the pleadies specifically, but I don't know if it's true.

[@ImperatorGrausam]

One of my favorite YT channels talking about one of my favorite things (retrogaming and video game music)? :O Can't believe this! Great video as always JJ!

[@dracorex6876]

Lemmings is a childhood favourite game of mine, and I remember it so fondly especially for the use of public domain music, which a good chunk of the tracks are. There's another one I believed you have overlooked, though that one is up for debate on whether it is an original tune or another public domain track, the one that's commonly referred to as Pachelbel's Canon, which although it has partly a different progression and melody, still follows the structure of the original composition, and of course, being a composer of the Baroque period, Johann Pachelbel was born in 1653 and died in 1706.

[@TicketToKnow]

Absolutely frothed Lemmings back in the day, have revisited the soundtrack several times as an adult lol. It's so good!! So many of these are bangers, but Lemmings O Little Town of Bethlehem goes off particularly hard - and of course Pachelbel's Canon which is in the game too!

[@Maxime_K-G]

We know the last song in Belgium as "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands" or "I've seen the sun descending in the sea" (translated from Dutch). I've never heard of "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes" before this video. It's interesting to hear the different lyrics of kids songs in other languages!

[@robgronotte1]

The Happy...Clap... Song is sung in America as well. The melody is similar to She'll Be..., but not the same.

[@Jules_Pew]

My mother loved playing Lemming in her 70s. This brings back so many memories.

[@AllegoryGar]

I remember most casio type electric pianos of the day all included a suite of sample songs very similar to the songs included in this video.

[@dom_ed]

Dmca free music is a bop tho

[@FortuitousOwl]

Imagine someone writing that your music was seen as what was wrong with pop in an obituary for you lol

[@talhahhussain5603]

That's nothing. Newspapers wrongly reported the death of the inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel (it was actually his brother who died), and one French publication declared 'the merchant of death is dead' in their obituary of him. Nobel was so horrified by what his apparent legacy would be that he established the Nobel Peace Prize when he died for real so that he would be remembered as a promoter of peace rather than a promoter of violence and war.

[@austinreed7343]

The expansion packs, home ports, and such add on top of this collection of public domain tracks with many more tracks that are also fairly significant.

[@MarcBienenfeld]

Man JJ i love your videos! i've never even thought before about where these songs came from and never heard the british version of Little Town of Bethleham, if i were to add a song to Lemmings it would probably be Oh My Darling Clementine, Happy Birthday To You would probably be good too though i heard some company tried to copyright that with a weak claim a while back

[@calliemyersbuchanan6458]

Twinkle twinkle little star (or ABC) and most recently happy birthday. I'd love a discussion of how certain songs sound different across the pond. Like the bethlehem one had the same words but different melodies, i like the ones that are similar tunes but totally different words like twinkle twinkle, god save the queen, and there's an irish hymn that fits this but i can't remember at the moment lol

[@SkyPalaceHub]

Just want to correct you on something, this game's renditions of the Can-Can, How Much is That Doggie in The Window, Ten Green Bottles and She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain are actually Brian Johnston (the composer you mentioned earlier)'s remaining tracks in the final game, (as proven by the original demo's files which featured only Johnston's tracks, including the copyrighted ones, seen here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpiYfo1og9KggZI) alongside 3 original tracks that weren't made by other people. Alongside the tracks you' ve shown, Tim, as mentioned in the quote, also did original tracks plus 4 covers of tracks from other games by the publisher, Psygnosis. The sequel, Lemmings 2: The Tribes, also uses a lot of public domain tracks alongside original ones, such as Entry of the Gladiators, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Scotland The Brave, and many others. Other than that, great video, always enjoy seeing more love for this game ^^

[@themoviedealers]

Rudolph is definitely not PD. It was only written in 1949.

[@SkyPalaceHub]

@@themoviedealers Oh really? I see. I always assumed that song was in the public domain given how much usage it has in different media. Welp, I guess some things never change :/

[@SeanLamb-I-Am]

I always remember a later sequel of Lemmings where the levels were set in space-ey backgrounds. The theme from The Blue Danube playing over those Lemmings will always be stuck in my head.

[@DSzaks]

The Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven is a very popular classical song still frequently used in the US. It has also been included in many game soundtracks throughout the years included Earthworm Jim, Resident Evil, and the fairly recently the Watchdogs Franchise.

[@MichaelJDoyle]

As soon as 8:59 hit, every '80's horror fan started singing "Happy Happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween/Happy Happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock" the infamous lyrics given to London Bridge Is Falling Down by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth for the cult classic Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

[@hashbrownfob]

It's great that you made this. The other day during work, I sat and listened to this soundtrack,.

[@mellonmarshall]

when I was a kid and they were coming up with Lemmings and then playing Lemmings as well. They use to play the Can-Can at the school discos, along with the timewarp and Startrekking etc. And yes I am English

[@jakobkallevikleite2686]

Great video J.J, always exited for your videos on saturdays.

[@splurge300]

Love the videos thanks for the good content

[@crazyscientistfarmer2091]

Same

[@timstoddard3707]

Honestly stunned to find out "O Town of Bethlehem" was both an American song and a different one that I used to sing in carols. Might be me only hearing a short snippet, but I still prefer Ralph Vaughan Williams since it musically sounds more uplifting.

[@christ5783]

Public domain music most people would recognise are Entrance of the Gladiators often used as Circus music, The Liberty Bell March as the Monty Python theme, Mysterioso Pizzicato as a villain or suspense theme and Jingle Bells as well as We Wish You A Merry Christmas are the most widely used in music playing novelties because they are some of the only well known secular winter/jollity themed public domain Christmas songs.

[@sbissonnette6552]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your missives here. I have learned so much, but YOU have done all the research! So Thank You!