US Republican Party have history in abuse of Irish Music Copyrights

The Republican Party in the US have previously been involved in copyright infringement involving an Irish author, Hot Press has learned.

The Mitt Romney campaign currently stands accused of misusing the Thin Lizzy track 'The Boys Are Back In Town', which has been deployed as intro music on the campaign trail. The song was used to soundtrack the entrance of vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan at the Republican National Convention – and was played conspicuously again last night at a rally in Ohio, to herald the entrance of Romney himself, despite the express wishes of both Caroline Lynott, who represents the Philip Lynott estate, and Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham. Philomena Lynott, the mother of the late songwriter said in a comunication seen by Hot Press, that she intended to get a Cease and Desist order to prevent the further use of the music by Romney and Ryan.

Now Hot Press has learned that this is not the first time representatives of an Irish writer have been forced to take legal action to prevent the use of a major song during the course of a Presidential campaign.

"In the 2004 elections both George Bush and John Kerry had approached us for permission to use 'You Raise Me Up' as their campaign song," the renowned Irish songwriter Brendan Graham, who co-wrote the song with Rolf Lovland, told Hot Press. "We said 'no' to both."

The decision reflected a desire not to have the song associated with any one political creed, party or perspective – thus avoiding a connection which might ultimately have cut across the extraordinary breadth of its ultimate appeal. But whereas the Democratic Party accepted the refusal, the Republican Party didn't.

"Some section of the Republican Party/Supporters kept using it on their website," Brendan Graham reveals, "until, eventually we had to get a 'cease and desist' order to have it removed."

'You Raise Me Up' went on to become one of the biggest songs in the world over the past eight years, with in excess of 500 cover versions already recorded, featuring on numerous No. 1 albums in different territories. The song itself was No. 1 in the sales charts for sheet music in the US over a period of years, and has racked up sales in excess of $100 million.

"That a Presidential candidate should have such scant regard for the issue of copyright seems extraordinary," one music business insider told Hot Press. "It is as if they are trying to say that they don't care about the law. But it is all the more objectionable in the case of Philip Lynott in that they are appropriating the legacy of a much loved hero who died in tragic circumstances."