In the days of Tin Pan Alley people very often used to sell lyrics or
entire songs. The person who bought them would then put his name on
the work. What is the legality of this?
I am particularly interested in one song, Among My Souvenirs, which
was co-written by Horatio Nicholls and Edgar Leslie; it has been
claimed - a claim I do not believe - that the words to this song were
actually written by Al Dubin and sold to Leslie. Like I said, I don't
believe this, but if Dubin had written the words and sold them, would
he have any legal right to be recognised as the author? I'm not
talking about copyright, journalists and others often write articles,
books etc and sell the copyright or the copyright belongs to their
employer; they may receive no royalties for the piece but they still
have their name on it, this is what I am interested in.
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