Music Clearances? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

McGillicuddy · 11-20-2010, 08:16 PM

Was there ever a problem on any of Lucy's shows, (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show or Here's Lucy) getting clearance to any music? When you think of Ricky's appearances at the Copacabana, all their "shows", plus all the musical numbers with guest stars in the latter two shows, there's a lot of music.

You hear of other shows such as The Fugitive and My 3 Sons changing music and still others such as Murphy Brown and The Wonder Years that can't get released at all because of the expense. It doesn't seem that "Lucy" ever had any problem with this.

gidgetgrape · 11-27-2010, 05:19 PM

I've never heard of any music clearance problems with "I Love Lucy" or Lucy's other shows. I think this is because the music that was used was either written by Desi Arnaz ("There's A Brand New Baby At Our House"), written exclusively for the show - probably for a set fee (" Nobody Loves The Ump") or were considered standards that were either in the public domain or had low clearance fees (1914's "By The Waters Of Minnetonka" or 1857's "Jingle Bells.")

If "I Love Lucy" would have used popular songs that were being played on the radio at that time there would have most likely been music clearance problems.

McGillicuddy · 11-27-2010, 06:19 PM

Specifically, I remember being concerned about "Big Girls Don't Cry", (which Lucy and Viv sang in the episode Lucy is a Chaperone, from season 1 of The Lucy Show) possibly being deleted, before the release came out. This made me wonder about music clearances in general on Lucille Ball productions. Fortunately, the song was NOT cut!

11-20-2010, 08:16 PM	#1
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	Music Clearances? Was there ever a problem on any of Lucy's shows, (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show or Here's Lucy) getting clearance to any music? When you think of Ricky's appearances at the Copacabana, all their "shows", plus all the musical numbers with guest stars in the latter two shows, there's a lot of music. You hear of other shows such as The Fugitive and My 3 Sons changing music and still others such as Murphy Brown and The Wonder Years that can't get released at all because of the expense. It doesn't seem that "Lucy" ever had any problem with this.

11-27-2010, 05:19 PM	#2
gidgetgrape Forever Gidget Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 20, 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 3,504	I've never heard of any music clearance problems with "I Love Lucy" or Lucy's other shows. I think this is because the music that was used was either written by Desi Arnaz ("There's A Brand New Baby At Our House"), written exclusively for the show - probably for a set fee (" Nobody Loves The Ump") or were considered standards that were either in the public domain or had low clearance fees (1914's "By The Waters Of Minnetonka" or 1857's "Jingle Bells.") If "I Love Lucy" would have used popular songs that were being played on the radio at that time there would have most likely been music clearance problems.

11-27-2010, 06:19 PM	#3
McGillicuddy Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 28, 2002 Posts: 5,179	Specifically, I remember being concerned about "Big Girls Don't Cry", (which Lucy and Viv sang in the episode Lucy is a Chaperone, from season 1 of The Lucy Show) possibly being deleted, before the release came out. This made me wonder about music clearances in general on Lucille Ball productions. Fortunately, the song was NOT cut!