Mr. D. He Gone from YouTube

After seeing a comment on rec.music.dylan, and checking on YouTube, I've found that the clips I've posted here via YouTube, which includes the Johnny Cash/Dylan "One Too Many Mornings," Dylan doing George Harrison's "Something," and Clapton/Dylan doing "Crossroads" have all "been removed for copyright infringement."

Actually, the Dylan/Clapton clip was still there when I started writing this, and was just removed by whoever originally posted it. Talk about your chilling effect. If you try to play any of the clips here, nothing will happen. Or, I dunno, maybe if you wait long enough, lawyers will appear and serve you with a writ.

I'll leave the placeholders up for posterity. Pity. You can engage in the "copyright" debate until you're blue in the face, and nothing ever gets resolved. Should people be paid for their work? Of course. Does the posting of clips that are either obviously audience-recorded, or a segment from a larger work, damage the artist in any significant fashion? Personally, I'd argue, "No." People who listen to Dylan listen to all of Dylan, not simply bootlegged stuff.

On the other hand, and with these things there's always another hand, Dylan was pretty clear in Chronicles that he dislikes the bootlegged stuff, if for no other reason that it inaccurately reflects how he wants his music to sound. There's a wonderful interview with Dylan - ironically only in bootleg form - where he goes on in great detail how important it is to him to get the sound of the music right.

I dunno. But, as I said, a pity.