Bring the public domain into the future! This April, WFMU and the Free Music Archive are challenging artists everywhere to create new recordings and contemporary arrangements of historic compositions available in the public domain. We’re calling this our Revitalize Music Contest.
Every song (except for perhaps "Happy Birthday") will someday fall out of copyright. Archives such as the IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library, Musopen and the Public Domain Information Project chart the vast and ever-expanding troves of public domain music. Participants in our Revitalize Music Contest will help bring these works to life by creating new recordings, and feeding them back into the public domain.
To inspire entries, we’ve handpicked a selection of out-of-copyright songs with compelling lyrics, beautiful melodies, and unusual stories. Keep in mind that unless materials are listed in our contest repository, the recordings of performances we link to are still within the scope of copyright. After learning about the songs and contest rules here below, you can browse our pool of entries and submit your own here.
God Be With You Until We Meet Again (1880)
An old Mormon hymn with a beautiful melody that first came to our attention when Haruomi Hosono (of Yellow Magic Orchestra) recorded a version. You can stream this version for inspiration. It features lyrics by Jeremiah E. Rankin (1828-1904) and music by William G. Tomer (1833-1896).
Sheet Music: new pdf, older pdf, hymn wiki, lds version, lilypond
Recordings: midi, vocals + music, instrumental, video, haruomi hosono
Lyrics: hymn wiki
Beautiful Dreamer (1862)
In addition to showing up constantly on TV, movies, and when you open musical jewelry boxes, this song has been recorded by Bing Crosby, Roy Orbison, and (our personal favorite) Justine and the Victorian Punks. It was originally a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864) that was published posthumously by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York.
Sheet Music: IMSLP, older pdf, newer pdf
Recordings: Al Jolson, Justine and the Victorian Punks,videos, midi, another midi
Lyrics: wikipedia
The Spaniard That Blighted My Life (1911)
A comic song that was performed by Al Jolson in his show The Honeymoon Express. It's also notably been sung by "outsider" musician Tony Mason-Cox, an Australian insurance agent who believed himself to be the reincarnation of a black slave from 19th Century Alabama. It was written by Billy Merson.
Sheet Music: older pdf, ole miss library
Recordings: Billy Merson, Al Jolson, Tony Mason-Cox
Lyrics: ole miss library
Nola (1915)
Felix Arndt (1889–1918) wrote this novelty ragtime-style piano roll as an engagement gift to his fiancée (and later wife), Nola Locke. He died just three years after it was published, and lyrics were later added by James F. Burns.
Sheet Music: IMSLP, Duke, older pdf
Recordings: videos, Harry Perrella & Ray Turner, Xylophone & Vibraphone, midi
Lyrics: PD Music