Talk:Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Lyrics copyvio
If the song was written in 1931, it is still under US copyright. The lyrics have been removed. — BrianSmithson 09:15, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Would it be more convenient to link to these lyrics instead? -Mardus 11:08, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Movie appearances
Does anyone know of what movies the song may have been featured in? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.129.51.145 (talk) 11:19, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Subsequent Verse
I recall seeing or hearing Yip Harburg do a contemporary verse he wrote on television or radio. I believe it was TV, because I remember seeing him singing it, but my memory has fooled me about this sort of thing before. It must have been shortly before his death. The verse went something like this: Once we had depression (something on the order of: No one had a dime) But we still had hope. Now we've got recession, war, and crime, Brother, can you spare a rope? A bit depressing, but it may still merit a mention in the article if someone can nail it down. 68.47.5.219 (talk) 15:08, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Formatting. —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 21:59, 24 June 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks so much for sharing!
 * I did some digging (based on your quote), and found references; I’ve added the verse in [ this revision], and it apparently goes:


 * …and was apparently a 1970s version, requested by the New York Times. It’s possible that he had other versions (for example, rhyming dime/crime as you indicate), though I couldn’t find any
 * —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 21:59, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I can nail it down. This is from memory, but I think it's accurate. Published in, I think, 1978, in the Sunday Times magazine.

Once we had Depression, but with a dime A man wasn't out of luck. Now we've got inflation, drugs and crime - Brother, can you spare a buck? Once we rode on subways, lived in shacks, But our souls were our own. Now we've got our co-ops, Cadillacs - Banker, can you spare a loan? Once in helmet hats we cheered Uncle Sam, Belted the kids who hated to kill. Half a trillion bucks were dropped on Vietnam, I'm the joe paying the bill! Once we had a Roosevelt, praise the Lord, Life had meaning and hope. Now we're stuck with Nixon, Agnew, Ford - Brother, can you spare a rope? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2607:FEA8:7E0:12A6:9125:9A1:A2E9:578A (talk) 19:33, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

SCHUBERT THEATER
According to the PBS special "Broadway: The American Musical" the Schubert Theater was the first place this song was performed publicly. Does this belong in the article? --2600:100F:B102:8B70:0:12:C960:7101 (talk) 07:11, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

Source of music?
It would be interesting to cite the lullaby whose music inspired Gorney, if known. Pol098 (talk) 20:51, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

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More sources
Parking here for reference: buidhe 04:54, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

Unexplained removal of content, back in May 2020
On 21 May 2020, User:Buidhe made a series of 23 edits to this page, making pretty dramatic changes to the overall content. I'm not qualified to judge the quality and accuracy of most of them, but want to assume good faith, even though all the edit descriptions are blank, or nearly so. One, though, bothers me, as a card-carrying member of the AIW. The edit time-stamped 08:00, 21 May 2020, among other rewrites, removed the "Other Recordings" section, with no comment or explanation. I'd be more than happy to put it back. Posting here first, in case someone wants to tell me there was a good reason to delete that information. I note in passing that Buidhe self-identifies as a Wikipedia exclusionist. Larry Doolittle (talk) 06:48, 9 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi Larry, especially since this is a Good Article it's important that all content is verifiable and pertinent. WP:SONGCOVER explains when it's relevant to mention covers of a song. Just appearing on a track listing is not enough, the cover version must have gained some independent coverage to be considered relevant. (t &#183; c)  buidhe  14:53, 9 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi Buidhe, I understand this is an instance of the conflict betwen exclusionism and inclusionism. Let me ignore the general case and try to convince you that this specific cross-reference list is relevant and encyclopedic. For those following along at home, the "covers" involved here come from


 * The Dave Brubeck Quartet (L)
 * The Weavers
 * Peter, Paul & Mary (L)
 * The Youngbloods
 * Spanky and Our Gang (L)
 * Judy Collins (L)
 * Ronnie Lane
 * Abbey Lincoln
 * Les Deux Love Orchestra
 * George Michael (L)
 * Walker Edmiston
 * In five of these eleven cases (marked with a (L) above), the album with that rendition of this composition is notable enough to have its own Wikipedia article, which then links here in its track listing. I guess you could argue that the list in this article is redundant, in that a user could use the "What links here" feature to find those albums.  That approach sounds like it would flunk modern UX guidance.
 * Every one of the eleven entries comes with both a Wikipedia link (or two or four) and a citation. I do see there is guidance against cover lists in general, but even that has exceptions for recordings that are notable "in their own right".  I'm not familiar with each of these eleven recordings, but given the song (and its popularity and social importance) it doesn't sound difficult to find documentation of such notability -- especially since we're only trying to justify a single line in an existing article.  I -- and a dozen of my friends -- could take on that project if some of the existing links are deemed insufficient.
 * This list isn't prose, and we shouldn't attempt to convert it into prose. If there's another obvious wikimedia project where it would fit better, let me know, and then this article could link there.  Failing that, let's just put it here.  Your writing argues (correctly, IMHO) for the lasting importance of this music; this list gives quantitative reinforcement to that argument. Larry Doolittle (talk) 07:25, 10 October 2021 (UTC)
 * If documentation should be easy to find, then given that there's WP:NODEADLINE, why not find the documentation and then re-create the list? DonIago (talk) 21:26, 14 October 2021 (UTC)