\u201cI\u2019ll Fly Away\u201d to Court<\/p>\n
We are saddened by news that the beloved hymn \u201cI\u2019ll Fly Away\u201d continues in litigation. Albert Brumley, Sr., wrote this song in the late 1920\u2019s, and it was published in 1932. It has been recorded by numerous artists, sold millions of records, and appears in numerous hymnals.\u00a0 Before Mr. Brumley died in 1977, he purportedly conveyed the copyright to two of his sons. In 2006, the other four Brumley children commenced litigation to terminate the 1975 copyright transfer to their brothers. A trial was held in 2010, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals just issued a ruling in this case (Brumley v Albert Brumley & Sons, Inc, http:\/\/www.ca6.uscourts.gov\/opinions.pdf\/13a0229p-06.pdf), remanding it to the trial court for further proceedings. The case has now been going on for seven years.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been called \u201cthe most recorded gospel song,\u201d according to Wikipedia. The lyrics promise, \u201cSome glad morning when this life is o\u2019er, I\u2019ll fly away \/ To a home on God\u2019s celestial shore, I\u2019ll fly away.\u201d One wonders if Mr. Brumley was only too happy to fly away from the brewing conflict among his children \u2013 or whether he could have done more to prevent it.<\/p>\n
Conflicts among siblings are ripe for resolution through mediation. Is this dispute only about the royalties from this song (which presumably are huge, given its ongoing popularity)? Or, for example, are some siblings miffed that Dad excluded them when he was doling out copyrights? Or that the two brothers unfairly coerced Dad into giving them sole rights? Or that the brothers broke a promise to Dad that the brothers would share profits with the other siblings? Or that Dad knew the other four were spendthrifts? Mediation could unearth, and address, some of the underlying motivations that are driving this conflict.<\/p>\n
Moreover, if the Brumley children are Christians, they should heed the proscription against civil litigation found in I Corinthians 6:1-7. One of Paul\u2019s reasons for prohibiting civil lawsuits among believers was the poor witness that they provide to the wider world. The irony of a gospel song spawning years of litigation was not lost on the Sixth Circuit, which began its opinion by quoting the first two lines of the song, and observing, \u201cUnfortunately, Brumley Sr.\u2019s death would lead to a familial dispute concerning ownership of the Song\u2019s copyright.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song just won\u2019t sound the same to me \u2013 until we hear that the siblings have\u00a0resolved this and reconciled.<\/p>\n
Just a few more weary days and then, I’ll fly away
\nTo a land where joys will never end, I’ll fly away.
\nI’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away in the morning;
\nWhen I die, hallelujah by and by, I’ll fly away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI\u2019ll Fly Away\u201d to Court We are saddened by news that the beloved hymn \u201cI\u2019ll Fly Away\u201d continues in litigation. Albert Brumley, Sr., wrote this song in the late 1920\u2019s, and it was published in 1932. It has been recorded by numerous artists, sold millions of records, and appears in numerous hymnals.\u00a0 Before Mr. Brumley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-lawsuits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155,"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abfifer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}