Don't stop believin' that you'll get sued if you mess with Journey's music.
The composers of the hit song "Don't Stop Believin' " filed a copyright complaint yesterday against a pro-Palestinian group that performed their pop anthem with the words changed to support a boycott of Israel.
Journey bandmates Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon, along with former frontman Steve Perry, want a permanent injunction barring Adalah-NY from "exploiting" their 30-year-old tune.
The Manhattan federal court filing says Adalah-NY organized a March 26 "flash mob" in Grand Central station that ripped off "the entire melody, chord changes, and other musical elements."
"However, the version defendants performed uses the title 'Don't Stop Boycottin', and contains lyrics that convey a political message relating to the conflict in the Middle East."
Adalah's Web site says a video was viewed more than 30,000 times in two days before it was taken down by YouTube.com on April 1 and replaced with a silent version.
I had seen it when it came out, and while it was quite not as bad as other BDS flash mobs it was still horrible. These stunts just irritate the people they are meant to convince, and no one can even understand the lyrics without the subtitles (in this case they are drowned out by what sounds like a bad high-school band.)
Here's a version that is still on the web:
(h/t YM)