Top Ten Law Songs

Check out this "official" ranking of its all-time top ten law songs by U.S. law blog, Above the Law:

1. I Fought The Law - The Clash
2. Lawyers, Guns, and Money - Warren Zevon
3. 99 Problems - Jay-Z
4. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
5. We're All Winners, as arranged by Nixon Peabody
6. Law and Order theme song
7. Hurricane - Bob Dylan
8. Alice's Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie
9. I Fought The Law - Bobby Fuller 4
10. The Road Goes on Forever - Robert Earl Keen

What do you think?

I'm wondering about the omission of the theme from Perry Mason, a golden-era TV offering which no doubt piqued the original interest of a whole generation of lawyers in pursuing careers in the field of real-life courtroom drama:

Back to the list....

We've previously featured numbers 1 and 9.

So, here is the late Warren Zevon with a rare, acoustic version of Lawyers Guns and Money from a 1994 BBC Christmas broadcast:

... and a more robust, full band version, from David Sanborn's Night Music in the late 80's:

And finally, our featured tune makes a cameo appearance as a theme song for a David Letterman bit, Celebrity Legal Troubles, with Mr. Zevon filling in for an absent Paul Schaeffer:

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Sunday Tunes: Who Fought the Law?

The weekend is upon us, so let's take a stroll through the YouTube archives to canvas a classic rebel-rock tune with a storied history:

"I Fought the Law" is a much-covered song originally recorded by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets (post Buddy Holly) in 1959. The song was famously covered by Bobby Fuller Four, who recorded a more successful version of the song in 1965, and The Clash, who recorded a punk rock version in 1978.

Our tour begins, then, with the classic take, from Bobby Fuller:

Canada's own Bryan Adams gives it a try:

You'll probably agree that Bryan did a whole lot better at fighting the law than did Alvin et al...

Still, with due acknowledgment to all the various pretenders, nobody has ever really fought the law quite the way The Clash did:

And finally, here's an interesting footnote for trival buffs.

Did you know that Sonny Curtis, the writer of I Fought the Law, also wrote "Love is All Around," the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

EMPLOYMENT LAW • CIVIL LITIGATION • WILLS AND ESTATES • FAMILY LAW & DIVORCE