The irony’s so thick you could spread it with a knife… not only does the song run “some are wonderin’ / If this land’s still made for you and me”, the long-dead author printed this on the lyrics booklets he sent out to fans… “This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.”

Twenty-eight years. The copyright system has become a monstrosity.