Okay, so Billy Joel did a little ditty called We Didn't Start the Fire (click here for a clip), and a lot of people promptly jumped on him and accused him of ripping off alterna-rock ghods REM and their It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) (click here for a sample).

Well, ya know, an interesting thing - i happen to know that REM (or at least Stipe) are big Fairport Convention fans to the extent that they went to London to record at a studio FC once used, with one of Fairport's old producers. (They also were a moving force behind the Richard Thompson tribute album Beat the Retreat, and performed a Thompson track thereupon.)

And, on one of Fairport's least-known (and least-well-regarded among Fairport fans) albums, Gottle o' Geer, there is a track called Limey's Lament - apparently inspired by a long US tour.

The album may not be all that well-known, but i'd bet that Michael Stipe knows the song. (Click here for a sample)

As Burt Reynolds remarks in one of his films, "Lotta times, who's an asshole depends on where you're standing..."