The music business
is rife with stories about producers and label owners who
claimed writing credit for songs they never had any part in creating.
The most blatant example of this kind of exploitation is "What I Say," in which
Nesuhi Ertegun, who, along with his brother, owned Atlantic records. He claimed a
writers credit, probably as a result of some small advance or worse, a contribution to
Ray Charle's massive heroin addiction.. He did so under the pseudonym
"Nugetre," which was his surname spelled backwards.
Farther On Up The Road is another rip off typical of the era. Johnny Copeland co-wrote it with
Joe Medwick. However after Bobby Bland recorded it for Duke Records in 1957, Don Robey who
owned the label, credited himself as a writer and deleted any mention of Copeland. One more reason
why why they call it "the blues."
