Millions for a Song by André Vanasse

was December 19 th , my mom’s birthday.”
    â€œWere the songs already written at the time?”
    Since I’m the one responsible for typing out the lyrics, I know the answer. “Uh-uh. We had a slow start. A struggle even. It would usually take us a few weeks to come up with our final draft.”
    â€œDo you have all the different versions of your songs?”
    â€œNo, I don’t. I just wrote the new versions over top of the old ones.”
    â€œOver top of them?”
    â€œUh-huh, using my computer. A hand-me-down from my dad. An old Macintosh.”
    â€œWhen was ‘Live in the Dark’ written?”
    â€œIn early February, for the later version. I don’t want to sound like a copycat or anything, but as strange as it may sound, like Mélanie I know the exact date, too, since it was the day after my birthday. February 4 th .”
    â€œBut do you have any proof?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOkay. Let’s move on. When did you meet Tom Paradis?”
    â€œA few days after our show,” Bruno answers. “We performed on November 6 th . A Saturday. Alexandre met Tom the following week. We agreed to take him on as our manager and signed the contract the following Saturday, that would make it November 13 th …”
    â€œThat’s where the problem begins! How do you explain that Tom Paradis registered the copyright on October 26 th according to the receipt provided by Consumer and Corporate Affairs. If I look at my calendar, October 24 th was a Sunday, the 26 th a Tuesday. I imagine Tom Paradis sent the manuscript in on Monday morning, probably via registered mail. The text was received Tuesday, October 26 th .”
    He probes insistently. “Can anyone explain how Tom knew of your songs days before he’d even met you, even before your first show at Brébeuf? Bizarre, isn’t it? So much so that, if you can’t explain how Tom Paradis had wind of your songs before meeting you, we’ll really be in hot water. We’ll never be able to convince a judge we’re acting in good faith. Our evidence crumbles before the trial even begins ...”
    What a shocker! We don’t know what to say. More than anything, we’re upset at the thought Mr. Biron might think we’re lying. Furious, too, to see how royally that creep Tom has played us.
    No doubt about it, he knows what he’s doing! All of a sudden, we’re the accused. What a joke! Enough to make you scream in frustration … I feel like I just might lose it too if things continue down this path.
    Having guessed what’s on our minds, Mr. Biron tries to reassure us, “Listen up, guys, I have complete confidence in you. I believe what you’ve told me, that you wrote the songs. That being said, Tom is very crafty. He’s covered all his bases to make sure he’s above reproach. He’s done his utmost to ensure you’re the ones on trial.” He continues, “But that’s not what we need to focus on. Our first priority is to establish your ownership of the songs, and the only way to do that is to find some proof. If we can’t show that he heard the music and lyrics to your songs somewhere or got hold of them somehow, we’ve lost the trial.”
    He weighs his next words carefully, “The loss will hurt all the more when you consider the amount you would have received from U2 . You must know that even though Canada’s 1921 copyright law is archaic, legislation in Europe and elsewhere, Australia for instance, is much more lucrative for authors.”
    Rubbing salt in the wound, he says, “A songwriter can make millions. In Europe, the author of a song must be paid for each use of his or her creation. In your case, if U2 makes ‘Live in the Dark’ an international hit, we’d be talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
    Then, to help us understand the inner workings of our so-called manager, “Tom Paradis knew