A fairly common technique among the new wave of Christian song writers (Chris Tomlin and others have done this) is to take a familiar old hymn ("Amazing Grace" for example), write a new chorus, add a couple of words to the end of one of the verses, and claim that it's a new song. That's how Tomlin wrote "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)".
The old hymnals were more honest. They would give first credit to the original author of the majority of the song (John Newton, in this case) and secondary credit to the newcomer (chorus by Chris Tomlin).
Now an Australian court has upheld a plagiarism judgment against the group Men At Work because one of their songs lifted two measures of "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree". It's worth millions of dollars in unpaid royalties. Note: It's two bars, not three quarters of the Men At Work song. Just two bars.
It would be nice if Christian morality were strict enough to give credit where credit is due.
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