I remember reading some time back how the Lomaxes got hold of Leadbelly's copyrights by publishing the songs (or lyrics, anyway) in a book about folk music. With his permission -- he didn't realize that once they copyrighted the book they owned the songs. Not that one could get away with that now!

But it made me think that maybe I could throw a couple hundred song lyrics into a 'poetry' book at some POD outfit like Lulu and have them all protected. A printed book with a clear publishing date, at no cost unless one chose to send a couple copies to the Library of Congress. Or had a copy or two printed up for oneself.

Ha, who knows, someone might even buy a copy...