The Little Red Songbook
The Little Red Songbook is the twelfth studio album by Scottish musician Momus, released by Le Grand Magistery in 1998. Momus describes the album's style as part of his "analog baroque" phase: "an odd blend of classicism and kitschy futurism." The album features several karaoke versions of its songs, which were used for a singing contest; the winners of the contest appear on the 1999 album Stars Forever.
The title was inspired by the controversial Danish book The Little Red Schoolbook.
Lawsuit
The original release of The Little Red Songbook contained the song "Walter Carlos", which postulated that, when time travel becomes possible, transgender musician Wendy Carlos could go back in time and marry her pre-transition self who was known as Walter Carlos.In 1998, Carlos sued Momus for $22 million over the song. The case was settled out of court, with Momus agreeing to remove it from the album and owing $30,000 in legal fees. Subsequent releases of the album do not include the song. Momus fundraised the money needed to pay the fees in a novel manner. The first 30 songs on his next album Stars Forever were commissioned by persons or groups who paid him $1,000 each to write and record a song about themselves; meaning, after 30 songs, Momus raised the $30,000 needed.