Q: If a song was written for a film, and that film lapsed into the public domain, is the song public domain now too?

A: Even if a film has entered the public domain, this does not necessarily mean that all of the creative elements within the film, such as songs, are also in the public domain. Songs and musical compositions can be separately copyrighted from the film itself.

In the specific example you provided, while the 1932 Warner Brothers cartoon "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives" may have entered the public domain due to non-renewal of copyright, the song featured in the cartoon could still be under copyright protection.

The duration of copyright for musical compositions has changed over time. For songs published before 1923, the copyright has expired, and they are in the public domain. However, for songs published between 1923 and 1977, the copyright term is 95 years from the date of publication. Songs published in 1978 or later are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.

To determine if a specific song is in the public domain, one would need to research the publication date of the song and the specifics of its copyright status. If the song is still under copyright, an artist would typically need to obtain a license or pay royalties to the copyright holder (usually the publisher or songwriter) to legally perform a cover version.

However, without researching the specific details of the song "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives," I cannot say definitively whether it is in the public domain or still under copyright as of 2024. The public domain status of the cartoon itself does not automatically extend to the song.