JOHNNY DEPP AND Jeff Beck have filed a action against myth and professor Bruce Jackson, who indicted the brace of stealing the lyrics from a toast lyric he proved in his 1974 book and 1976 reader, Get Your Burro in the Water and syncope Like Me.
As Rolling Stone first reported back in August, Depp and Beck’s song, “ Sad Motherfuckin ’ Cortege ”( off their reader 18) appears to pull multitudinous lines from a lyric called “ Hobo Ben, ” including one that presumably gives the song its title.
For case, part of the original “ Hobo Ben ” lyric goes “ I ’m raggedy I know, but I’ve no stink and God bless the lady that ’ll buy me a drink. ’/ Heavy- hipted Hattie turned to Nadine with a laugh and said, ‘ What that stinky motherfucker really need, child, is a bath. ”
The lines, “ I ’m raggedy, I know, but I’ve no stink, ” “ God bless the lady that ’ll buy me a drink, ” and “ What that stinky motherfucker really needs, child, is a bath ” all appear on “ Sad Motherfuckin ’ Cortege. ”
For His Part, Jackson Doesn’t Claim Authorship of the Lyric.
He learned it from an capture at Missouri State Penitentiary, linked as Slim Wilson, who said he learned it from his father. The lyric, like so important music and art in the oral tradition, doesn’t have a definitive author.
After Rolling Stone published its report, a prophet for Depp and Beck said the brace were considering fresh brand credits “ if applicable. ” But a couple months latterly, it seems the brace are less interested giving credit than suing Jackson for unidentified damages, attorneys freights, and a protestation that they’ve not committed brand violation.
Depp and Beck’s argument appears to depend on the argentine area between the unknown origins and authorship of “ Hobo Ben, ” and the imprints that Jackson does enjoy for his abstracts and recording of the toast.
Depp and Beck claim this means Jackson “ owns no imprints in the words ” to “ Maunder Ben, ” and that the “ copying of the toast into his book and posterior recordings didn’t produce any imprints in those words. ”
In a statement participated with Rolling Stone, Jackson replied, “ They did n’t write a word of ‘ Sad Motherfuckin ’ Parade ’ and they’re suing the person they stole it from and who caught them doing it. From my point of view, this is like a burglar suing a homeowner because he cut his hand on the kitchen window he broke getting in. ”
Johnny Depp and Beck Are the Only Songsmiths Credited on the Track.
“ The only two lines I could find in the whole piece that( Depp and Beck) contributed are ‘ big time motherf — ker ’ and ‘ bust it down to my position, ’” Jackson, who’s now a professor at the University of Buffalo, told Rolling Stone.
“ Everything additional is from Slim’s performance in my book, ” he continued. “ I ’ve noway encountered anything like this. I ’ve been publishing stuff for 50 times, and this is the first time anybody has just ripped commodity out and put his own name on it. ”
Jackson’s son, Michael Lee Jackson( who is a counsel), said they’re looking at conceivably pursuing legal action, though no similar form has been made.
