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Johnny Depp accused of stealing lyrics for new song with Jeff Beck

ANI
New DelhiUpdated: Aug 05, 2022, 07:46 AM IST
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Photograph:(AP)

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According to Variety, a report from Rolling Stone stated that Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck have been accused of lifting the song from an obscure "toast" sung by an incarcerated man and documented and released by a folklorist in 1974.

American actor-musician Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck have been accused of lifting lyrics for their song 'Sad Motherf***in' Parade'.

According to Variety, a report from Rolling Stone stated that the duo has been accused of lifting the song from an obscure "toast" sung by an incarcerated man and documented and released by a folklorist in 1974.

A large number of lyrics of the Depp/Beck song '18' are strikingly similar to lines from a toast, an often-profane form of Black folk poetry from years past, called `Hobo Ben`.

Apparently, it had been written by a man named Slim Wilson who was serving an armed-robbery sentence at Missouri State Penitentiary, and documented by Bruce Jackson in his 1974 book about toasts, 'Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me', and a companion album.

Wilson, whose name is a pseudonym, is not listed in the song`s credits, reported Variety.

In the toast, `Hobo Ben`, the man in the song`s title is at a party and says, "`Ladies of culture and beauty so refined, is there one among you that would grant me wine? / I`m raggedy I know, but I have 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 funky motherfucker really need, child, is a bath'.

"`Sad Motherf***in` Parade` includes similar lines such as "I`m raggedy, I know, but I have no stink," "God bless the lady that`ll buy me a drink," and "What that funky motherf***er really needs, child, is a bath."

"The only two lines I could find in the whole piece that [Depp and Beck] contributed are 'Big time motherf***er' and 'Bust it down to my level,'" Jackson told Rolling Stone, as per Variety.