Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck Accused of Stealing Lyrics From 1960’s Folklorist

Johnny Depp, 59, and Jeff Beck, 78, have been accused of stealing lyrics from a man named “Slim Wilson,” who was imprisoned at the Missouri State Penitentiary when he was discovered by renowned folklorist Bruce Jackson in 1964. Jackson has claimed that the two rockstars have “ripped off one of the best narrators” he’s ever heard.

The 86-year-old scholar, folklorist, documentary filmmaker, writer and photographer has accused Depp and Beck of stealing song lyric ideas from a toast made by an incarcerated Black man in the 1960s. The man, referred to as “Slim Wilson,” was a Black folk poet who shared his work orally, through the form of toasts, a common, yet obscure way in which Black persons performed their art.

Depp is a Hollywood star known for at least 83 movies including his role as “Captain Jack Sparrow” in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, and Beck is an English rock guitarist best known for playing with The Yardbirds. The two dropped an album called “18” on which a song titled “Sad Motherf***in’ Parade” has been accused of sounding too familiar to Wilson’s toast titled “Hobo Ben”.

The “Hobo Ben” toast—which was documented by Jackson in a book from 1974, includes lines spoken from a man named Hobo Ben’s perspective, saying, ‘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 motherf***er really need, child, is a bath.’”

The song, “Sad Motherf***in’ Parade” uses similar lines, including, “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 song by Depp and Beck was not attributed to, nor did it include credit towards Wilson.

“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. “Everything else is from Slim’s performance in my book. I’ve never encountered anything like this. I’ve been publishing stuff for 50 years, and this is the first time anybody has just ripped something off and put his own name on it.”