Avril Lavigne's song "Girlfriend" is claimed bearing too similar lyrics to a 1979 song and the songwriters are now suing for it.
- Jul 5, 2007
AceShowbiz - Avril Lavigne's first single from her latest effort has received both critics and legal action. After being criticized for sounding too similar to Tony Basil's "Mickey", the song "Girlfriend" now is being sued for a plagiarism by a couple of songwriters.
"Girlfriend" has been accused a plagiarism to pop band The Rubinoos' claim-to-fame single "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend" (1979). Within the lyrics of Rubinoos' song is "Hey hey you you, I wanna be your boyfriend" while in Avril's lyric there's "Hey hey you you, I want to be your girlfriend".
Songwriters to "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend", Tommy Dunbar and James Gangwer filed a lawsuit at California�s Nothern Federal District Court. Avril's production company Avril Lavigne Publishing and co-writer Dr. Luke have both been specified as the defendants.
While The Rubinoos failed to make a comment, Avril's manager Terry McBride gave a full defense that the Canadian singer is not a copy cat. McBride said, �This is a song she�d never heard of that was a minor hit before she was born. This is a stretch and there is no basis for it.�
He continued that the word "Hey You" has been used in many songs and therefore he's confident that Avril's side is "strong". He added, "We�ll look at the cost to defend versus the cost to settle, and we�ll make a decision at that time.�
Musicologists have been sat down to hear both songs and the experts rules out plagiarism. McBride then concludes that it's only a form of "legal blackmail".
This isn't the only accusal case that Avril faces. Long time collaborator Chantal Kreviazuk also slammed her in using the track "Contagious" without her permission. Kreviazuk fumed, "I sent her a song two years ago called 'Contagious,' and I just saw the track listing to (The Best Damn Thing) and there's a song called 'Contagious' on it and my name's not on it. What do you do with that?"
Kreviazuk is particularly doubting Avril's credibility to write a song alone but once again Avril's manager came to her rescue by saying that Avril is a "collaborative writer". Meanwhile, "Contagious" co-writer Evan Taubenfield made it clear by saying, "We originally wrote it for me, so there's no way Chantal was involved. I can't speak on her song or any claims she's making about our song because I've never heard hers."
