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Celebrity Justice7/7/2007 1:22 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
Angry Avril Responds to Rip-Off Claims

Earlier this week, TMZ reported that attitudinal Avril Lavigne's song "Girlfriend" was a rip off of a 1979 song by the Rubinoos called "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." Avril's management flatly denied the band's claims, and now Avril's called BS too.


Writes Avril:

"You may have heard some news that two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970s I have never in my life heard of called the "Rubinoos" are trying to sue me. They have a song called "I Want To Be Your Boyfriend" that has no musical similarities to the song "Girlfriend" that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on 5 words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language.

Off the top of my head, two other songs that I can immediately think of with this type of lyric are "Hey, hey, you, you get off of my cloud" by the Rolling Stones and "Hey little girl I want to be your boyfriend" by the Ramones. Simply put, I have been falsely accused of ripping their song off. Luke and I have done nothing wrong and there is no merit to their claim."

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Reader Comments

(Page 2 of 10) Previous 15 Comments | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments
16.

HEIL:  1682 days ago

# LAVIGNE, YOU ARE SUCH A BITCH ANYWAY, DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT YOUR MUSIC ???

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17.

Tricia:  1682 days ago

Avril and Dr. Luke know damn well they did that crap! Dr. Luke is a crooked piece of crap who stole part of a song called "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and put it into "Since U Been Gone"... No wonder Kelly Clarkson told him and Clive to basically kiss her @$$ and then she wrote her own stuff!

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18.

wtf:  1682 days ago

She's is just hurting herself commenting on the situation....mentally she's as old as her fans....just look at her comments....they sound like they were written by a 12 year old. As for how she got into this business....her father is in the business....I forget what exactly he does....I read it somewhere awhile back/

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19.

Donnie:  1682 days ago

There is no similarities between "I wanna be your boyfriend" and "Girlfriend." In all honesty, who's heard of that band?! They just want to sue her for money. It's a bunch of crap. Everyone says Hey. They cant sue her for using a word like they did. It shows no copyright infringment.

Whatever Avril, I love you and you're beautiful.

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20.

annab:  1682 days ago

i listened to both songs. they sound exactly the same. must be a immaculate music wonder.

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21.

tisheepoo:  1682 days ago

Yeah, the words and beat sound NOTHING alike ~ NOT!

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22.

shry:  1682 days ago

#21...So glad you know your music history. Someone like Avril who wasn't even born then may not. I personally don't like that song. I never heard of the Rubinoos or whatever they're called. Sounds like a band that had a questionable hit, trying to make some money from someone who's very successful. LOSERS.
Love Avril or hate her...at least she's not flasing her crotch at paparrazi or spending time in jail. Her music videos aren't full of naked people pumping and grinding. She is one of the few people out there that don't feel it's necessary to take off her clothes to make music.
GEEZ she must be Canadian!!

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23.

The Fighter:  1682 days ago

Well, You guys must be SURE that you're right. Your all so full of yourselves. Suppose you were in her shoes, and didn't steal the song...how would all this crap people are laying on feel? Just give her a break, at least she's not Paris or Lindsay.

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24.

Joseph Davis:  1682 days ago

Why couldn't Avril die and John Lennon, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson live?

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25.

urmomma:  1682 days ago

i could have sworn it was a rip off from "hey mickey your so fine" lol but i agree, most of the songs in the world are called remixes. as for you haters do be jealous cause she made money of something you find catchy! green with envy is not flattering at all

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26.

me:  1682 days ago

I don't think the two songs sound alike at all. So they have one same line...so what? Doesn't mean she or Luke ripped it off. I like Avril alot and like another person on here said, her videos are okay.

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27.

tisheepoo:  1682 days ago

WHO CARES if those guys are has beens??? Come on... those comparisons are almost identical. They just changed boy to girl. If you were in that HAS BEEN band, any of you would do the same. That song is making HER money, not them.

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28.

Jury of Jerry Colonnas:  1682 days ago

Thank you, Leonard Bernstein and the Orchestra, for those lessons in musicology. Let's throw it open to a musician with some experience in this kind of thing:

No, they're not close enough for a lawsuit, and Avril's comments are the exact argument that's going to win her the case in court.

In order to prove plagirism, they have to prove that the melodies and/or the lyrics were original to the first song, were a significant part of the first song's success, and were appropriated without permission by the second song. Arrangement, performance, instrumentation do not enter into it in any way shape or form, because those are not part of the song as written.

(1) Melody: No dice here. Musically, they're completely different. The "hey hey you you's" are on a different note in the musical scale (the 3rd in the Rubinoos, the 5th in Avril's) and the melodies diverge completely on the "I don't like your girlfriend" part. Even if you don't accept the different note thing (which a jury has to), you still get only 4 notes in a row that are allegedly stolen, and they're all the same note . . . not enough to prove plagirism. The rhythms are pretty much identical, but that doesn't count in the absence of melodic similarity, or the rappers would have to spend all their time suing each other.

(2) Lyrics: "Hey hey you you blah blah blah blah blah-friend." Here's where Avril's argument comes in. This is a lyrical idea that clearly has some similarity, and just might be the hook you could hang a case on, IF the Rubinoos can prove that they came up with it. But they didn't. It's been used before, in at least two other contexts, by bands much more famous than the Rubin-who?-s. You can bet that if this does go to court (bloody unlikely), Avril's crack team of musicologists will have come up with a couple hundred more examples. Avril has nothing to fear from the Stones' lawyers, because (a) different notes again, and (b) she can prove that they let the Rubinoos get away with it!

(3) Significant part of the first song's success: Insert your own joke here.

(4) Appropriated without permission: Non-starter. Nothing was appropriated. It doesn't matter if they can prove that Luke what's-his-name has the Rubinoos song on his ringtone. Musically and legally, they are different songs.

You kiddies feel free to hate on Avril all you want, but the Rubinoos don't have even the slightest shred of a case. And even if they did, exactly whose pile of royalty checks are they going to use to fund the prosecution?

This is a desperate attempt by an obscure band (theme to Revenge of the Nerds? Oooooooooooh!) to grab some publicity from websites who are desperate to make Avril look bad because the internet kiddies don't like her.

Sorry, internet kiddies . . . NOT GUILTY!

(PS to Not Complicated - Hey genius . . . George Harrison lost the "He's So Fine" case, and rightly so. Identical melody throughout most of the song, and George obviously knew the original. Totally different situation from this one.)

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29.

tom:  1682 days ago

hmmm, listen to both songs and any one with hearing would come to the conclusion that the chorus is the same. hey, avril, wanna bet you settle this one pretty quick?

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30.

Marilyn Manson:  1682 days ago

Here's a novel idea: If you don't like her, don't listen to her music, or post on forums about her, on think about her, or discuss her. It is HILLARIOUS that so many of you on both sides have really strong, intense feelings about some chick on tv and the radio. That's the closest you've ever gotten to her, so she might as well be make believe to you. Burn in hell losers.

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