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| From | marmil@MUZE.com |
| Subject | Speaking of the White Stripes |
| Date | Tue, 4 Mar 2003 15:33:11 -0500 |
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from the current Ebert "Movie Answer Man" column
( http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert23.html
<http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert23.html> ):
Q. I recently took my 10-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter to see
"Citizen Kane," which they loved. They were unnaturally alert during the
scene in which Kane throws a party celebrating the hiring of talented
reporters from his rival newspaper, and trots out a line of chorus girls.
Whereupon everyone bursts into a song, "There is a man, a certain man ... "
After a few lines, my kids were mouthing the words. I was incredulous until
they told me these were the lyrics to a song by the White Stripes, "The
Union Forever," on the hit album "White Blood Cells." While the tune is
utterly different, the lyrics are exactly those in the film and they are
bracketed by other significant lines from the "Kane" script. Yet the CD
liner copy reads, "All songs written and performed by the White Stripes."
"Citizen Kane" is neither mentioned nor credited. Is this flagrant,
unpunished plagiarism, or did Jack and Meg White receive special
dispensation from the Orson Welles estate?
Phil Freshman,
St. Louis Park, Minn.
A. Early in the White Stripes song, the lyrics say "sure I'm C.F.K.," which
would be Charles Foster Kane. Later this dialogue is quoted from the
screenplay: "I'm not interested in gold mines, oil wells, shipping or real
estate." (In the movie Kane adds, "I think I might like to run a
newspaper.") The song then quotes more dialogue by Kane: "What would I
liked to have been? Everything you hate."
Here are some of the purloined lyrics:
there is a man a certain man
and for the poor you may be sure
that he'll do all he can.
who is this one?
[whose favorite son?]
just by his action
has the traction
magnates
on the run?
who likes to smoke?
enjoys a joke?
A contact tells me Warner Bros., which now owns the DVD rights, believes
the lyrics were lifted from "Citizen Kane" without permission, and the
studio's legal department is investigating.
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.