Tom Waits Files Suit Against General Motors' Opel and Ad Agency for TV Commercial

Thursday September 15, 3:00 am ET

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tom Waits, the gravelly voiced, Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, has filed suit against General Motors' Opel and the ad agency McCann Erickson in Frankfurt, Germany for producing and broadcasting a series of car commercials that used a perfect impersonation of Waits' singing voice.

Waits had been approached several times and refused to participate in the advertisements. After the defendants were told that Waits has a long-standing policy against doing commercials, their agents hired a soundalike singer to imitate Waits, according to the lawsuit.

The commercials were produced in Germany, and aired throughout Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway in late winter and early spring of this year.

Among other claims, the suit charges the defendants with violating Waits' personality rights under German law. Waits seeks recovery from defendants' ill-gotten gains, including their profits. This action is supported by a recent German case involving misuse of the iconic Marlene Dietrich's personality rights.

In April of this year, Waits issued a press release to assure confused fans who had mistaken the soundalike for him that he had not done the ad or changed his policy to keep his music, voice and image out of commercials. General Motors (the parent company of Opel) countered by claiming in the press that it did not seek out Waits or intend to use his voice, but the facts disclosed in Waits' new suit depict an ad agency and its client determined to bring Tom Waits' unique voice to their campaign.

"Apparently," Waits said, "the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad -- ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor. Currently accepting in my absence is my German doppelganger. While the court can't make me active in radio, I am asking it to make me radioactive to advertisers."

Source: Tom Waits

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050915/lath051.html?.v=23

cookie monster better watch his ass

"Apparently," Waits said, "the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad -- ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. I have adamantly and repeatedly refused this dubious honor. Currently accepting in my absence is my German doppelganger. While the court can't make me active in radio, I am asking it to make me radioactive to advertisers."


=awesome.

What ever happened with his lawsuit against Lays?

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This is ridiculously stupid, in my opinion. Did Screamin' Jay Hawkins or Howlin' Wolf sue Waits? No. But if he can sue someone over this, then they would have had every right to.

cemeterypolka in........4...3...2.....

I vaguely understand where you're coming from, but you did read that the agency hired an impersonator to intentionally mimic Waits' voice, right? 'A perfect impersonation' nonetheless. No Screamin' Jay, no Wolf. I don't think any gravelly voice qualifies here. That, and unless you're really bored & don't give a toss, these artists sound little alike.

I love that song.

Uh...They specifically asked to use him for a car commercial and when he refused they found an impersonater. Do musicians have to call up their influences and ask if they can take some elements of their music and apply it to their own? No. That's stupid that the company did that to him, but it's even more retarded to say you can't be influenced by your predecessor.

i will kill you while you sleep

Mmmmm, rough sex tonight, eh?

I usually prefer it that way.

Yeah, but Tom Waits IS an impersonator of those two guys. And it's not like the impersonator in the commercial is covering a Tom Waits song or something. If the guy can do it, then they should have every right to use him.

Just wanted to use this opportunity tio post some more lyrics...as I am a copy cat...

Smelling like a brewery, looking like a tramp,
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Sharing this apartment with a telephone pole
And a fish-net stocking, spike-heel shoes,
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Dreamy and creamy and brunette curls
Chesty morgan and watermelon rose
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With trench coats, magazines, a bottle full of rum,
She’s so good, make a dead man come

Pasties and a g-string, beer and a shot
Portland through a shot glass and a buffalo squeeze
Wrinkles and cherry and twinkie and pinkie and fifi live from gay paree
Fanfares, rim shots, back stage, who cares, all this hot burlesque for me


Cleavage, cleavage, thighs and hips
]from the nape of her neck to the lipstick lips
Chopped and channeled and lowered and lewd
And the cheater slicks and baby moons
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And the band is awful and so are the tunes

Crawling on her belly, and shaking like jelly,
And I’m getting harder than chinese algebrassieres
And cheers from the (hmm) compendium here

’hey sweetheart’ they’re yelling for more
You’re squashing out your cigarette butts on the floor
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And what was the girl with the snakeskin’s name?

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It’s pasties and a g-string, beer and a shot
Portland through a shot glass and a buffalo squeeze
Popcorn, front row, higher than a kite, and I’ll be back tomorrow night,
And I’ll be back tomorrow night

Stan Ridgway did this successfully against Miller Brewing, who used one of their ads to showcase his Drywall project. The spot was more about promoting the music than the beer, but Stan wanted no part of it and won a cease and desist.

Waits did win the Lays lawsuit.

'splain to me how again Waits is a Hawkins imitator?

They sound nothing alike.

There's influence, but the sound and style are nothing alike.

Howlin' Wolf influenced EVERYONE, or at least everyone who got a thing for gutter voice blues.

eh, there's nothin wrong with him a hundred dollars won't fix

Although it's not the same thing, this reminded me of Fantasy records suing John Fogerty in the 80's for plagiarizing himself.

How the hell does he remember all them lyrics when he performs that song???

fp

bourbon makes him remember.