Toby Keith Accused of Copyright Infringement for I Love This Bar

Michael McCloud, a singer hailing from Key West, says Toby Keith stole the idea for “I Love This Bar” from a song he already had. McCloud said Keith has attended a bar on occassion while he was preforming where he may have got the idea for his song. McCloud’s version is titled “Tourist Town Bar” and starts out with the lyrics:

We get bimbos and bozos and bikers and boozers/Daytime drunks and three-time losers/We get a room full of rednecks and fancy dressed fellas/And busloads of bluehairs and dirtbags and sailors.”

While Toby Keith’s begins with:

We got winners, we got losers/Chain smokers and boozers/And we got yuppies, we got bikers/We got thirsty hitchhikers.

The lyrics appear to be similar for the intro to the songs, but it’s still going to be hard to prove since it’s not copied word for word. In the creative industry you see people drawing inspiration from each other all the time, just look at the Web 2.0 movement, but it’s hard to go after somebody unless they directly rip you off.

According to the Miami Herald, McCloud wasn’t going to do anything about it at first. Then a fan, who also happens to be a lawyer, approched him about it, and what do you know, there’s a lawsuit. It’s difficult to know who’s right and who’s wrong without knowing all the facts, and it’s easy to make a strong argument for either side. It’s the age old dilemma of David vs. Goliath, it’ll be interesting to see how this one unfolds.