You, Me and Dupree's Lawyer

Rikki, don't lose that lawyer's number. Steely Dan are up in arms about the movie You, Me and Dupree because they say it is a ripoff of their GRAMMY-winning song "Cousin Dupree" from their Two Against Nature album.

In a letter published on the band's Web site, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker demand (somewhat in the style of dialog from a 1940s "private eye" movie) that the actor who plays Dupree in the movie, Owen Wilson, "cop to the fact that what he and his Hollywood gangster pals did was wrong and that he wishes he had never agreed to get involved with this turkey in the first place."

Wilson's equally witty response was, "I have never heard the song 'Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, 'Hey 19.' " ("Hey Nineteen" being another of SD's better known hits.)

In an interview prior to the movie's release, Wilson said that the inspiration for Dupree was "some of our family dogs." Fagen and Becker say it was the title character in their song.

The current Steely Dan summer tour features former SD member Michael McDonald. "Cousin Dupree" is not on the set list.
_{Album cover image courtesy Giant Records}