Didn't Steal Nuthin'

Elton John denies he stole his song "Nikita" from another songwriter.

Elton John is fighting back against a lawsuit that claims his lyricist, Bernie Taupin, stole the lyrics for Elton's 1985 song, "Nikita." This past April, a songwriter named Guy Hobbs decided 27 years later that his song "Natasha," about his 1982 affair with a Russian cruise ship waitress, is similar to Elton's "Nikita." He says he copyrighted his song and sent it to multiple publishing companies, including one that used to handle Elton and Bernie's songs. Elton has now fired back and in legal documents asking that the suit be dismissed. It says, "The suggestion that the Grammy Award-winning composer-lyricist team of Elton John and Bernie Taupin ... would need to copy these commonplace elements from [Hobbs'] lyrics is not only baseless and absurd, but it also misses the essential legal point." In Hobbs' suit he claims Elton and Bernie copied his use of the phrase "I need you" in the chorus as well as the words "just" and "never."