One of the songs off of Some Beans & an Octopus, namely The Familiar Girl is hugely ripped off — lyrically — from Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn, The Fortress of Solitude, and so much more besides.
I took the idea for the song from a short story of his called out of the Vivian Relf out of the Men and Cartoons collection.
Spurred on by his great essay on plagiarism, the The Ecstacy of Influence, I sent him a copy of the album, and pointed out the, er, similarities. His response?- “It’s terrific, I like the song very much, and the album too! Thanks so much for taking the inspiration”