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The Song Michael Jackson 'Stole' From Hall & Oates

Daryl Hall and John Oates are hitting the big screen on Feb. 19 with their concert film “Hall & Oates: Live In Dublin,” and the legendary duo stopped by HuffPost Live on Wednesday to share stories from their 45-year career — including the time Michael Jackson admitted to stealing from them.

Hall had a conversation with the King of Pop in 1985 about the Hall & Oates song “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” which he shared with host Marc Lamont Hill:

We were doing the “We Are The World” session … and Michael came up to me in conversation and he goes, “Hey man, I hope you don’t mind if I stole ‘No Can Do.'” And I went, “What do you mean you stole ‘No Can Do’?” He said, “Nah, man, I used it for ‘Bille Jean.'” I said, “It doesn’t sound like ‘No Can Do’ to me!”

Even though it was “pretty cool” to hear that from Jackson, Hall said he sees no similarity between the two songs, and the encounter was a great example of the mysterious ways inspiration works for every individual musician.

“That just goes to show you, though, an artist can take something that even they may think is, you know, a rip-off — or whatever you want to call it — but it’s not at all,” Hall said.

See the full HuffPost Live conversation with Daryl Hall and John Oates here.

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