“This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr” by Jeff Beck & Johnny Depp 

The titular Hedy Lamarr was a real-life woman and a very-extraordinary one at that. Even if you never heard of her, chances are, if you’re reading this post, that your life has been directly influenced by her work nonetheless. And that’s because on top of being, according to Wikipedia, “one of the greatest movie actresses of all-time”, Lamarr was also a prominent inventor whose World War II-era innovations helped pave the way for what we know refer to today as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.

That said, Hedy passed away in the year 2000. And again, there’s a good possibility that those of you who were around back then wasn’t even aware of her existence. Well actually, in those days few of us understood just how ubiquitous the aforementioned technologies would become anyway.

In any event, as popular and successful as she may have been during her heyday, Lamarr spent her last few decades living what some may deem a less-than-ideal life, i.e. one of solitude and in relative obscurity. And that is apparently the aspect of her existence which Johnny Depp is speaking to.

The Lyrics

The lyrics are very metaphorical. But what they seemingly point to is the notion of the subject being sort of this innocent superstar – so much so that the griminess of celebrity, if you will, ultimately took a dire toll on her mental health. Or viewed from a different angle, Hedy was so mistreated by the masses, so to speak, that the vocalist, in response, has lost faith in human beings in general.

And it should be noted that, once again according to her Wikipedia page, it sorta reads like Lamarr forsook the spotlight, not vice versa, as is more or less implied by the lyrics. But of course, Depp is a Hollywood A lister himself. So he most likely knows things about her life that the average person doesn’t. And in describing this song, he did buttress the concept that the world did her dirty.

Also, it is of course tempting to try to find a connection between “This is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr” and the fact that the highly-publicized Depp v. Heard just ended, where Johnny successfully sued his ex-wife for defamation. However, it has been stated that the composition of this song predates said trial. But what we can theorize nonetheless, considering that he and Beck opted to drop this track just a week after said event ended, is that now Depp has really developed an acute sensitivity as to what it means to be a persecuted celebrity.

Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp

To note, Jeff Beck is the one who is really a musician. In fact at 77 years of age as of the dropping of this track on 9 June 2022, he has been professionally active since the mid-1960s. He is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (as a soloist and as a member of a crew known as The Yardbirds).

Johnny Depp, on the other hand, who is currently 59 years old, is one of the most-successful leading men in Hollywood history. He got his big break as one of the stars of a popular, albeit short-lived late 20^th century crime series known as 21 Jump Street. But unlike his co-stars, he has managed to maintain an upward trajectory in his acting career since. His signature role is as “Captain Jack Sparrow” in the Disney movie series Pirates of the Caribbean, which thus far has five installments.

That said, Depp has a pronounced musical background also. In fact he was a guitarist before making it in acting, and success in the latter endeavor has afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with well-known professional music acts like Marilyn Manson, Oasis and Aerosmith. Depp also co-founded a rock supergroup called Hollywood Vampires in 2012. Hollywood Vampires, which is a supergroup, is made up of the following:

• Alice Cooper
• Johnny Depp
• Joe Perry
• Tommy Henriksen

Johnny’s membership of this group has led to him working with the likes of Dave Grohl and Paul McCartney. 

As an interesting side note, Hollywood Vampires’ second album, “Rise” (2019), topped the UK Rock & Metal Chart. But in any event, Depp has yet to be widely recognized as a musician.

Release Date of “This Is A Song For Miss Hedy Lamarr”

Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp’s collaboration history dates back to 2020, when they dropped a cover of a 1970 John Lennon tune called “Isolation”. And that particular tune marks the lead single of 18, the album from which “This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr” is also derived from.

Reportedly, 18 consists primarily of covers of other artists’ songs, with Depp serving as the lead vocalist, and some of the tracks also being instrumentals. However, “This Is a Song for Miss Hedy Lamarr” is an original, being written solely by Depp and produced by Ben Findlay.