diff --git a/tracing-attributes/src/lib.rs b/tracing-attributes/src/lib.rs
index fe7df2dbe3..2900a8eb07 100644
--- a/tracing-attributes/src/lib.rs
+++ b/tracing-attributes/src/lib.rs
@@ -403,8 +403,8 @@ fn instrument_handle_recent_async_trait(
 }
 
 // given an existing function, generate an instrumented version of that function
-fn gen_function<'a>(
-    input: &'a ItemFn,
+fn gen_function(
+    input: &ItemFn,
     mut args: InstrumentArgs,
     instrumented_function_name: String,
     variables_rebindings: Vec<(Ident, Ident)>,
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ fn gen_block<'a>(
         // eplace every use of a variable by its original name
         if let Some(Fields(ref mut fields)) = args.fields {
             let mut replacer = KnifeReplacer {
-                idents: param_names.clone(),
+                idents: param_names,
                 types: Vec::new(),
             };
 
@@ -1159,6 +1159,9 @@ struct KnifeReplacer<'a> {
 impl<'a> syn::visit_mut::VisitMut for KnifeReplacer<'a> {
     fn visit_ident_mut(&mut self, id: &mut Ident) {
         for (old_ident, new_ident) in &self.idents {
+            // we deliberately compare strings because we want to ignore the spans
+            // If we apply clippy's lint, the behavior changes
+            #[allow(clippy::cmp_owned)]
             if id.to_string() == old_ident.to_string() {
                 *id = new_ident.clone();
             }