Image via Kevin Mazur
In April, Taylor Swift released her banjo cover of Earth, Wind & Fire’s classic hit “September” as part of the Spotify Singles series. On Friday night, co-writer Allee Willis weighed in with her opinion of Swift’s version of the song.
According to Billboard, Willis made her remarks during a hometown performance at Detroit’s City Theatre. She started out by putting the online furor about the cover in context:
On the same day things happened in Syria, the FBI broke into Michael Cohen’s office… the worst thing that happened as far as the Internet was concerned on this 449th day of all of our brains feeling like they’ve been hurled back and forth like squash balls, the top-trending topic on Twitter was the Taylor Swift cut of ‘September.’
Willis, who co-wrote the song with Earth, Wind & Fire members Al McKay and Maurice White, followed with a colorful description of Swift’s “boring” take on the popular track:
I didn’t really think she did a horrible job. Yes, I felt it was as lethargic as a drunk turtle dozing under a sunflower after ingesting a bottle of Valium, and I thought it had all the build of a one-story motel, but, I mean, the girl didn’t kill anybody. She didn’t run over your foot. She just cut a very calm and somewhat boring take of one of the peppiest, happiest, most popular songs in history.
She also shared her slight disappointment with Swift’s rendition:
I’m imagining she’s going to give it a kind of jagged, ‘Shake It Off’ kind of feel and it’s gonna be great. So I got to sleep happy and excited, but by the time I wake up—on Friday the 13th, I might add—the Internet was already a 28-alarm fire.
Part of the controversy about Swift’s cover was related to her substitution of the song’s iconic opening line of “The 21st night of September?” to:
Do you remember
The 28th night of September?
While Willis acknowledged “everyone has a right to do with a song what they please,” she expressed her displeasure with the lyric change:
I’m honored you’d choose to do my song and that it meant enough to you that you wanted to personalize it to the goddamn 28th night of September, that you wanted to cover it with banjo… and that you changed the sacred ba-de-ya to the more Caucasian ah-ah-ah and make it sound more like a field of daffodils than a Soul Train line.
It’s worth noting, however, that Willis told NPR in 2014 that there’s no particular meaning to the line “beyond it just sang better than any of the other dates.”
On the other hand, Swift’s date may hold some significance to the pop singer. Genius contributor VinylZombie_MCR previously suggested that September 28th may be a reference to her anniversary with actor Joe Alwyn, who she reportedly started to date around that time, and fans also took to Twitter with the theory.
“September” is one of Earth, Wind & Fire’s most popular songs, topping the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart while peaking at No. 8 on the Hot 100. It’s produced by Maurice White and was released as a single on Nov. 18, 1978. The track remerged as a popular meme over the past few years, prompting a slew of tweets and tributes when September 21st rolls around. One notable meme is the song’s mashup with Migos‘ “Bad And Boujee,” dubbed “Bad N Groovy” in fan videos.
Willis' songwriting accomplishments aren’t limited to “September.” She also contributed to The Rembrandts‘ 1995 hit “I’ll Be There For You,” which was nominated for an Emmy as the theme song from the popular TV show Friends, and co-wrote the Tony and Grammy-winning Broadway musical The Color Purple. On June 14, she will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Read all of the lyrics to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and Taylor Swift’s cover version on Genius now.
