Finally, a Taylor Swift beef worth talking about. Over the weekend, songwriter Allee Willis, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and co-writer of Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1978 nonsense-word ass-shaker “September,” addressed Swift’s recent cover of the song. She did so at her one-woman show in Detroit, where Willis told stories and sang songs from her decades in the music business.
One of the most recent involved being contacted by Swift’s reps a few hours before her version of “September” was due to be released; at her publicist’s behest, Willis released a complimentary statement about Swift’s cover. That statement has since been retracted, and how: “I didn’t really think she did a horrible job,” Willis told the assembled crowd. “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.”
After hearing Swift’s Starbucks iced soy vanilla latte take on the song, we can’t help but agree. It’s not the most ridiculous acoustic cover of an otherwise jubilant party song we’ve ever heard—that “honor” still goes to Obadiah Parker’s “Hey Ya!”—but it’s pretty damn ridiculous. You can listen for yourself, along with Earth, Wind & Fire’s original as a palate cleanser, below.