Some say Pierce Hawthorne was streets ahead while creating Greendale Community College’s school song. Others would argue it’s a clear rip-off of “The Way It Is†by Bruce Hornsby. But what can you do? That’s just the way it goes. Such is the scenario Pierce (Chevy Chase) contorts himself into in Community’s season-one episode “Advanced Criminal Law,†after he’s approached to lend his piano and songwriting magic to the musical cause. He insists he’ll be able to craft a song so good, so timeless, that “it’ll make the devil poop God’s pants,†but a few days go by, and he has nothing to show for it. Pierce keeps playing the first two notes over and over again; his sheet music also looks like a Chinese takeout menu. “I’m no more of a songwriter than you or Billy Joel,†he admits to Annie Edison (Alison Brie). “I steal everything. You backed the wrong horse. I’ve got nothing.†When Pierce’s throbbing cosmic womb of creativity finally hits, it goes a little something like this, set to the tune of Hornsby’s mega hit:
Standing in a bookstore line
Waiting for the bell to chime
So you can go to class
Dancing in your underwear
Taking air conditioner repair
So you can get a job…Â
The song, indeed, becomes Greendale’s unifying anthem, with Pierce performing it again later in the season — tethering itself to the school just as much as the E Pluribus Anus flag. Hornsby, who’s currently on a nationwide tour, has a good sense of humor when it comes to parody approval. “I’m happy to hear people still enjoy it,†he said in a recent conversation. “I haven’t watched it in awhile, so I’ll probe the old memory here.â€
Are you generally somebody who enjoys granting permission to use your music in film and television? What’s the Bruce Hornsby standard for something like this Community moment?
I used to be a little more strict and tough about it — a little more involved with the due diligence, if you will. I don’t care as much anymore. This often happens as one ages. Strict licensing ceases to be an important part of your life. That said, I’m getting possibly more than ever. Last year, my song “The Show Goes On†was featured in the second season of The Bear. It’s fun how “The Way It Is†continues to be mined for new material by the hip-hop community. Over this month I’ve approved two songs like that. But I don’t stress about it any more, let’s put it that way. This is a good time to get Bruce Hornsby music.
The optics of this scene are interesting. It was very early in Community’s run, so you didn’t necessarily have previous episodes of the show to give you its sense of humor.
It’s true. I don’t totally recall how this idea came to me, but I’m pretty sure it was like: “Hey, Chevy Chase is playing a character at some sort of outdoor get-together at a school with a piano. He’s going to play ‘his new song,’ which is new words over your music.†That was a pretty quick yes for me. I thought, What the heck? I’ve had people take the piss out of my songs. I’m fine with it. When I saw the finished version of it, I thought it was quite a scream. Especially the two people sitting on the bench kibitzing in the background and going, “Hm, can he sue us?†I thought it was great. I know Chevy Chase a little bit, which helped.
I know you were a musical guest on SNL when Chevy was the host back in 1992. Is that how you two first met?
Yes. I was playing alongside Robbie Robertson. I had the pleasure of helping him and his band — we wrote a song together that we played that night called “Go Back to Your Woods,†and I also joined him on “The Weight†and sang a verse. Chevy and I connected because we’re both Bill Evans devotees, who’s a great jazz pianist. We would email back and forth through the years about music. I haven’t seen him in a really long time. I knew he was a pianist and was deeply interested in the jazz language.
Did you email him a critique about his piano-playing in this episode?
No, I have not. It was solid and serviceable. It was well-played.
In the spirit of education, if you gave this school song a letter grade, what would it be?
Oh, that’s tough. I would give it a high grade for being unique. There’s nothing else in the semi-vast library of “The Way It Is†cover versions. This stands alone. There’s nothing that sounds like it. Chevy is a creator with his own style.
Community is a type of show that has appreciated in influence over the years —
I’m not someone who’s trying to keep up with the current Zeitgeist. Well, I’m more interested in all of that now than when that Community episode came out. I wasn’t aware of any reaction at the time. I just hope people got a laugh out of it.
Do people enjoy bringing this parody up with you?
Actually, no.
You’re kidding! Really?
I haven’t received much feedback about it. I’ve never been stopped at an airport or grilled about the Community version of “The Way It Is†until right now. Maybe now the avalanche will begin. It’s nice to get recognized for it.
“The Way It Is†has also been sampled, as you mentioned, by prolific hip-hop artists in their songs, who strongly gravitated to the piano line. What is it about its structure that makes it ripe for sampling, whether it’s Tupac or a Chevy Chase character? Is there a unifying factor here?
That’s tough. It’s sort of like a Monday-morning quarterback, explicating the reasons why something connects so many times to so many different artists with stylistic stripes. I always thought “The Way It Is†was like a novelty record in the best sense. It sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time. “Sultans of Swing†by Dire Straits is a kindred-spirit song, in the way Mark Knopfler was soloing through the song on top-40 radio and I was also soloing through “The Way It Is.†There’s not one but two improvised piano solos. That’s hardly the formula for hit radio. It was a unique-sounding record, and maybe in the tenth or 15th listen people started to notice the lyrical content. That’s my reluctant explanation after the fact.
Have you ever had to threaten a lawsuit against someone who sampled your work without permission?
Not with “The Way It Is.†I had to take action against a country aggregation that very much ripped off “Mandolin Rain†in their song. That was a rare moment when I had to do something like that. Of course, once you record a song, it’s fair game. Even if you don’t like what somebody did, you can’t really stop it and say, “You can’t use this.†It’s out there in the world. I think, legally, they can do whatever they want. They can take the piss out of it like Chevy did, or they can cuss all through it, or write a death-metal song. There’s not much the writer can do. Maybe I’m wrong. But lawsuits have not abounded in “The Way It Is†world.