Rock
Elvis Costello backs Olivia Rodrigo and slams song theft complaints: ‘Too silly to talk about'
Elvis Costello says it would be “too silly” to sue Olivia Rodrigo over Brutal sounding like Pump It Up, after insisting borrowing riffs is simply “how rock and roll works.”
Elvis Costello insists he has no business suing Olivia Rodrigo for Brutal sounding like his song Pump It Up.
The 23-year-old pop star's 2021 hit has a similar riff to the 71-year-old rocker's 1978 classic, and he reiterated that he thinks it's foolish of artists to sue one another over song similarities.
He told The Times: “That’s too silly to talk about.
“Well, I met Olivia and she was lovely. I said, look, this is just a riff and how could I be arrogant enough to sue on the basis of originality when my song is based on Subterranean Homesick Blues? Did Bob Dylan sue me? He teased me about it but didn’t sue. And did Chuck Berry sue Bob because his song was like Too Much Monkey Business?”
The post-punk singer-songwriter was himself heavily inspired by Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues when writing the satirical track, and he previously insisted lifting elements from other artists' work and making it your own is "how rock and roll works", so he has no beef with the chart-topper.
A Twitter user re-tweeted a link to an article about Olivia being accused of plagiarism by Courtney Love and added: "No s***. First song on the album is a pretty much direct lift from Elvis Costello."
To which Costello replied: "This is fine by me, Billy.
"It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did. #subterreaneanhomesickblues #toomuchmonkeybusiness."
