Members of the Stanford Marching Band attend the 125th Tournament of Roses Parade in 2014. | Getty Stanford band to Trump: You've gone too far

Even Stanford University's marching band, no stranger to hijinks and controversy itself, thinks Donald Trump has gone too far this time. So much so that it took to Twitter on Thursday to send the Republican nominee a "cease and desist" order that acknowledges it does not necessarily have the legal grounds to pursue action against his use of the Free song "All Right Now" on Saturday during his announcement of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.

In a letter retweeted by its official Twitter account, the band lays out its "case" against Trump. As background, it acknowledges that the song was composed by the English rock band Free in 1970 but was rearranged for the marching band's use in 1972 as "an alternative fight song."


"Your use of the song 'All Right Now' as background music during the official introduction of your Vice Presidential pick is probably a violation of Free’s common law trademark rights, common law service mark rights, and trade name rights, and this letter constitutes a demand that you cease and desist any and all use of the song 'All Right Now' in any campaign-related events, functions, or shindigs," the band wrote in the Twitter letter. "You should probably forward this letter to your attorney, unless, like us, you somehow couldn’t scrape together enough cash or precious gems to hire one and have foolishly elected to represent yourself."

We recently found out that @realDonaldTrump used "All Right Now" at an event. So here's our cease and desist letter: pic.twitter.com/ihgBdBsrz0 — Edward M. Beaux (@lsjumb) July 21, 2016

While acknowledging that the band does not "have any legal claim over the song," the letter continues, "However, we do want to stake a philosophical claim over it."

"Our concern, Don (we’re calling you Don, hope that’s cool), is that your divisive rhetoric will tarnish the spirit of the song and all that it stands for," the letter continues. "We can certainly admire a good lampooning of the political system (something you’ve definitely accomplished), but even we can recognize when a joke has gone too far. And believe us, we know a thing or two about taking a joke too far."

The band then questioned whether Trump or the Republican Party would want to be associated with the thematic nature of the song, in addition to noting that Andy Fraser, the group's bassist and co-writer of "All Right Now," also wrote the 2008 Barack Obama anthem "Yes We Can."

“Also, for the record – the lyrics to ARN are about a dude trying to hook up with a meter maid," the letter said. "Regardless of the upbeat and encouraging nature of the chorus, we don’t think that’s a message that the 2016 Republican Party really wants to stand behind.”

“So uhhhh, yeah, in conclusion we respectfully insist that you cease and desist all use of the song ‘All Right Now’ from any further events, and in general we recommend that you blow off some steam and hopefully just take everything down 4-5 notches before November," the letter concluded.

In true Stanford band fashion, it directed any response from Trump's attorneys be sent to the USC Trojan Marching Band.