The co-writer of Earth, Wind & Fire's iconic "September" poked fun at the furor surrounding Taylor Swift's version of the song released last month -- but is clearly no fan of the cover herself.

Swift released her gentle, banjo-laced rendition of "September" on April 12, prompting a brutal storm of caustic reaction from fans of the 1978 smash. That seemed a bit much for Allee Willis, who wrote the song with EWF's late Maurice White and Al McKay.

"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 said Friday night (May 18) during an entertaining and often humorous songs-and-stories performance at the City Theatre in her home town of Detroit. "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."