Bruce Hornsby Didn’t Understand That the ‘Community’ Parody of ‘The Way It Is’ Wasn’t a Burn

When the makers of Community approached three-time Grammy-winner Bruce Hornsby about having Chevy Chase sing a parody of his biggest hit, the singer-songwriter assumed that the joke would be on himself — turns out he was streets behind.

In the Community Season One episode “Advanced Criminal Law,” Chase’s piano skills and singing voice carry the B-plot about his character Pierce Hawthorne’s abject lack of talent. When Annie Edison recruits Pierce to write a school song for Greendale Community College on the false premise that Pierce knows how to write songs and has done it before, Pierce is forced to confront his creative shortcomings as he struggles to devise an original hit for his alma mater. Then, with a bit of encouragement from his favorite study buddy, inspiration strikes, and Pierce premieres “The Way It Goes” at the unveiling of the Luis Guzmán statue, thus giving the school — and Community itself — it’s unofficial, semi-licensed anthem.

Yesterday, Vulture published their interview with Hornsby about the act of parody/plagiarism that Dan Harmon’s cult hit sitcom debuted nearly 15 years ago on NBC, and he admitted that, when he first caught wind of Community’s plans for “The Way It Is,” he thought their cover would be a mocking one. However, as is the case with most Community jokes and all Community behind-the-scenes drama exposés, the target was always Pierce — and maybe most of all, Chase himself.

“I used to be a little more strict and tough about it — a little more involved with the due diligence, if you will,” Hornsby said about his feelings toward licensing his magnum opus out to films and TV. “I don’t care as much anymore.” 

To answer Abed’s question, Hornsby did know that Community “stole” his hit song “The Way It Is,” and, when the show’s producers asked Hornsby to give his blessing to the plagiaristic parody, it wasn’t a particularly hard sell. “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.’” 

Hornsby said of the winning pitch, “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.”

However, the point of the climactic scene from “Advanced Criminal Law” isn’t exactly to “take the piss” out of “The Way It Is,” but rather to create a grand spectacle that makes Pierce’s shamelessness and lack of talent the punchline that’s scored by the melody he swiped from Hornsby. While there are certainly jokes to be made about the rambling, sometimes nonsensical lyrical content of Hornsby's hit, “The Way It Goes” was just one of the catchier ways Community made fun of its, rambling, sometimes nonsensical, sometimes racist punching bag.

As such, Hornsby never sued Greendale or Community as Abed feared he would. Honestly, if any celebrity deserves to sue the school over Pierce’s antics, it’s Eartha Kitt — he’s been running his mouth a little too much about that airplane bathroom.