John Oliver; Emily Shur/HBO(NEW YORK) — Every election cycle, there’s always at least a few stories about candidates using a singer or band’s song in their campaign without the artist’s permission. Most recently, it’s the Donald Trump campaign that’s taken heat for that from Queen, The Rolling Stones and George Harrison. Now, John Oliver is giving the artists their say.
A segment that aired Sunday night on HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver features some A-list artists all performing “Stop Using Our Songs” — a tongue-in-cheek, “We Are the World”-type anthem appealing to politicians to, well, stop using their songs without permission.
Rockers Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, John Mellencamp, and Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons, and pop stars Cyndi Lauper, Usher, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban and Michael Bolton all take turns singing the verses, then join in on the chorus:
“Stop using our songs, you won’t sing along/It might seem appealing, but you’re just stealing.”
The video does give candidates an alternate song they can use for free: a cat walking across an electric organ’s keys, then laying down on them for a nice nap.
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