Did Adele rip off Tom Waits classic?

Did Adele rip off Tom Waits classic?

ADELE undoubtedly has a hit on her hands with her new song, Hello. But many claim she ripped off a Tom Waits hit from years ago.

Many have pointed out the similarities between Hello and Waits’ 1973 song Martha, from his album Closing Time.

In the song, Waits sings a similar story about lost love.

hello, hello there, is this Martha? This is old Tom Frost / And I am calling long distance, don’t worry ‘bout the cost / ‘Cause it’s been forty years or more, now Martha please recall / Meet me out for coffee, where we’ll talk about it all.”

Adele’s offering has a similar sentiment.

Adele - Hello

She didn’t want to just go through and write a pop song with any particular formula. We talked about Tom Waits and different storytellers like that,” he toldEntertainment Weekly. “I think that was the idea, that we wanted to do something that was very honest about where she was at right now, and she wanted to do something that was real and believable.