Earth Wind & Fire

Taylor Swift's cover of Earth, Wind & Fire's classic hit "September" was about as exciting as a drunk and sedated turtle napping ... so says one of the co-writers of the song.

Allee Willis, who co-wrote "September" with EW&F's Maurice White and Al McKay, shared her thoughts on Taylor's rendition Friday during a show in Detroit.

Here's what she reportedly said, in part -- it's pretty brutal ... "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." OUCHHH!!!!!

The criticism went on ... "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."

Taylor released her acoustic version of "September" last month on Spotify. She caught a lot of backlash for turning the funky song into a country snoozer. The band's very own lead singer, Philip Bailey, praised Taylor's take, but clearly Willis disagreed.

She finished her thoughts with this message to Taylor ... "I'm honored you'd choose to do my song and that it meant enough to you that you wanted to personalize it to the goddamn 28th night of September, that you wanted to cover it with banjo."

Do you remember // That time Taylor Swift pissed off someone who helped write "September?" Hell yes we do.

Taylor Swift's new version of the Earth, Wind and Fire classic, "September," might be getting slammed by haters, but it's a hit with the group's lead singer, Philip Bailey.

Philip weighed in on Taylor's acoustic, country rendition of their iconic 1978 song, saying he likes her singer-songwriter take on it. He added, "music is free like that," and told Taylor ... "Ain't Got Nothing But Love for Ya #freedominmusic."

Swift released her cover song Friday -- the 13th, we must point out -- and it was immediately slammed for multiple reasons. Not the least of which being the fact she changed the first line from "the 21st night of September" to the 28th!

One of the track's original co-writers, Allee Willis, also gave props to Taylor for her cover. Worth noting ... Willis stands to make some dough if Taylor's version becomes a hit.

In unrelated news, Alec Monopoly is working on a new Mona Lisa.

One of Earth, Wind & Fire's OG members says Blue Ivy Carter is not a shoo-in for stardom, despite her lineage ... but it sure helps.

We got Ralph Johnson at LAX, and talked to him about Blue doing her thang to "September" during her ballet recital. He says she put on one hell of a show, but that doesn't mean it's time to start engraving her name on Grammys just yet.

As Ralph put it ... only time, and the public, will tell if she can follow in Mom and Dad's footsteps.

But let's keep it real -- if Blue Ivy wants stardom ... Bey and Jay will make sure she gets it.