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. You be the judge.

(FILES) In this February 24, 2013 file photo, Adele arrives at the 2013 Oscars Governors Ball on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California. Adele on November 2, 2015 shattered a record with her long-awaited song "Hello," which became the first track downloaded more than one million times in a week in the United States. "Hello," a piano ballad that is the debut single from the British pop star's first album in nearly five years, opened at number one for the week through Thursday on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, which monitors sales, streaming and radio play. AFP PHOTO/VALERIE MACON arrives at the Premiere of CBS Films' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, in Los Angeles, California, on March 5, 2012. AFP PHOTO/VALERIE MACON arrives at the Premiere of CBS Films' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, in Los Angeles, California, on March 5, 2012. AFP PHOTO/VALERIE MACON arrives at the Premiere of CBS Films' Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, in Los Angeles, California, on March 5, 2012. AFP PHOTO/VALERIE MACON

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.

“Hello, it’s me / I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet / To go over, everything / They say that time’s supposed to heal ya, but I ain’t done much healing.”

While that in itself might be a long bow, her producer Greg Kurstin says Adele was inspired by Waits on the new album.

Copycat? ... Adele has been accused of ripping off a Tom Waits song. Picture: AFP

Inspiration ... Adele’s producer says the singer was inspired by Tom Waits for her new album. Picture: Supplied

“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 told Entertainment 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.”

The internet lit up with people debating if Adele’s new song was a rip off of Martha.

Adele's "Hello" is pretty much another version of Tom Waits's "Martha."

— B Haley (@GhastlyFop) November 2, 2015

The new Adele song (which I've finally heard) is essentially just "Martha" by Tom Waits tho isn't it.

— Davad (@davadsteel) October 29, 2015

I don't see copyright infringement. Too different. And while Adele's "Hello" is good... Tom Waits's "Martha" is perfect.

— Digital Cuttlefish (@cuttlefishpoet) November 3, 2015

As a #TomWaits fan had to listen to Hello by Adele and can safely say it's nothing like Martha. They're both about phone calls but that's it

— Jon Horrill (@JonHorrill) November 3, 2015