Sometimes, an innocent piano performance can ruin someone else’s favorite song.

The following story involves a man who was asked by his cousin to play some Coldplay songs

He isn’t an avid fan of the band, so when his cousin’s kid made a specific request, he played a song with the same tune

The child became upset after learning about the connection and blamed him for ruining his favorite song.

Read the full story below for all the details.

AITA – apparently ruined a song for my cousin’s kid

My cousin’s kid is 13 and he absolutely loves Coldplay.

Coldplay is his life, and I somewhat empathise having been into the Smiths almost exclusively through my teenage years.

Now, I live abroad and come back every now and then.

There’s a communal meeting point – my grandmother’s house.

She’s not doing too well but that’s by the by.

This man was asked by his cousin to play Coldplay songs on the piano.

Anyway, I can play the piano and my cousin asked if I could play any Coldplay songs.

I said I would be happy to, despite me absolutely hating them.

I kept playing more and more, and eventually he asked for the song “Talk.”

I looked it up, and it was a very faithful sample of Computer Love by Kraftwerk, so I played that instead because I knew it.

His cousin’s kid hummed a song, and he recognized it as something else.

She hummed it, and I recognised it as Computer Love so I continued

She says I’ve ruined the song and band for him.

It was his favourite song, and now he thinks Coldplay are liars for stealing songs.

I tried to explain sampling and borrowing elements of songs with consent.

No, apparently it’s my fault for playing the Kraftwerk version of the song.

Haha! That’s both funny and unfortunate.

OP probably didn’t intend to ruin the song for his cousin’s kid and was simply playing something they already knew.

Also, who knew mistaking Coldplay’s song for another one would disappoint the child?

Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

Short and true.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This one offers some suggestions.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who moved her mom in after her dad passed, but doesn’t want to fill the role of a spouse.

Sampling is fine, says this one.

And finally, here’s a valid point.

Sometimes, knowing too much about a song can change how you hear it.