Sam Smith said he was ‘not previously familiar’ with Tom Petty’s track
Tom Petty has been given a song writing credit on Sam Smith’s hit Stay With Me, because of the similarities to his 1989 track I Won’t Back Down.
Petty’s publisher contacted Smith’s team after it noticed a likeness between the two songs.
A spokesman for Smith said the singer “acknowledged the similarity”, but the likeness was “a complete coincidence”.
It was “amicably” agreed Petty and his collaborator Jeff Lynne would be credited as co-writers of the track.
Compare Sam Smith’s Stay With Me to Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.
Smith’s spokesman said: “Recently the publishers for the song I Won’t Back Down, written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, contacted the publishers for Stay With Me, written by Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips, about similarities heard in the melodies of the choruses of the two compositions.
“Not previously familiar with the 1989 Petty/Lynne song, the writers of Stay With Me listened to I Won’t Back Down and acknowledged the similarity.
“Although the likeness was a complete coincidence, all involved came to an immediate and amicable agreement.”
Petty’s I Won’t Back …read more
Source:: BBC Entertainment
