Tom Petty Addresses Sam Smith's Songwriting Snafu: 'The Word Lawsuit Was Never Even Said'

billboard/msn ^ | 1/29/15 | Marc Schneider

[Hugin]

I've always been a huge Tom Petty fan. Nice to see people settle this stuff without bringing in the lawyers. As an occasional songwriter I have to say it's really hard to write something that isn't partly like something someone else did, and very easy to inadvertently copy someone. This one is pretty blatant though. Handled with class by all involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB-5XG-DbAA

[napscoordinator]

Both songwriters were pretty mature over the whole thing. Great to see.

[Stevenc131]

Petty handled this with a lot of class. There are some online comparisons of Petty’s song and the other guy’s, and the music is almost an exact match for the whole song, the only difference is Petty’s is played a little faster.

[cripplecreek]

Petty has a pretty laid back reputation.

[Alberta's Child]

One of my favorite bits of trivia about Tom Petty ...

Mike Campbell, the lead guitarist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, wrote the music for a song that they considered including on the great Southern Accents record. They decided the catchy tune didn't really fit with the other songs on the record, so they put it aside.

Their producer was working for some other artists at the time, so they let him see if anyone else was interested in it. Don Henley liked the track, so he wrote a set of lyrics for it ... and his classic "Boys Of Summer" was born.

[rawcatslyentist]

I like the Petty version much better.

[latina4dubya]

i like Tom Petty and i like Sam’s song... when i first heard it i thought it was a cross between Won’t Back Down and Stand By Me...

[latina4dubya]

his classic "Boys Of Summer" was born.

one of my all-time favorite songs...

[napscoordinator]

I like both too but when I hear them, I don’t hear any similarities....lol. I am horrible about that type of thing.

[latina4dubya]

here's trivia involving Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty's first wife... it is how Stevie Nicks came up with the title, "Edge of Seventeen."

According to Nicks, the title came from a conversation she had with Tom Petty's first wife, Jane, about the couple's first meeting. Jane said they met "at the age of seventeen", but her strong Southern accent made it sound like "edge of seventeen" to Nicks. The singer liked the sound of the phrase so much that she told Jane she would write a song for it and give her credit for the inspiration.

[Moonman62]

I like Jeff Lynne. I didn’t know he co-wrote I Won’t Back Down, but I’m not surprised.

[Hugin]

That’s pretty cool. Campbell is a great guitarist that doesn’t get much recognition.

[Yardstick]

The melody in the chorus is practically verbatim, but it’s such a simple melody and such an obvious fit to the simple chord change that I have a hard time seeing it as anyone’s “property”.

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[Moonman62]

George Harrison ended up buying He’s So Fine, and Vanilla Ice ended up buying Under Pressure.

[Alberta's Child]

Best song of the 1980s, in my humble opinion!

[Hugin]

Vanilla Ice ended up buying Under Pressure

I'm surprised Bowie would sell it. But then, he is The Man Who Sold the World.

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. I love stories like that.

[dfwgator]

And yet you have country songs that virtually sound alike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY8SwIvxj8o

[Drew68]

That’s pretty cool. Campbell is a great guitarist that doesn’t get much recognition.

Yep. Campbell is truly a "guitarists' guitarist". He's not out trying to steal the limelight with blazing fast solos. He's tasteful and melodic and plays only to compliment the tune.

Live, Campbell and Petty are both a real treat for gear heads. They'll bring a truckload full of vintage guitars on the road and swap them out nearly every song.