Today In Rock: January 26th, 2015 – Tom Petty And Jeff Lynne Get Song Credit
On this day… Tom Petty (pictured) and E.L.O.’s Jeff Lynne were given a songwriting credit for Sam Smith’s hit “Stay With Me,” because of the similarities to Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ’89 song “I Won’t Back Down,” co-written by Petty and Lynne. Smith ‘acknowledged the similarity’, but the likeness was ‘a complete coincidence’.
“I just go into the studio, and ‘Stay With Me‘ was me just writing a song about me sleeping with too many people and wishing they would stay over,” stated Smith. “That was my mindset when I was writing that song, and I was very shocked to find out that the melody was similar, because again, I am 22 and I’ve never heard the song.”
“I Won’t Back Down” was released three years before Smith was born.
Smith and his co-writers – James Napier and William Phillips – settled the dispute accepting the similarities and giving Petty and Lynne “Stay With Me” writing credits along with 12.5% of the royalties from the hit song with Petty and Lynne now listed as co-writers.
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