Tom Petty Issues Statement On Sam Smith Thing

Legendary rocker Tom Petty has been in the news of late, when word came out that he had reached an agreement with pop star Sam Smith for both he and Jeff Lynne to receive co-songwriting credits on Smith’s big hit -“Stay With Me.” The similarities between a chorus of “Stay With Me” and the Petty/Lynne-penned “I Won’t Back Down” led to the unusual arrangement.

[Photo by Adam McCullough]

Petty had been quiet about the situation since word of the deal came down about a week ago, but Tom has now broken his silence by issuing a brief statement on his website. “About the Sam Smith thing. Let me say I have never had any hard feelings toward Sam. All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by,” Petty wrote.

Here’s the full statement via TomPetty.com:

“About the Sam Smith thing. Let me say I have never had any hard feelings toward Sam. All my years of songwriting have shown me these things can happen. Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by. Sam’s people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement. The word lawsuit was never even said and was never my intention. And no more was to be said about it. How it got out to the press is beyond Sam or myself. Sam did the right thing and I have thought no more about this. A musical accident no more no less. In these times we live in this is hardly news. I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career. Peace and love to all.”

Tom Petty