Rock radio savior Tom Petty has broken his legendary (not really) silence on what he calls “the Sam Smith thing,” referring to Smith’s crooning “Stay with Me” sharing a melodic resemblance to his “I Won’t Back Down.” On his official website, Petty wrote:
“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.” (Via)
So there you have it: Tom Petty seems like a pretty chill guy, at least toward Sam Smith. Now, if you get him talking about how the Strokes lifted the riff from “American Girl,” watch out.
