Sam Smith on Tom Petty Settlement: ‘Similarities’ But ‘Complete Coincidence’

Over the weekend, The Sun reported that Sam Smith had quietly and amicably settled a copyright dispute with Tom Petty over the likeness between Smith’s three-time Grammy-nominated “Stay With Me” and Petty’s Full Moon Fever hit “I Won’t Back Down,” co-written with ELO’s Jeff Lynne. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Smith’s reps have confirmed that “Stay With Me” is now co-credited to Petty and Lynne, adding that while there are undeniable “similarities” between the two singles, it was a “complete coincidence.”

This youtube user doesn’t a hellva job showing the similarities between the songs after you pitch up Sam Smith and pitch down Tom Petty and then match the tempos:

Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” and Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”