Petty Tom Petty Sam Smith Tada?
Sam did the right thing and I have thought no more about this. – Tom Petty
by Walter Price
This whole Sam Smith / Tom Petty thing is akin to Vanilla Ice being dangled over the balcony by Suge Knight (allegedly) for the rights to “Ice, Ice,, Ice, Ice, Ice, Ice, Baby” albeit more laidback and legal like.
Perhaps Tom or Mr. Petty Nonsense forgot that “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” owes, a little to The Pretenders’ “Middle Of The Road” or, as one internet genius pointed out, The Strokes originated “Last Night” in 2001 after Tom Petty wrote “American Girl” in 1977. Petty and gang didn’t sue or send mean letters to the inventor of garage rock Julian Casablancas.
Anyway Petty & Jeff Lynne can now rest comfortably knowing they now have writing credits and a ton of extra cash from Sam Smith. Who by the way claims it was just a coincident and I believe him.
I love Tom Petty and I am irritated by this little ‘hey now hey now all is cool now’ note he posted on the internets…
“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.” – TP
Sam did the right thing my arse.
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