Last week Tom Petty issued a statement about “the Sam Smith thing,” where the beloved musician defended his decision to seek out a writing credit and royalties from the British newbie singer’s mega-hit “Stay With Me.” You know whole deal by now: Petty argued the song ripped off his 1989 hit “Won’t Back Down” and successfully scored 12.5 percent of royalties from the song, which has sold more than four million copies around the world.
Everyone agreed that Petty was all pro, and a “real chill dude.”
Today, Funny Or Die jumped into the fray, and scans through the FM dial as Petty cruises down the highway.
“Song’s sounding alike isn’t new,” faux Petty says in the video, later adding “Lotta rock and roll sounds sound alike, and there are enough frivolous lawsuits about people fighting over pop songs.”
The clip then pulls up some other similarities of Petty’s work to others — like Talking Heads’ “And She Was,” which came out long before Petty’s “Wildflower.” Oops! There are some other comparisons in there as well, including tracks from Chris Isaak, Bob Marley, and Blue Oyster Cult, all of which came out before Petty’s original songs.
Watch the clip below…