Stay With Me by Sam Smith (Similarity to Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down")*

What is Tom Petty's lawyer waiting for?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvlTJrNJ5lA

 

Catchy tune, I have it several times on WERS, I hope he does well.

 

Not sure. Clue us in.

American Girl?
Free Fallin?
Louisiana Rain?

Don't hear any resemblance to a Tom Petty song.

 

I believe he's referring to the melody of the chorus being the same as the chorus of "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty.

 

He sounds like Antony Hegarty.

 

Maybe the first three notes. The cadence is completely different.

Petty already balked on suing the Strokes over American Girl/Last Night comparisons. This is even less apparent.

 

It's pretty apparent to me. It's bugged me ever since I noticed. The melody of "Won't you stay with me, 'cause you're all I need" and "Well I won't back down, no I won't back down" are identical. You can line up each word and the cadence is identical. The only thing that's different is the tempo.

 

And if you can't hear it, listen to this.

 

Loving Sams' version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

Fingers crossed he gets to sing the next Bond song.

 

Haha I never noticed that but that's close. Not intentional though, I don't think.

 

It is such a simple logical melodic progression. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few more songs with that same melody that came out before Tom Petty's song.

So many "blues" songs are built around the same melodic progression for the verses, yet become different in the chorus.

I agree with nbakid2000 that the similarities were probably not intentional.

 

I don't think there's much intentional musical plagiarism, except when it comes to those soundalike songs they use in commercials. Its just a pitfall of songwriting that if you come up with a melody that sounds good to you, it can easily be because it sounds like a song you have heard before but aren't so familiar with that you recognize it right away.

Though, it may seem inconceivable to middle aged rock fans, but I could easily believe Sam Smith didn't even know that song. He wasn't around when the song was a hit, he didn't grow up listening to classic rock, you probably don't hear as much Tom Petty in the UK... Even if it was in his subconscious it doesn't surprise me he didn't recognize it at all.

 

Hope "Mash-up" is a Hit, the Music industry needs something today.

I miss the days of:

http://youtu.be/ykxsTW2J4NU

 

He's the whiniest, most irritating singer I have ever heard in my life and is a typical product of stage school.

 

reminds me a bit of jimmy sommerville.

 

Seriously?

It's "I Won't Back Down" slowed down.

I heard it the first time I heard Smith's tune.

Btw, there's another "new" song out that is a note-for-note ripoff of "One Headlight." That one made me LOL when I first heard it. It might be the most brazen lift ever.

 

What is "stage school"? Is that theater/acting school? We don't have that term here in the US, that's why I'm asking.

 

Yes, like acting schools, a lot of British pop stars of the past decade went to them (including Smith). It carries connotations that said person is rich, manufactured and not genuine, since they can be taught to do anything that's popular.

In Smith's case, despite his claimed diva influence, he's clearly been contrived to cash in on the popularity of whiney indie singer songwriter types.

 

Who are some names who went to acting schools?

 

They do sound alike, but I don't think it was intentional. I highly doubt that Sam Smith even knows that song.

 

One of the most famous is Adele.

 

My sister is flipping out over him so I bought her his (non-deluxe) CD for Christmas. Just the basic 10 track version.

Listened to the album online to see what I was actually buying and it wasn't really as bad as I thought. Except for the first song, a lot of the arrangements are surprisingly low-key.

 

I had a friend that pointed out that this piano riff is a bit familiar:


I think it's "You Got It" by Roy Orbison.

 

Adele, Amy Winehouse, Smith, many went to these places:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Alumni_of_the_Italia_Conti_Academy_of_Theatre_Arts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRIT_School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Young_Theatre_School

 

I think Sam Smith may be very talented but he performed 'Stay With Me' recently on The (UK) X Factor and I thought it was dire: maudlin, tuneless and dull.