The Tom Petty song used to rip off Electric Light Orchestra
Tom Petty was never shy about the kind of music that he liked. Throughout his life, Petty was known to sing the praises of anyone that he thought was worth it, whether it was covering Beck’s work when soundtracking the film She’s the One or talking about the fabulous time he had working alongside George Harrison in The Traveling Wilburys. For all of the great music that came out of working among legends, Petty was known to borrow a few musical cues from his friends as well.
When working on his first collection of songs, though, Petty was known as one of the most prolific writers of his peers. While the rest of his native Gainsville wasn’t interested in making the original music Petty wanted, his first steps into musical history had already begun, writing the song ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’ while still in his first band, Mudcrutch.
After he finally had the right vehicle to work within The Heartbreakers, Petty started to hone his craft as an emotional translator, cutting to the core of his feelings every time he stepped behind the microphone. Even though Petty was known to quote his heart most of the time, there were a few times when he could quote from his peers as well.
For instance, when Mike Campbell was contributing material to Petty, one of the initial songs he referenced was the song ‘Oh Pretty Woman’ by Albert King. Instead of taking the crux of the riff of the blues legend’s song, Campbell would twist the riff around and play different blues licks over the top before coming up with the basis of the song ‘Refugee’.
After the band started to taste real success off the back of the album Damn the Torpedoes, Petty had begun keeping his ear to the ground in terms of any new artists. As Petty’s star was rising, another rising star named Jeff Lynne had left the British legends The Move to form his new outfit, Electric Light Orchestra.
Approaching the studio in the same way The Beatles did, Lynne’s records would boast some of the most outstanding production value at the time, like the cinematic experience going into the song ‘Tightrope’. While Petty was already a fan, he stole one of ELO’s production tricks when working on the album Long After Dark.
While the album in question wasn’t that special in Petty’s mind, the single ‘Change of Heart’ he admitted to being based around the song ‘Do Ya’ from the ELO album A New World Record. Instead of copying any vocal melodies, though, Petty ended up stealing the way that the band wrote their chordal arrangements.
Discussing the making of the song, Petty would tell Paul Zollo that he was fascinated by the way the band used chords, saying, “I was trying to write an ELO kind of song. I think the inspiration was ‘Do Ya’. I loved the way [Lynne] used chords. So I was trying to write my kind of riff like that. And I think the words came later”.
Although the songs do sound identical in structure, it’s Petty’s vocal delivery that makes the song distinctly his, having that grit in his voice after refusing to be used by another lover. Lynne would later befriend Petty and even produce multiple records in his discography, but there’s a good chance that even the ELO frontman could sing something this gritty.
