About The Song
“I Won’t Back Down” is a song by American rock musician Tom Petty. It was released in April 1989 as the lead single from his first solo album, Full Moon Fever. The song was co-written by Petty and Jeff Lynne, his writing partner for the album. It reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Album Rock Tracks chart for five weeks, starting the album’s road to multi-platinum status.
Petty has said the following about the recording of the song: “At the session George Harrison sang and played the guitar. I had a terrible cold that day, and George went to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses, and then I ran in and did the take.”
In the 2007 documentary Runnin’ Down a Dream, Petty said that he felt some initial hesitation about releasing the song, given how straightforwardly it conveys its message.Jerry Smith, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, called “I Won’t Back Down” an “extremely catchy, chugging rocker” and expressed the opinion that Jeff Lynne’s production “is sure to leave its mark in the build up to the release of his forthcoming LP”. Music & Media found it to be “rootsy, very American rock with country overtones. Simple and charming with a nostalgic, early 70s production”.
Jerry Smith, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, called “I Won’t Back Down” an “extremely catchy, chugging rocker” and expressed the opinion that Jeff Lynne’s production “is sure to leave its mark in the build up to the release of his forthcoming LP”. Music & Media found it to be “rootsy, very American rock with country overtones. Simple and charming with a nostalgic, early 70s production”.
In January 2015, it was revealed that an agreement had been reached whereby Petty and Jeff Lynne would be credited as co-writers of Sam Smith’s song “Stay with Me” and receive 12.5% of its royalties. Petty’s publishing company had contacted Smith’s publisher after noticing a likeness between “Stay with Me” and “I Won’t Back Down”. Petty clarified that he did not believe Smith plagiarized him, saying “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”. Smith claimed not to have heard “I Won’t Back Down” before writing “Stay with Me”, but acknowledged the similarity after listening to the song, calling it “a complete coincidence”. Petty and Lynne were not eligible for a Grammy Award (“Stay with Me” was nominated for three awards at the 57th annual ceremony, winning two of them) as the Recording Academy considered “Stay with Me” to have been interpolated from “I Won’t Back Down” by Smith, James Napier, and William Phillips, the writers of “Stay with Me”; Petty and Lynne were instead given certificates to honor their participation in the work, as is usual for writers of work which is sampled or interpolated by others.
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Lyrics
Well, I won’t back down
No I won’t back down
You could stand me up at the gates of Hell
But I won’t back down
No I’ll stand my ground
Won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down
Gonna stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Well, I know what’s right
I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
But I’ll stand my ground
And I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down)
And I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I won’t back down
Hey baby
There ain’t no easy way out (I won’t back down)
Hey I will stand my ground (I won’t back down)
And I won’t back down (I won’t back down)
No I won’t back down