Los Angeles, Sep 21 (IANS): Singer Sam Smith says similarities between his song “Stay with me” with Tom Petty's “I won't back down” is just an unfortunate coincidence because he had never even heard the 1989 composition.

The singer, who was previously ordered to pay the songwriter royalties because of similarities between the track and his own song “Stay with me", shared his view over the row while talking to GQ magazine, reports mirror.co.uk.

"It's never going to be fair to me because I sat in a room with two guys and wrote a song. One guy played some beautiful chords and I started singing and wrote a song about a one-night stand. That is genuinely how it was,” he said.

The singer added: “I am 23 years old - Tom Petty's song came out way before I was born and still to this day - people don't know this - I actually haven't listened to the song. I refuse to listen to it. Even now I won't listen to it."

“There are only so many notes on a piano... We were just unfortunate that it happened, but there was no bad intention. Tom Petty wrote me a really nice letter, which I thought was really kind, but I am never going to be happy about it as it's still my song to me," he said.

Petty had previously described the similarities between the two songs as a "musical accident" and insisted he bears no ill-will towards Smith.