Anyone who thinks Tom Petty is being - for lack of a better term - petty by getting a writing credit on Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” needs to put that idea to bed. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer posted a classy statement about the situation today, after it blew up in the press.

Over the weekend, the U.K. tabloid The Sun reported that Smith and Petty had reached a settlement over royalties for “Stay With Me,” since the song’s chorus has a similarity to Petty’s 1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down.” The song’s official ASCAP credits now include Petty; Petty’s collaborator, former ELO frontman Jeff Lynne; Smith; and Smith’s collaborators, Jimmy Napes and William Phillips.

The situation made headlines, but Petty said on his website that there was no hard feelings between the two and that the word “lawsuit” never entered the conversation. He called it a “musical accident, no more no less.”

Here’s Petty’s full statement:

“About the Sam Smith thing. Let me say I have never had any hard feelings toward Sam. 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. The word lawsuit was never even said and was never my intention. And no more was to be said about it. How it got out to the press is beyond Sam or myself. Sam did the right thing and I have thought no more about this. A musical accident no more no less. In these times we live in this is hardly news. I wish Sam all the best for his ongoing career. Peace and love to all.”

In his own statement, Smith’s rep said that the U.K. singer was not familiar with Petty’s song.

“Although the likeness was a complete coincidence, all involved came to an immediate and amicable agreement in which Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne are now credited as co-writers of “Stay With Me” along with Sam Smith, James Napier and William Phillips,” the rep stated.

Smith’s song was one of the biggest hits of 2014 and was nominated for the Song of the Year Grammy. However, the Grammy’s Senior Vice President of Awards Bill Freimuth told The Wall Street Journal that Petty and Lynne would not be cited on the nomination.

image courtesy of INFphoto.com