This squirrely-looking character is, of course, Sam Smith – winner of a Grammy this year for Best New Artist. Hmmmmm… how did THAT ever happen? Seems ol’ Sammy boy here woke up one morning and decided he liked Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” so much he’d just slow it down, write some new inane lyrics, and release it with an arrangement that sounds like somebody pounding on an old piano in their garage. Perhaps Best New Plagiarist should have been the award. ‘Course, who am I to say? When’s the last time I won a Grammy? Uh…. never.
If you simply MUST perform this song, it’s on my Pop-Rock list…. for some reason.
A source known as envanligfjant did this incredible explanation of how it happened: