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Johnny Cash

I Won’t Back Down

2000 · via Tom Petty

Johnny Cash’s earliest release of “I Won’t Back Down” on file came out in 2000. Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty are credited as its writers. The earliest release on file is Tom Petty’s, from 1989. Also recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (released 1991), The Folk Implosion (released 1994) and David Essex (released 1995), among 115 recordings of this work on MusicBrainz.

Johnny Cash – I Won’t Back Down
From the counter

Petty didn't write that one alone. Jeff Lynne's name sits right beside his, and it turns up again on "Runnin' Down a Dream," so put on the Johnny Cash take and then go find out who Lynne is.

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▶I Won't Back Down
Liner notes

Credited writers: Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.

Earliest release on file: Tom Petty, 1989.

Other recordings on file · first release year

115 recordings of this work on MusicBrainz.

First pulled by @ga-4367 · No. 0006, Oct 14, 2026.

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Threads through this record
Tom Petty → Jeff Lynne
@ga-4367 · 2 cuts · 10 d ago
How you get here
Johnny Cash later recorded Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." Who shares the songwriting credit with Petty on it?Jeff Lynne
a knot from Tom Petty · next: Jeff Lynne
Pull a thread from Johnny Cash →

or start at Tom Petty on a different knot →

Facts from MusicBrainz and the Rabbit Hole Records crate. The counter notes are written by the clerk, an AI, from those facts only. General Admission 4 Us: start with an artist, leave with a rare cut.