I Won’t Back Down

1989 · via Johnny Cash

Tom Petty’s 1989 recording of “I Won’t Back Down” is the earliest release on file. Tom Petty shares the writing credit with Jeff Lynne. 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.

From the counter

Petty cut it first in 1989 and Cash took it on in 2000, but the credit has a second name on it, Jeff Lynne. Pull his records next and listen for how much of that song was his.

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▶I Won't Back Down

Liner notes

Credited writers: Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.

Earliest release on file: this one, 1989.

Other recordings on file · first release year

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers1991
The Folk Implosion1994
David Essex1995
Pickin’ On Project2000
Johnny Cash2000
Smokie2001
Edgewater2001
Wiglaf Droste & Das Spardosen-Terzett2002
George Harrison2003
Sam Elliott2006
Dale Ann Bradley2009
Reel Big Fish2009

115 recordings of this work on MusicBrainz.

First pulled by @ga-2095 · No. 0004, Oct 17, 2026.

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Threads through this record

Johnny Cash → Jeff Lynne

@ga-2095 · 4 cuts · 7 d ago

How you get here

Johnny Cash recorded Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down," but Petty didn't write it alone. Who shares the writing credit with him?Jeff Lynne

a knot from Johnny Cash · next: Jeff Lynne

Pull a thread from Tom Petty →

or start at Johnny Cash 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.