How a Simple Mistake Led Stevie Nicks to ‘Steal’ a Tom Petty Song
via MikeMono's Rare Tom Petty Media / YouTube
A Friendship Tested by an Honest Mistake
An unexpected mix-up once led Stevie Nicks to “steal” a Tom Petty song—completely by accident. The story, both humorous and humbling, reveals how two of rock’s most enduring friends navigated an awkward musical misunderstanding.
The Fleetwood Mac singer and Heartbreakers frontman shared a decades-long friendship that lasted until Petty’s passing in 2017. But their creative closeness was briefly tested when Nicks accidentally took a demo from Petty’s collection and unknowingly turned it into her own song. The track, titled “Ooh My Love,” would later appear on her 1989 solo album The Other Side of the Mirror.
The mix-up centered on a riff that mirrored Petty’s “Runaway Trains,” featured on his 1987 album Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough). Nicks later admitted she had no idea the music wasn’t meant for her. “I stole that [Ooh My Love] from Tom Petty – accidentally!” she recalled. “I picked up the wrong cassette at Tom’s one night, a tape of Mike Campbell’s instrumental demos. Tom would get them first, and then the ones he didn’t want, Mike sent them to me.”
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The Cassette That Started It All
Nicks explained that the simple mistake happened after a late-night studio session. “I accidentally arrived home one night with a cassette — I thought it was mine, but it was Tom’s. It just said 24 Demos From Mike Campbell. It had the song that inspired Ooh My Love, which became Runaway Trains for Tom.”
Inspired by what she heard, Nicks brought the music to Fleetwood Mac and began working on new lyrics. “I loved it so much, I called Tom and said, ‘Listen to this!’” she remembered. “What an idiot, right? Let’s play him the song you stole over the phone! Tom just starts screaming at me on the other end of the phone.”
Realizing her mistake, Nicks immediately confessed to her band. “I had to go in the next day and tell Fleetwood Mac, ‘Guess what, we can’t do this song.’ ‘Why can’t we do it?’ ‘Because I stole it from Tom Petty, and I’m absolutely a total criminal and a thief.’”
From Embarrassment to Inspiration
Though Ooh My Love was briefly shelved, Nicks eventually reworked it years later for her solo record. She said, “Then way later, years down the road, I sat down at the piano and tried to recall it. In the shadow of the castle walls… of course, I don’t know near as many chords as Mike Campbell does. All I remembered was that distant enchanted melody.”
Reflecting on their intertwined creativity, Nicks summed it up warmly: “Me and Tom and Mike Campbell, we’re like quintessentially three parts of one person.”
The incident, once a source of embarrassment, became a cherished story that showed the deep creative connection—and mutual respect—between two of rock’s most iconic artists.
