Eddie Vedder Sued Over "Hard Sun" Lyric Changes

We've seen our share of strange lawsuits in 2009, from Joe Satriani versus Coldplay versus Cat Stevens over "Viva la Vida," Starbucks' battle with Carly Simon — even Eddie Van Halen taking Nike to court over a color scheme — but a new suit involving Eddie Vedder seems unprecedented. The Pearl Jam frontman covered the band Indio's "Hard Sun" for the Into the Wild soundtrack, and now songwriter Gordon Peterson alleges that because Vedder altered some of the lyrics, he "eroded" the integrity of the composition, the New York Post reports.

Vedder's take on "Hard Sun," and the rest of the Into the Wild soundtrack, was pretty universally acclaimed, resulting in a music video for the track and a Golden Globe and Grammy nomination for the single "Guaranteed" (he won the Globe). Vedder's score was also nominated for a Golden Globe. The success of Vedder's version of the song is arguably quite responsible for Indio's 1989 album Big Harvest being reissued.

Universal Music was also named in the lawsuit, for failing to get Peterson's permission before licensing the song. Peterson seeks all profits from the song after these "acts of infringement." Into the Wild director Sean Penn is credited with introducing "Hard Sun" to Vedder, who recruited Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker to supply vocals on the track.

A comparison of the two versions reveals very little difference between the two tracks. The opening verse and chorus are intact lyrically, but where Peterson wrote "When she comes to greet me / she is mercy at my feet / When I stay to pillage her / She just throws it back at me," Vedder sings, "When she comes to greet me / she is mercy at my feet / I see her inner charm / she just throws it back at me." Similar differences take place in the later verses, but for the most part Vedder sticks to the structure of the original.

Related Stories:
• Eddie Van Halen Sues Nike Over Guitar's Signature Color Scheme
• Cat Stevens Considers Lawsuit Over Coldplay's "Viva La Vida"
• Carly Simon Sues Starbucks Over Failure of "This Kind of Love" LP

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

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