Songwriting thefts

new orleans is a def rip off petty's mary janes last dance

Very much agreed.

That connection has put me off STBI ever since it was released, however hard I try to ignore the "HEY HEY HEY HEY" bit, and get into the lyrics etc etc, I just cannot stop thinking about Simple Minds!!!! So as good as the song is I just cant listen to it with any credibility!!!!

The two chords followed by HEY HEY HEY has always reminded me of Simple Minds too. But it is hard for me to believe they were purposefully trying to rip off a far inferior song. I think the HEY HEY HEY was just a producer's gimmick to add a bit of a hook to what could have been a bland intro.

Yep, even though the "hey hey" parts in the intro are really similar I can't see much of a connection or a rip-off during the rest of STBI.
What's also interesting is that the "hey hey" lines Richie chants in the intro were later on lifted from an early stage demo recording of the song and were never done during the final takes in the studio.

Also, not sure if it was a producers choice (Unless you mean Jon or Richie). The amount of times they use HEY HEY is STAGGERING. Have you ever sat down and counted the amount? Mind blowing.

Very true! I originally meant producer, as in Collins, but I retract my previous statement.

The real question is, do they use HEY HEY or Come on, Come on more?

Now I'm kind of angry at you because I'll probably waste time figuring that out. It'd say the Hey's win. Lost Highway, Alive (it's copy-written title is actually "Hey Hey I'm alive", go figure), Something to Believe In, Prostitute, Someday I'll be Saturday Night, You Can Sleep When I Dream. I can see why they covered Treat Her Right so damn much.

Des Child?

"Heh Stoopid"

It's in "standing" as well...