Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Today marks 95 episodes of My Weekly Mixtape,
and while I've posted up a cover song dive bonus
episode focused on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers'
refugee, coupled with the fact that I've talked
about him on... countless episodes prior to this
i've yet to record a full tom petty episode which
is absolutely criminal as far as i'm concerned
so what better time than now to remedy that and
with that said i couldn't be more delighted to
welcome this week's guest curator kevin brown
host of the tom petty project podcast kevin thanks
so much for joining me man yeah thanks so much
this is Found you recently after you reached
out and I've been enjoying getting back into
the back castle. Like I loved the refugee episode.
I heard a couple of versions on there that I'd
never heard before. And especially the lullaby
one. I was like, this is so super cool. I could
see why people would hate it, but I love it.
So that is awesome. So as a first time guest
on the show, I'd like to start by asking you,
what does the word mixtape mean to you? It means
my entire youth. I mean, that's all I did as
a kid, right, is make mixtapes, tape things off
the radio, tape things from vinyl or from other
people's cassettes. I'd be talking about this
with someone, but this is how we shared music
back in the old days before the internet. This
is how music propagated among friend groups.
And then also it means to me, you know, not getting
laid because I put Foxtrot, put Suppers Ready
from Foxtrot on a mixtape for a young lady who
wasn't into 23 -minute prog rock. So I was like,
okay, well, you know, lesson learned. Well, tonight
you and I are curating the ultimate Tom Petty
playlist, which consists of 16 studio albums.
If you want to count the heartbreakers along
with his solo work, his pairs of mud crutch and
traveling Wilburys albums, live albums, box sets,
greatest hits, compilations, EPs, and so much
more. You and I are going to have to whittle
that down to 20 songs. Now, to put that into
even more perspective. His massive selling 1993
greatest hits album has 18 songs on it. And you
and I could easily just rattle off those songs
one by one and make a case for a killer Tom Petty
playlist because it worked back in 1993 and it
could work again in 2024. But if I know your
fandom and I think about my fandom, that's not
going to be the case. So how did you approach?
picking your bank of songs to choose from this
evening it was really difficult i mean even picking
20 would be hard and so when you only get half
when you're only building 10 and you gotta then
wonder about well what's the other person gonna
pick and how are we gonna marry these up it is
tricky so the approach i took was i wanted a
blend of songs that people probably would know
because this isn't a tom petty listenership but
then blended with some stuff that i think is
super cool and that i want people to hear and
to fall in love with at the same time and i think
that that's you know that's that's how i attacked
it more or less For me, it was all about balance.
There are some hit songs that I feel like you
and I have to recognize in Tom's legacy. But
I wanted to make this playlist something that
maybe a newbie to Tom's music could take away
something more than the songs that they've heard
countless times on the radio. Give them a couple
of things that they might not be familiar with
and might. introduce them to the world of Tom
Petty's music for whatever band or artist or
solo aspect that is. And hopefully between you
and I, we cover a wide spectrum of what Tom Petty's
music is all about. Yeah. So it's going to be
interesting because I'd got 10 songs and I don't
know what your guys are going to look like. So,
you know, I don't know if we've got a pecking
order, we're going to have overlap, how the sequence
is going to work. So I think the nice thing about
a catalog like Petty's is it's so strong start
to finish. that really you can cherry pick two
or three songs off any of the albums and you'd
come up with a pretty great list. I'll be curious
to see how many greatest hits end up on our final
20. And my biggest fear is there are so many
great albums that we're talking about here. I
have a sneaking suspicion an album or two might
get left out entirely and other Tom Petty fans
might be like, whoa! Well, guaranteed. people
are going to say, well, how could you not include
song X or songs Y? That's definitely going to
happen in this playlist, right? Oh, by God, by
all means. So with that, let's not waste any
more time and get right down to business. As
I mentioned at the top of the show, Kevin and
I will be curating the ultimate Tom Petty mixtape,
and we'll use the old cassette deck approach.
Kevin, as my special guest, will begin side A
with his first song choice, and then I'll add
a song that I feel best follows up that choice.
We'll then flip -flop choosing songs until we...
mapped out 10 songs for side A. We'll then give
our mixtape a proverbial flip and we'll map out
side B. Only this time, I'll kick things off
with Kevin choosing second. And our overall goal
for this episode is to craft the best Tom Petty
mixtape possible through only 20 songs. At the
end of the show, you can take our conversation
to the next level by visiting the episode page
at myweeklymixtape .com to give our final mixtape
a listen. via the embedded playlist. And if you
like what you're hearing on the show, you can
help me out by either telling a friend, leaving
the show a five -star review wherever you're
tuning in, or becoming a Patreon mixtaper at
patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape. There
you can find ad -free episodes of the show, gain
early access to upcoming episodes, chime in on
future topics, become a guest curator, and so
much more. And a few of the Patreon mixtapers
chimed in with the songs they would use to kick
things off tonight, and I want to give a quick
shout out to a few of those. Philip Bergman chimed
in saying, and I quote, I'm nervous about this
one, Brian. I feel this is holy ground for you,
which means if I answer wrong, you'll cancel
my Patreon membership. I won't do that. But as
he was the guest on the Weird Al episode, he
felt duty bound to start with Stop Dragging My
Heart Around, though he'd thoroughly enjoy kicking
it off with Learning to Fly. But he also wanted
to include the Traveling Wilburys cover of Nobody's
Child and close it out with the all -star jam
that Petty was a part of on My Back Pages for
the Bob Dylan 30th anniversary concert to display
the echelon of musicians that Petty is a part
of. Sean Goff chimed in saying that this was
kind of an easy choice for him to start his mixtape
off as Refugee gets him amped up every time.
But with that being said, Finishing said mixtape
with any other cut is not so easy. Brandon from
Virginia chimed in saying he was introduced to
Tom by the You Got Lucky video, and he thinks
that's the perfect opening song. And he also
loves Mike Campbell's solo in the song. applauding
its haunting sound. Chad LaMassa said he can't
decide between American Girl and Mary Jane's
Last Dance, and Seeker is also undecided between
Don't Come Around Here No More and Stop Dragging
My Heart Around. Once again, if you'd like to
chime in for future My Weekly Mixtape episodes,
come join the fellow mixtapers at patreon .com
forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. Now, Kevin,
with all of those chimings out of the way, I'm
officially pressing the record button on our
mixtape and passing the mic to you. How will
you kick off the ultimate Tom Petty playlist?
Well, you've got to open with something that's
immediately memorable, immediately hummable,
sticks in your brain. So I think for me, the
opening chords of Listen to Her Heart from You're
Going to Get It, the second album, quintessential
70s Petty. I think it's even more so than Refugee
for me. So I'm going to listen to it hard. They
opened with quite a few shows, live shows with
that one. Comes out of the gate hard. Hits them
hard. Hits them quick. I think it's the perfect
opener. I think you're going to get it introduces
the... punkier side at least across the album
as a whole for tom petty and the heartbreakers
and i say punk and i don't mean like ramones
punk but there is definitely a punk spirit to
that album as a whole the single reached number
59 on the billboard us hot 100 and number 66
on the canadian rpm top singles chart a big hit
for them obviously like you said opened many
shows i was lucky enough to catch the 2010 mojo
tour as it rolled through New Jersey. And this
was the opening track on it. Absolutely incredible
way to kick things off. And I think to follow
that up, let's stay with the stuff people know.
Let's lure them in. Let's take the fishing rod,
cast the lure way out into the water and lure
people in with songs they're familiar with. So
I'm going to go off of his 1989 solo album, Full
Moon Fever, and I'm going to go with Running
Down a Dream. Reached number 23 on the Billboard
US Hot 100 and Canadian RPM Top Singles Charts.
Number one on the Billboard US Album Rock Tracks
Chart. Number 68 on the Australia Aria Singles
Chart. And number 55 on the UK Singles Chart.
This year alone has seen two cover versions of
Running Down a Dream get dropped, being Luke
Combs from the Petty Country compilation and
female blues rockers Larkin Poe, who did a gender
flipped version for the Bad Monkey soundtrack,
which is absolutely killer. I love Larkin Poe.
If you haven't heard them, please remedy that.
They're incredible. But I do want to bring up
my personal favorite performance of this song
because. Not only did it win me $20, I was lucky
enough to see the New York Giants win Super Bowl
42 against the undefeated New England Patriots.
Sorry to my New England family. However, Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers were the halftime
show. And during the second quarter, they kept
making announcements. Stay tuned for the halftime
show where Tom Petty will be playing these hits.
American Girl, I Won't Back Down, Free Fallin',
Running Down a Dream. So I called my father and
bet him $20 that I could guess Tom Petty's set
list in chronological order. Needless to say,
I won, but he called me at the beginning of the
third quarter saying, A, I should have known
to never gamble with you because you'll only
gamble on a sure thing. But how great was that
performance? Unfortunately, we were behind Tom
Petty and the band. So when they lowered the
screen, we basically saw the sparkles. If I have
a picture of it, I'll post it on the episode
page. But one of the most memorable Tom Petty
concerts for me because I got to combine my love
of football and my favorite artist of all time
all in one day. Kind of greatest day ever. That's
awesome, man. And it was a great performance,
too, and a great live band performance, right?
No miming, no lip syncing, no other guests. They
didn't need anyone. Those four songs can support
a halftime show in its entirety. Is that the
greatest ever solo in the outro of a song? Between
that one and Sultan's A Swing, for me, maybe,
I think. I'd say Sultan's A Swing usually hits
that mark for me just because... God, Mark Knopfler
is just a frigging genius. But Mike Campbell,
I would say, goes down as one of the most underrated
guitarists of all time. I really think that people
overlook the brilliance of Mike Campbell. And
I think we're going to talk about that a lot
tonight. At least in my songs, we are. I suspect
so, yeah. underrated like we talk about that
a lot right he wasn't underrated by his peers
because you just look at the laundry list of
people he wrote with played for supported went
and worked with the people in the industry and
the people who are at his level everyone respected
campbell right and everyone still does and it's
great to see him back out on the road now with
the like dirty knobs still doing it's the 74
74 years old and he's still kicking ass i love
mike absolutely and you know that's the problem
that people when they say rattle off your top
10 guitarists I feel like he should be included
in that conversation. And he wouldn't have been
for me until I started this podcast, until I
really started getting deep on this guy's a musician.
Because like you're talking about, he writes
for the song always. And I mean, this might be
an outlier on Ring Down a Dream where he just
hunkers over the guitar and Tom Petty says that
him and Jeff Lynne were just staring at each
other like, is this guy really doing this for
real right now? Because that song was supposed
to be about 45 seconds shorter, right? But they
said, well, we've got to include all of this
because it's gold. Of course, by all means. So
we've got two massive hits to kick things off.
Listen to her heart running down a dream. Where
do we go from here? Well, I'm going to go with
the queen adage of deafening and blind them to
start a show. So I think we've got to hit them
with one more, one more big one before we get
into something a little bit deeper. And I think
the waiting is as perfect as a pop song as. Waterloo
sunset, somebody to love dancing queen, all those
great pop songs. I put the waiting up there.
It's one of those lightning in a bottle moments
for me. Great riff, great hook, killer chorus.
And then everything coalesces perfectly. And
I love the, we just had the, um, the new documentary
that came out. I don't know if you saw that,
but he remembers calling up Jimmy Iovine saying,
Jimmy, Jimmy, I wrote a song, but. It wasn't
easy because he just had that riff, right? And
he's playing it over and over and over again.
And he said that people would bang on the wall
and say, don't play that anymore. Well, I think
those people probably regret it because thankfully
he did continue playing that riff and it turned
into a song that reached number 19 on the Billboard
US Hot 100, number one on the Billboard Top Tracks
chart, number six on the Canadian RPM Top Singles
chart, and number 27. on the New Zealand singles
chart. It's an absolute fan favorite. I mean,
it's a top 20 hit. I feel like that doesn't do
the song justice. It's an absolute staple. And
cover versions, there are just so many of them.
Linda Ronstadt. doing a folk Americana version
for her 1995 album Feels Like Home. In 2015,
Natalie Imbruglia, if you remember the song Torn
from the 90s, does a breezy island -like rendition
on her male album. And I'm going to mention that
Bad Monkey soundtrack again and probably a couple
other times tonight. Marcus King. reinvented
the song as a piano gospel ballad. Very moving,
very emotional, really makes you pay attention
to the lyrics. And to me, for this song to be
able to be interpreted in three different ways
like that, similar to what I said with Refugee,
that I did that episode with seven different
versions, the song has to be strong to make that
possible. And the waiting is one of his strongest.
Absolutely love the pick. You did two heartbreakers
tracks. I don't know why, but I'm going to stick
solo here and I'm going to keep the hit fest
going one more time. Technically, you could say
this is a lesser hit. I'm going to use big quote
marks when I say that because it reached number
two on the Billboard mainstream chart and number
72 on the Australia ARIA chart, number 88. On
the UK singles chart. So it's not necessarily.
A massive hit. But to me it's a song. That coming
out of the waiting. And the songs that we've
had leading up to it. I just want to keep the
pedal to the metal. And go you wreck me. From
my favorite Tom Petty album. 1994's Wildflowers.
And once again. There's been covers of this one.
George Strait contributed a live version. For
that Petty Country compilation. And the War on
Drugs released. Fairly faithful rendition for
the Bad Monkey soundtrack. But my favorite version,
besides Tom's, of course, is Taking Back Sunday's
punk -infused take from 2009's Covered, a revolution
in sound compilation. Because like I said earlier,
Tom Petty has that punk spirit. And hearing Taking
Back Sunday amp that punk spirit up just a little
bit more. And make it work without going overboard.
And keeping the spirit of the song alive. I absolutely
love it. And this song to me. It's just. Wildflowers
is such a diverse. Eclectic. Masterpiece of an
album. This to me takes his 70s era. And brings
it into the 90s. So you wreck me. To follow up
the waiting. Yeah and does it on the back of
another phenomenal riff. When you think about
that. It's 1994 when this song comes about, so
rock and roll's been around for 20 -plus years,
25, 30 years maybe. How has that descending three
-chord riff never been used? You know what I
mean? It's so epic and so brilliant, but so simple.
And again, that's one thing that the Heartbreakers
are really, really good at, and if you listen
to or talk to a lot of musicians and songwriters,
they say that you learn simplicity from Tom Petty,
and simplicity isn't easy. But boiling something
down and taking away until you've got just exactly
what the song needs, and I think that the drum
pattern, The guitar riff and that bass line as
well in You Wreck Me is so simple. It just follows
the root notes, but it's so, so effective. And
then, of course, that one change from rock to
wreck. You rock me? Eh, it's a little bit Kiss.
It's a little bit on the nose. You know, let's
change it. It doesn't work. And Tom goes away
and finds wreck. And then, of course, it becomes
the song that we all know and love. Yeah, I couldn't
picture it as You Rock Me. That would have been
way down the... And you know what? For Kiss...
If Kiss Did You Wreck Me, I'd almost be disappointed
on that end of the spectrum, too. So I feel like
everyone stayed in their lanes with this one.
Absolutely. So we got four, I'd say, massive
crowd pleasers. If this was a Tom Petty concert,
the roof would already be blown off the building.
Where are we going from here? Well, we're going
to go to the last album, the last Heartbreakers
album, at least anyway, for Hypnotic Eye. I'm
going to a song that features one of my favorite
Steve Ferroni drum patterns, Fault Lines. which
has got that, you know, Steve Ferroni really
puts the boss in bossing over. And he's got that
little bossin' over beat that he's keeping. He's
just keeping it on the ride bell and everything
else is fairly 4 -4. So that little syncopation
between what he's doing with his right hand and
his left, I just love that. And Steve Ferroni,
again, is another guy who I think is massively
underrated. But he's played with everyone. He
comes in, he nails every single song he plays
on second, third take. He'll give you three or
four different looks, three or four different
options. Pick your favorite one because they're
all going to be amazing. And some of the lyrics
in this song too. See those fault lines laid
out like landmines. It's hard to relax. And then
in the last verse, on the high wire, above the
wildfire, an old acrobat, on faulty cables, still
he's able not to fall flat. So that, to me, has
always been him talking about an aging rock star
who's kind of, you know, there's danger below
because there's all these acts coming up below
you and you've got to kind of stay on your toes.
And yet Petty did manage to rise above into 2014's
Hypnotic Eye and produce another masterwork with
his last album. Yeah. Bittersweet album to me
because I think the album is an absolute masterpiece.
I might catch some flack for this, but this might
be a top three album for me. Maybe it is the
bittersweet fact that it is their swan song.
And I listened to it with a little bit of awe
because. This is the last output officially as
a band. Obviously there's the vaults and I'm
sure we're going to see plenty of material coming
down the pike over the years. So I feel like
the Tom Petty cup is always going to be filled,
but with him on this earth, this was the last
album. So to me, it's what a strong statement
for an album. This is the only song on hypnotic
guy that Tom didn't write on his own. Mike Campbell
co -wrote this one with him. I have to agree
100 % about Ferroni's drums on it. That ride
cymbal, just like the name of the album, it's
hypnotic. It just draws you in. It was nominated
for a 2015 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album.
And I think, I love Beck, but Tom should have
won this one. Morning Phase, which is a great
album, did take home the prize, but I feel like
Hypnotic Eye is a stronger album. Just apples
to oranges. Tom Petty's my favorite artist, so
I know I'm coloring that with a little bit of
favoritism, and I'm totally okay with that. I
actually had Playing Dumb in my bank of songs
for tonight, and I'm not sure if we're going
to get to Hypnotic Eye twice because we only
have 20 songs, but even though that song is only
featured on the vinyl version of the album, how
great is it that that song is so stellar that
I even put it in my bank? And you can't get it
on the CD version. That's how great of an album
Hypnotic Eye is. And you've got to go buy vinyl,
folks. We were talking about mixtapes here, and
of course we all have playlists. I do still have
mixtapes. I've still got cassettes kicking around.
But if I'm going to sit down and listen to music
these days, if I'm not driving around or I'm
not running or walking... I put vinyl, I put
a piece of plastic on a turntable, man, and I
spin it up. And, you know, Hypnotic Eye is one
of those albums that you've got to listen to
front to back because it is superb. And, man,
what about the guitar tone on Fault Lines? Oh,
it's unbelievable. If Dirty Axle Grease was a
guitar tone, that's what it would sound like.
It's incredible. Just dirty. And the one thing
I like about Fault Lines is it truly sticks out
on that album as an outlier, that bossa nova
sound you talked about. And I think that's what
I'm going to stick with. For my next pick, and
I'm going to go with a song that I think is another
outlier song from Tom Petty on an album where
maybe it feels like it doesn't quite fit in.
But again, yes, I am going to go with a hit here.
But when you get Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics
and Tom Petty writing together, you get the lead
single from 1985's Southern Accents, Don't Come
Around Here No More. And this song was apparently
written about Stevie Nicks breakup with Joe Walsh.
I'm not getting into the TMZ part of all this,
but it reached number 12 on the Billboard US
Hot 100, number two on the US Album Rock Tracks
chart, number 20 on the Canadian Top 100 Singles,
number 50 on the UK Singles chart, and hit number
61 in Australia, number 42 in New Zealand. worldwide
hit. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked at number
three on their list of the 50 greatest Tom Petty
songs. For me personally, this song is all about
the Alice in Wonderland inspired music video.
This is when I was glued to MTV as a kid and
getting to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and get a photo with the hat from the video was
truly a highlight of the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame for me because I remember staring at that
hat and watching that video just completely mesmerized
by it. What is going on? Like, what is this?
Exactly. And like Fault Lines, this song has
a different sound from what you'd expect from
a typical quote unquote Tom Petty song. Yet I
couldn't picture this song performed by anybody
else but Tom. So even though it pivots from what
the sound is across Southern accents as an album,
I couldn't picture Southern accents without it.
And I have to end by also giving another shout
out to Patreon mixtape or seeker who also chimed
in with this one, but don't come around here
no more. I'm actually surprised that Dave Stewart
and Tom didn't do more after this because it
just works so well together. Well, I mean, you
know, the three songs on Southern Accents, we're
talking about an album there that was originally
supposed to be a concept album about the South.
There was just, you know, Rebels, Trailer, all
these single words spike, all these single words
that Tom had been putting together and trying
to write around the experiences of living in
the South and, you know, predominantly a white
South. So this kind of derails it. And Dave Stewart
coming in and they go buy rhinestone suits and
they're cutting around town and they're drinking
and helling it up. So it definitely is. Southern
Accents is. What would the word? Not a train
wreck, but in terms of consistency. There's no
consistency on an album, right? It's incoherent
is the word I would use. It's brilliant and its
highs are high, but it's just very confusing
and very difficult to listen to as an album.
I should shout out quickly, I don't know if you've
ever read Michael Washburn's brilliant book on
Southern accents. I have not. It's part of the
33 and a Third series. I had him on my podcast,
fantastic writer, a brilliant sort of essay about...
How does Southern Accents stand up? And especially
sort of the subsequent tour with the Confederate
imagery and that kind of stuff. Very, very interesting.
Very, very cool. And he's obviously a huge Petty
fan. But my favorite version of this song is
definitely the version from the Take the Highway
tour. And you can find this online. I'll put
a link in my episode notes when I push this out
on my shares. When Mike Campbell... starts out
playing that guitar, puts it on the guitar stand,
and it's got that big delay on it, so they've
got the loop going. It's on the loop. Then he
gets the next guitar, that bouzouki thing that
he plays. Then he gets his third guitar. Then
Tom walks down the stairs, opens the chest, puts
the hat on, and the song begins. I mean, as theater
and as performance, it doesn't get any better
than that. Not at all. So what are we going to
follow up Don't Come Around Here No More with?
Well, I'm going deep again. This is a song that
I think... pretty much every Petty fan or everyone
I know really loves. And it's, again, getting
a bit more attention because of the Long After
Dark re -release and the subsequent documentary
that they've released, Straight Into Darkness.
Nice. Not just one of the great Petty deep cuts.
I think it's one of the great Petty songs. And
I almost went with either Change of Heart or
You Got Lucky from Long After Dark because I
love those two songs too. But I wanted to get
a little bit broader. And I think, you know...
believe the good times are over. I don't believe
all this is gone. The end sort of verse, everyone
sort of latches onto that. But for me, the thing
that struck me about this song really hard when
I first heard it on my re -listen through for
the podcast was, wait a minute, that piano intro
and the tempo and the chord structure, that's
King of Pain. sting borrowed this he lifted that
little intro for king of pain but it's brilliant
and i love it um but it's definitely sort of
influenced by this song um and it's one of the
first songs in the heartbreaks catalog where
ben mont does really open that song with a piano
phrase rather than it being a guitar like uh
so yeah straight into darkness fantastic song
could not agree more and this is one where i
actually when i was listening to this album as
the re -release came out and kind of really diving
into the french tv version which Holy shit. The
clarity on that TV recording. Think about this.
This is like 1982 TV. The clarity between the
instruments, the separation on those French TV
recordings is absolutely brilliant. And if you
listen to it on Blu -ray, you feel like they're
in the room with you. Yeah. But straight into
darkness. How the hell did this song not reach
the stratospheric heights of the waiting and
everything else? And why wasn't it included on
the 1993 Greatest Hits comp or the Best of Everything
compilation albums? It's overlooked in the catalog.
And I'm glad that we're representing it tonight
because to me, it's an absolute classic. And
there's another book tie too, if you're ever
interested in reading the book by an author named
Megan Volpert. She talks about how this song
actually, she credits it with saving her life.
She was standing on a train station platform,
feeling like she was almost at the end of her
rope, listening to music. This song comes on.
And when that last verse kicks in, she sort of,
it gave her just that little bit of sort of confidence
to think, to step back from the ledge, step back
away, step away, and just sort of give herself
a little bit of time to think. And she's, you
know, gone on from strength to strength from
there. So music does have healing properties.
And, you know, we, we, we overstate that. I think
we're under overstating it sometimes, but it's,
it's really true sometimes. No, it's 100 % true
for me. I've gone through a lot this year. I
had heart surgery earlier this year. And I'll
be honest, music is a huge part besides, obviously,
the important aspect of my family being by my
side. But when they weren't there and I was trying
to go to sleep at night, music was. the thing
that helped keep me strong and guide me through
it. And I listened to a lot of Tom Petty during
my recovery because Tom Petty's music, even in
the darkest moments still finds a way to hit
me in the fields and put a smile on my face.
And I think following up straight in the darkness,
I'm going to go with another single and I'm using
quote marks because it technically was a single.
And I'm going to also file this under how the
hell was this not a massive hit? And I'm going
to go off of 1991's Into the Great Wide Open.
I think it's just like Straight Into Darkness,
one of Tom Petty's most underrated tracks. It's
a fan favorite. They've been playing it live
for years. We're going to go with King's Highway.
There's a reason. that country and rock artists
name drop Tom Petty. There's that phrase, listening
to Tom Petty on the radio. I could probably rattle
off 90 country songs that say that line. And
if I were to guess what song they were talking
about, I think it's King's Highway. Because to
me. How can you not put that song on and not
want to put the top down in your car and drive
and just have the breeze in your hair? It's the
perfect summer road trip song. Hell, James Bay
covered it for the Cars 3 soundtrack, obviously
about driving in cars. But this to me is a perfect
Tom Petty song that gets overshadowed by the
brilliant title track with the Johnny Depp video.
and learning to fly which was the big lead single
from the album i feel like this should have gotten
a lot more love than it did so following up straight
in the darkness i feel like they go really well
back and forth one is the great wide open such
a great driving album front to back i mean when
you get into that one too you you sort of i think
it's easy to overlook that one as well because
there's a couple of really big hitters on it
but some of the deep was dark of the sun Mike
Campbell's guitar solo in that one is one of
my favorite things he ever did with six strings
and a fretboard. You know, Two Gunslingers is
on that record. It's just front to back. It's
stacked. And I've said on my podcast before that
I think that that one, it's not Full Moon Fever.
I think it's Into the Great Wide Open that actually
signals the start of the second half of Petty's
career because there's something that happens
with his songwriting, specifically his lyric
writing on Into the Great Wide Open. And King's
Highway has that sort of... wistfulness and that
sort of nostalgia to it which almost as if okay
i'm just going to get this one last time out
of my system and then we go forward so it's got
that little turning point to me that i always
think about and i'll tell you to me all or nothing
is tom petty's james bond theme song that never
got released in the james bond love it love it
all right so We have a one -two punch of, I'd
say, underrated quote -unquote singles, if they
were officially, straight in the darkness in
King's Highway. We each have one more song to
close out Side A. What do you got? Well, I want
to go live because the Heartbreakers were a superb
live outfit, one of the best cover bands of all
time, one of the great American live bands. And
I also wanted to go with something that wasn't
released on an album. So I'm going to hit you
with the live anthology version of... Melinda,
the call right with Ben Montench. Nice. So that's
my killing two birds with one stone there. Mike's
lead playing on this song is amazing. Ben Mont's
piano. You know, we talk about Mike Campbell
being underrated. Ben Montench is the ultimate
color commentator. He's the ultimate guy who
just sits in the background and then throws in
every now and again. This one, he takes the lead
for a good sort of minute and a half, two minute
boogie woogie jazz kind of stride piano solo
that's just out of this world and reminds you
if you need Ben Mont to tear it up, Ben Mont
can tear it up. And he does also on the 2004
soundstage presents live Blu -ray DVD. There's
a it's a shorter version. Personally, I think
the live anthology one is the ultimate. It's
Ben Mott's opus. As far as I'm concerned, the
sound that he gets out of that grand piano for
eight minutes is he goes from breathtaking to
spellbinding to mind blowing. And it's just like,
what's happening here? And then Mike Campbell,
that guitar part is so. eerie and haunting i
actually have a question for you because i've
read arguments about this online and i want to
get your two cents on this some people have said
that lyrically this song is about tom going to
visit a prostitute and other people said that
this is a song about murder is the four hundred
dollars his travel costs the cost for melinda
the cost to buy a weapon. There's also that lyric
and one dark night, I'm going to crawl through
a window. Is that to sneak around? So him and
the prostitute don't get caught or is there something
more nefarious here? Because for me, I don't
see Tom as the dark murderous type, but you could
take those lyrics in two different directions,
which just show what a strong songwriter he is,
especially because of the arguments I've seen.
So I'm curious what you think about that. This
is the beauty of so much of Petty's writing lyrically.
I always describe this as what he does is he
puts a brilliant line drawing in front of you,
but then he lets you color it in. All the sort
of the interpretation of what does he mean, it
leaves it ambiguous. I mean, you look at something
like something big. There's something, you know
what the story is, but you don't know what the
ending is, and you don't really know all the
little parts of that song. Spike is similar where
it's quite narrative, and you've got this very
definite character, but you don't really know
exactly what's going on. So this one, again,
could be any one of those things. I like the
idea of the murder. I like the hitman angle on
that. That's kind of cool. I haven't read that
one. But I wanted to ask you, when we talk about
songs, the original songs, because this was an
original composition, a co -write between Tom
and Ben, that never was, or we don't have at
the moment, a studio recording of it. And so
it fits in the same. There's two others that
I can think of. Black Leather Woman, which would
be from roughly around about the same time as
this one, too. And then Dog on the Run, which
was from the official live leg released after
the first album. We don't have studio recordings.
And you think, why was this never recorded? Melinda,
especially out of all three of those. This one,
you think this is crying out for a studio version.
I couldn't agree more. And I almost wonder if
because Benmont. I have read that he used to
cringe whenever he saw Melinda on the set list
because he knew he had to bring the fire at that
point. And he could take that song either to
stratospheric heights or if he doesn't hit it
the right way, it could fall apart quickly. So
that one always gave him a little bit of nerves
and a little bit of pause. God, I really hope
there. To me, that should have been either on.
the playlist box set or the American treasure.
But I, I really have a feeling the, the vault
is deep and I think it's coming. I just don't
know when. I hope so. And it's one of those weird
ones too, because it sits in, I think it's before
mojo, but it wouldn't have fit on the last DJ,
but I don't know if it was written in the last
DJ sessions, but it doesn't really fit thematically
with the last DJ. So it could have just been
one of those where. we don't have a home for
this. We don't really have a record that we can
put this on because that happens too sometimes,
right? Where if Highway Companion is the next
solo album, definitely doesn't fit on there.
And that's a complete solo. The only album on
which there's no co -writes. So it sort of doesn't
fit on there either. So it might've just been
one of those that got lost in the shuffle too.
Yeah. And I'm going to stick with the live anthology.
I want to go live too. And I want to do something
that I talked about how cover bands reinterpret
Tom's songs. But I want to take this moment to
talk about how Tom can reinterpret Tom's songs.
And I am going to go from their 2006 Bonnaroo
Music and Arts Festival performance and go with
the slowed down, nearly gospel -esque version
of Learning to Fly that they took with them into
the 2010 tour, only on this version. They got
somebody named Stevie Nicks doing background
vocals. The unofficial female member of the Heartbreakers.
We talked about Ben Montz piano playing on Melinda.
The grand piano solo in Learning to Fly is just,
it brings a tear to my eye. And then I'm going
to give a little spoiler. Episode 66, the ultimate
spellbinding songs playlist. I chose this one.
along with Ben from Records Revisited Podcast.
And as much as I love the original from Into
the Great Wide Open, this version gives me goosebumps
every time I hear it. At the end of the song
where the crowd is just singing the chorus over
and over again, and Tom has his arms out and
he's doing the preacher thing, kind of just doing
his vocal runs over it. It's literally Heartbreakers
Church in musical form. And I love this version
so, so much. And I think to close out Side A,
it's just a beautiful way to kind of put an exclamation
point at the end of an amazing side of music.
I love too, though, your take on it's a cover
version of your own song. I think that's the
perfect way of putting it. I've got a very good
friend of mine who's a working musician, sound
engineer, producer. And he says that that's quite
often the really good bands, at least. You record
it in the studio and then you figure out how
to cover it. So you cover your own song because
live, you've got to change things up. And of
course, Jeff Lynn's production style was we record
one instrument at a time. There's 68 million
guitar tracks on that record all over the place.
So you can't do a lot of that stuff live. But
this one, when it's slowed down, I mean, it does
just take it to another emotional and spiritual
level that the studio version doesn't hit. The
studio version is a great pop song. This is an
anthem once he does it in this configuration,
right? Could not agree more. And that, Mixtapers,
concludes Side A of the ultimate Tom Petty mixtape,
which consists of Listen to Her Heart from You're
Gonna Get It, Running Down a Dream from Full
Moon Fever, The Waiting from Hard Promises, You
Wreck Me from Wildflowers, Fault Lines from Hypnotic
Eye, Don't Come Around Here No More from Southern
Accents, Straight in the Darkness from Long After
Dark, King's Highway from Into the Great Wide
Open, and then a one -two shot from the live
anthology of Melinda and Learning to Fly. Head
over to myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the
songs we've discussed in this mix through the
playlist embedded on the episode page. And now
to start side B, I'm actually going to tap into
something I said at the end of side A. We had
Stevie Nicks, the unofficial female member of
the Heartbreakers. And Patreon mixtapers Philip
Berkman and Seeker both chimed in with this one,
and I have to go there. 1981's Stevie Nicks album
Belladonna, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, the
duet of duets. It was also included on the 2008
re -release of Tom Petty's Greatest Hits, which
replaced their cover of Thunderclap Newman's
Something in the Air. I don't know why they did
that, but... I think they both could have been
included on the re -release, but maybe it was
something with the licensing. I have no idea.
And it was also included on the 2019 The Best
of Everything compilation. Stevie and Tom's voices
are just magic together. They should have done
more. Obviously, you got Insider from Hard Promises,
The Learning to Fly. I feel like there should
have been more. I feel like we got cheated out
of more between the two of them. The song hit
number three on the U .S. Billboard Hot 100.
Number 10 in Australia, number five on Canada's
top singles chart, and also charted in the Netherlands,
New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. Another
worldwide hit. I mean, cover versions. I mean,
it's not a cover. It's a parody. But anytime
Weird Al gets involved, I got to mention it.
Stop dragging my car around. The only time that
he really messed around with Tom Petty in a way.
And I will say Lady A does a. incredible version
on the petty country tribute album because they
do three -part harmony on the vocals which adds
a different layer of depth to it and i know i've
mentioned that one a lot but hell it was probably
one of my favorite country albums of the year
so yeah stop dragging my heart around to kick
off side b and i think what's always incredible
with petty and nicks together is that they're
both so distinctive and so unique vocally But
sometimes that doesn't work, right? Sometimes
you don't get the right blend, but for some reason,
those two together, they just know how to sing
with each other. And I love the video for Insider
when you can see them watching each other just
so they can get the phrasing exactly right. And
of course, when Stevie comes on stage and sings
this with him live, and the cool thing about
Insider is a different song, obviously, but they
never played that live without Stevie Nicks.
And same thing, you know, you can't do it, right?
But I think Stevie does do Stop Dragging My Heart
Around. But I do think it's interesting, right?
The Insider was the song that he actually wrote
for Stevie. Stevie came in, sang it, and said,
yeah, dude, I can't take this from you. I can
tell you don't want to give it to me. Is there
anything else you can give to me? And so the
heartbreak is already recorded, Stop Dragging
My Heart, around four hard promises. And Tom
said, but what about this one? We've got the
footage of them singing it and figuring out their
vocal parts together in the new documentary.
And it's just like, okay, well, yeah, that actually,
Stop Dragging My Heart, works way better on Belladonna
than Insider would have done, in my opinion.
I completely agree. And then also to this day,
I know there's a studio version. It's on her
Enchanted box set. But Stevie does a beautiful
version of Free Fall. And I mean, the way those
two are intertwined over the years, you usually
pair Stevie Nicks with Fleetwood Mac, obviously,
because that's where her legacy was carved before
Solo. But to me, her legacy with the Heartbreakers
is just as strong, even though it's not as prominent.
Absolutely. And, you know, Mike worked with her
on three or four different studio albums after
Balladonna. Benmont, I think, has played on almost
every album she's ever put out. So that relationship
with the Heartbreakers, just musically, you know,
there's always the scurrilous rumors that her
and Tom had something going on, which they didn't.
But musically, there's just their hand in glove,
right? They just fit together perfectly. Well,
what are you going to follow up Stop Dragging
My Heart Around with? Well, I'm kind of following
your lead here, and I'm going to take us away
from the Heartbreakers. And I'm going to take
us away from Solo and I'm going to go to the
super group of all super groups, Travelling Wilburys,
but I'm not going for one of the big ones from
Volume 1. I'm going to hit you with Cool Dry
Place from Volume 3. Awesome! So I had to pick
that one. I mean, End of the Line is one of my
favorite songs ever recorded. I love that tune.
Orbison's voice on it is just majestic. You got
the blend is perfect, the bounce of it and the
ease of it. Jim Keltner's drum part in that never
hits a cymbal, you know, but it's too easy to
pick one of those. I think Cool Dry Place shows
off Tom Petty's sense of humor and that sort
of interplay between him and Dylan. You can tell
this is a core act between the four of them at
that point and they're just having fun. You know,
talking about old athletic shoes and DX7s and
reverbs and things, all the moldy. It's got such
a relaxed, loose feel to it. And just that warmth
and that sense of humor that I think really underscored
everything that the Wilburys did. And talk about,
you know, the Wilburys. I remember that was my
entry into Petty. It wasn't Full Moon Fever.
I'm sure I heard Full Moon Fever around the time,
but I hadn't really latched on. But being a huge
Beatles fan growing up and my dad being a big
Harrison fan especially. it was the Wilburys.
And then, you know, you look at it, it's okay.
Well, Bob Dylan, I'm a huge fan of. It's got
a Beatle in there. You got Roy Orbison, who's
just elite level, sort of untouchable. And then
Jeff Lynn, who if you're English and you're an
ELO fan, he's also on that level. Who's this
petty kid, this scruffy blonde Californian dude,
right? At the table. And as you think, it was
37 when the Wilburys got together. But of course,
as we know now, like he was every bit there equal
in terms of songwriting, in terms of productivity
and the contribution to the band. So, Cool Dry
Place from Wilburys Volume 3. It's funny, when
they first came out, people were like, who are
all these old guys? But if you think about what
their ages were when these albums came out, they
were not old at all. And I love the fact that
you mentioned that these songs were written from
a fun place, because from what I've read, both
Handle With Care and Cool Dry Place were written
based on they were sitting in a room and they
were stickers on a box. Handle With Care and
Store in a Cool Dry Place. So coming from a place
of humor. I also love the wink, wink, nudge,
nudge reference to Jeff Lynn in the lyrics. I
paid my first subscription. Then I joined the
Idol Race. Idol Race was Jeff Lynn's pre -Electric
Light Orchestra band. Yep. So that was them kind
of like poking fun and having fun at the expense
of the lyrics. And while Handle With Care will
always be a... personal highlight and favorite
for me i talked about that soundstage performance
they do an incredible version on that that one
was more of everybody getting a little bit of
vocals in that and i feel like tom took front
and center on cool dry place so i think for this
playlist this one makes more sense okay well
what are you following it with because we've
had two now that aren't aren't heartbreakers
songs so are you getting us back to the heartbreakers
are we going solo where are we going i'm gonna
trifecta this and keep us outside of the heartbreaker
range because for the true tom petty fans out
there if we don't touch on mud crutch we're doing
a disservice so i'm gonna go off the 2008 album
and first i just want to say me being a bass
player seeing tom pick up the bass for an entire
album when i heard he was doing that i'm like
okay you've got my attention here and when i
first listened to the album i'm like what is
this is this a country album is this americana
what's going on here and you could tell it's
fun and eclectic and it kind of fits in with
where we're going with this side so far fun eclectic
it's a different mix i thought about going with
crystal river And honestly, if I wanted to close
out Side A following up Melinda, considering
that was showing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
jamming, Crystal River is mud crutch jamming.
But I couldn't resist the double shot of the
live anthology for Side A. So coming at a cool,
dry place, I want to go with that same vibe and
I'm going to go with the wrong thing to do. Now,
to me, this feels. like a heartbreakers album
because you've got mike campbell ben montench
and tom all together but when you bring in tom
leaden and randall marsh to the sound it is mud
crutch it it does change it's a different place
but there's something about the groove and the
wrong thing to do coming out of cool dry place
that i think just marries really well together
it's got that very stonesy blues rock slightly
country -tinged sleaze to it. It's swampy. It's
swampy, absolutely. It's a southern rock song,
right? But again, it's got a bit of Keith in
there, which Mike could bring to the table when
he needed to. I do think that the Mudcrutch stuff
does lean a little bit further country as well,
right? I mean, Randall Marsh doesn't play like
Steve Ferroni. He definitely doesn't play like
Stan Lynch. But let's talk for a second. I mean,
for people who don't know this story, Mudcrutch
was the precedent band to the Heartbreakers.
That's the band that went out to LA to try to
get a deal. got signed. Denny Cordell, you know,
who ended up sort of producing the first Heartbreakers
album, signed them, but it just wasn't working
out. And he kind of saw Petty Moore as a solo
artist, so Mudcrush disbands, the Heartbreakers
end up forming, the rest, as they say, is history.
But which arena rock star, at the height of their
powers, in their right mind, competes with themselves
and reforms the band before they hit the big
time? I've never heard of anyone doing this.
I've asked lots of people. No one can really...
Point to anyone who did it at this level. Petty
reforms Mud Crutch and just goes out and plays,
you know, small 1 ,200 -seater amphitheaters,
those kinds of things. And it shows that these
guys love music first and foremost. It's not
about the lifestyle. It's not about the money.
It's about getting up with an instrument in front
of a crowd and having that connection with a
bunch of people through song. And I love that
about Tom. I always have done. And, you know,
Mud Crutch 2 is technically, we talked about
Hypnotic Eye being the final Tom Petty album.
Technically, Mud Crutch 2 is the final album
that he put out. And I was debating going with
I Forgive It All. But to go from Cool Dry Place
to I Forgive It All, I felt like it would just
go, I Forgive It All crushes me. It is such a
beautiful song. It puts a tear in my eye every
time I hear it. And I felt like that would have
been like skidding our playlist into a wall musically.
And I wanted to kind of keep the fun upbeat vibe
going right now. So I do want to give a shout
out to I Forgive It All because it's just a beautiful
frigging song. To represent Mud Crutch tonight,
the wrong thing to do. Beautiful. So we've got
a couple of outliers here to start off Side B.
We're going deep on Side B so far, except for
Stop Dragging My Heart Around, which was a massive,
massive hit. Well, I'm keeping us deep. We're
going to the, like I said, the only true solo
album. Well, I should say true. It was still
Tom Petty wrote every song on Highway Companion.
And the only three people on that record are
Tom. Mike Campbell and Jeff Lynn. Tom plays drums
on the album, front to back. So I'm going to
keep us in a fun territory as well, and we're
going to listen to Big Weekend. Nice! So again,
it goes back a little bit to what we've talked
about already, where Petty had that brilliant
knack of writing specifically, but with universality.
So he's got the line, they live in a brick house
painted white and brown. That's the hook for
me in that song because it's got a very specific
visual image and yet he fits it into this thing
that we can all relate to about going back to
maybe our hometown or someplace just to visit
friends and I'm going to hook up with them later,
go and hit the bar. It's just a fun jam. I would
love to play this live. I've got my drum kit
back here. You can see this is one I play all
the time if I'm just sitting around on a Sunday
afternoon doing nothing but jamming. This song
to me... When you think about Highway Companion
as a solo album, Jeff Lynn did three albums with
Tom Petty, Full Moon Fever, Into the Great Wide
Open, and Highway Companion. And I feel like
they're three different statements. Normally,
you would think Jeff Lynn has a sound and a vibe
and a production style, which you do hear on
the Traveling Wilburys albums. You hear it on
the ELO stuff. But for the three times he worked
with Tom, you get three different experiences.
Because I feel like Full Moon Fever is a vibe
in and of itself, as is Into the Great Wide Open,
as is Highway Companion. And if you're lucky
enough to have the leather -bound deluxe edition
of the CD version of Highway Companion, there's
actually a really cool demo version of Big Weekend
that's worth a listen if you haven't heard it.
To me, this song has this campfire Americana
vibe to it. It's something that when the Petty
Country album, I know I've mentioned it a lot
tonight because it's still kind of hot on the
tails this year with two Petty tributes coming
out in the same year. People were saying, oh,
country musicians playing Tom Petty music sounds
wrong. I always wonder how far. past the radio
hits those people got because when you dive into
tom petty's catalog it's always been woven in
the fabric of his music and big weekend to me
is an example of that absolutely it's got it's
got a swing to it it's got a groove i mean you
could this is a country song i mean it's got
tom petty skin and bones on it but it is a country
song i was gonna say that highway companion i
love that sort of talking about the three pack
with jefflin obviously did three with iovine
three with ruben three with lynn except lynn's
was were broken up but this is the least Jeff
Lynne sounding album that I might have ever heard
by anyone ever yeah it has a live -ish feel to
it that Jeff Lynne doesn't tend to go to but
I think it does show that's why he's a genius
because if the album needs this production aesthetic
we'll use that if it needs this production aesthetic
we'll use that and he gets it dead right on Highway
Companion for me yeah he nails it Well, coming
out of that, I feel like now we are on to track
five. I feel like we need to balance the scale
a little bit here. So we're going to go with
another big hit. And being we're talking about
Jeff Lynn and I've got this all up in my system
right now, I'm going to go back to Full Moon
Fever because this was the album that I'll never
forget my father brought it home. And for probably
a month, we listened to this album over and over
and over again. And I'm going to go with a song
that reached number 12 on the Billboard US Hot
100. Number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock
Charts. Number five on the Canada Top Singles
Chart. Number 16 on the Australia Aria Chart.
Number 28 on the UK Singles Chart. And also hit
number 66 in West Germany. Number 49 in New Zealand.
Worldwide hit. One of the anthems. This is the
song that's going to get everybody singing along.
Arm in arm together. Even on the album. The chorus
of Tom. Jeff Lynn, Howie Epstein, and George
Harrison singing the chorus to I Won't Back Down
in harmony. Always puts a smile on my face. Their
voices work so, so well together. You get a little
bit of that Wilburys touch because of Harrison's
voice being in the fold on this song. It just
invites everybody to sing along. That's why they
play it in stadiums. It's the stadium anthem.
But on the flip side to those happier moments,
it's also used in sadder moments and powerful
moments like the weeks after 9 -11 when they
played it at the America A Tribute to Heroes
concert. Again, same song, same lyrics, but it
just takes on a whole new meaning in that type
of situation. So to me, I feel like it's an important
song to include tonight just because of the fact,
like Learning to Fly, it has that just perfect
songwriting. versatility it's i i used the word
a couple times but i can't think of another word
to describe it it is great songwriting i mean
that's what it comes down to and that's again
what i've learned through really digging into
petty's catalog and digging into it critically
too right not just sort of listening as a fan
or listening casually but when you start dissecting
things there's a reason why these songs are as
good as they are it's because there's care and
attention been taken over them they've been labored
over in a way to make sure that they're as good
as they can be but like i said all truly great
songs can be played really pretty much any way
you want. And if you've got the right sort of
set of musicians or you've got the right angle
on it and you can bring something new and unique
to it, I think that's why it works in those types
of situations because it's not exactly the type
of song you would think of in that. I mean, obviously
the sentiment is there, but this is quite a big
song. Like it's got a big, like I said, it's
anthemic. It's the song that the Gators sing
between the third and fourth periods, you know,
and you've got 70, 80 ,000 people singing this
song. So it's about unity and it is about sort
of... you know pushing back against oppression
and those kinds of things so you can see why
it's a natural fit for that kind of situation
for sure but i i would have sworn to god you
were giving us free falling you were talking
about anthemic you were talking about lynn i
was like three fallings coming so hell honestly
if it were up to me i would have also put you're
so bad in that mix because to me that was another
just absolute classic and coming out of big weekend
You're So Bad has that country vibe to it that
really could have worked. But again, with I Won't
Back Down, you get bands like Everclear that
do kind of this 90s alternative punk version
of it. And then you've got Eddie Vedder that
sits down with an acoustic guitar on stage with
Pearl Jam. Versatility, versatility, versatility.
So what are you following up I Won't Back Down
with? Well, I want to rip your heart out a little
bit more, and we're going to go to the album
that was very difficult for Tom. This is when
he was at his lowest point in his life. His divorce
had gone through. He was living out at the chicken
shack on his own. He was isolated. But the songs
we got for the album Echo, I think, are among
some of his strongest. So we've got to go with
the lead track from Echo, Room at the Top. I
mean, even if it's just that one line at the
end, I love you, please love me. that sort of
just beseeching you to, you know, it's devastating.
You know, we all know those people in our lives
who've been at that low moment and all they really
want is acceptance. All they want is that love
and support. And so to hear it come through from
an artist who's singing it from the bottom of
his soul, when you get to that part of that song,
it's tough, man. But I mean, again, that's juxtaposed,
this beautiful lyric against an unexpected, hard,
jagged. electric guitar riff that comes in halfway
through that you don't expect so again that sort
of originality and sort of approach to music
that the heartbreakers had i don't see through
most of the people's songwriting i don't think
anyone else would have done that and made that
choice in this song no and the fact that tom
refused to play the song after the echo tour
shows how hard it was for him i looked it up
on setlist .fm so take this with a grain of salt
you never know how exact it is but according
to setlist .fm the song was only played 39 times
yeah which that's not a lot if you compare it
to any other song in the catalog and i'll I just
mentioned Eddie Vedder doing I Won't Back Down.
Eddie Vedder's version on the Bad Monkey soundtrack
that came out in 2024 is truly one of the highlights
of that album because Eddie is able to bring
that pain and that suffering out in his version.
It's gut -wrenching and very emotional. And following
that up, here's where I'm going to go deep, deep,
deep, deep, deep, because I went with I Won't
Back Down. This is as deep as I'm going to go.
I don't think you could get much deeper than
this cut because this version, the studio version,
because you mentioned Room at the Top, actually
appears only on the German import CD single of
Room at the Top. And a live version appears on
2011's Kiss My Amps album. I'm going to go with
Sweet William. To me, it's easily Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers' most bluesy song. And yes,
I'm comparing that to Mojo. I understand that
Mojo leans very heavy on the blues. And I know
there were people that were quote unquote surprised
at the blues direction of Mojo. Anytime I hear
someone say that, I immediately point at this
song because this song is almost a decade earlier.
And I said, I'm sorry. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
dabbled in the blues long before Mojo. How Sweet
William didn't appear on Mojo actually surprises
me because I feel like it would have fit perfectly
on the album. But we talked about how Ben Montench
got his moment in the sun with Melinda on Side
A. And you talked about the guitar solo at the
end of Running Down a Dream from Mike Campbell.
To me, Sweet William is Mike Campbell's... opus
he absolutely steals the show with the blistering
guitar solos and after the band just goes and
then he just hits that guitar solo as if he's
angus young who was just set on fire and it just
shows a side to this band that they could rock
like no other and i adore this song and again
i don't think it would have fit on echo it really
wouldn't have no but i do think it would have
fit on mojo and i'm shocked they didn't revisit
it in some facets so my deep deep deep pick of
the night sweet william you wonder about that
too right because the heartbreakers didn't do
that very often taking an old song and trying
you know they did it surrender they tried three
different times they recorded that a bunch of
times because they knew there was a good song
that they just couldn't get it but usually it
was okay well we tried that then it doesn't fit
there and we talked about melinda didn't fit
anywhere and black leather woman didn't fit anywhere
i think this is another one of those songs it's
like okay it definitely doesn't fit on echo we'll
put it on the b -side because that'll be cool
But do you then recycle it, or do you try and
rearrange it? I think there's a signpost toward
Mojo. You're absolutely right. And of course,
anyone who went to any of those Fillmore shows,
and obviously we have the box set now, if you
want more signposts, if you think the Heartbreakers
can't do blues, you're not paying attention.
These guys were born in the blues. Deep in the
blues, right? That's who they listen to. You
got a deep cut to come out of now, so you can
go any direction with this. Well, I always feel
like this isn't a deep cut because it's... For
my money, and I'll ask you the question, I think
one of the greatest things Tom ever wrote, but
it wasn't released as a single, and it sits at
track 14 on Wildflowers, so a lot of people might
miss this one crawling back to you. I don't think
any Tom Petty mixtape playlist, whatever conversation
we're talking about, this has to be on there.
It's one of the greatest things he ever wrote,
and of course it's got that line in it, most
things I worry about never happen anyway. It's
just incredible. You just saying the line made
the hair on my arm stand up the penultimate track.
I mean, Wildflowers is my favorite Tom Petty
album. I know that might sound cliche, but it
is an absolute masterpiece. As somebody who struggled
with anxiety over the years talking about myself
here, the line, I'm so tired of being tired.
Sure as night will follow day. And then like
you said. Most things I worry about never happen
anyway. That hits home for me. And I'm not even
100 % sure that he's even singing about anxiety
there. But as far as I'm concerned, when I first
heard that song in 1994 and I was in high school
listening to it, he was singing to me about what
I was feeling. He reached me with this song.
And it's a beautiful moment on the album. And
it's lyrical perfection as far as I'm concerned.
So I love it. I mean, on an album, though, too,
and I talked about this lots when I did the Wildflowers
season. You talk about eclecticism. Wildflowers
is wildly different. I mean, it's got peaks and
troughs, and there's lots of different angles.
There's lots of different types of songs. And
it's good to be king. It sits in a similar tonal
vein as this one. But Crawling Back to You, musically,
again, is just perfection. And it's funny, when
I started digging into this song, I always thought
that that little bit of noise at the beginning,
I thought that was the orchestra pit warming
up. but it's not. It's Ben Montench on that Mellotron.
It's those little, but it's got that kind of
reed patch on the Mellotron. So when I learned
that, just as that little bit of special source
again, like Wildflowers is a work of genius.
It's my favorite album too. And I think it's
one of the best albums ever recorded. Definitely
my favorite sounding record of all time. And
very different to Jeff Lynne, who had done the
album before Into the Great Wide Open. Jeff Lynne
can't make Wildflowers. You don't get Wildflowers
if it's still Jeff Lynne. And this song has so
much emotional impact. And yet at the same time,
The first two verses, we're talking about the
chambermaid and the Indian, and we've got this
sidekick. So it kind of takes us all over the
map in one song. But we get, again, the coup
de grace at the end of the song. I'm so tired.
Sure as night will follow day, most things I
will. All that kind of imagery, it just wraps
everything up in a nice little bow. And then,
of course, the album finishes with Wake Up Time.
So it was a one -two punch to finish an album.
Peerless. I mean, thank God they didn't, as much
as I love the song, thank God they didn't close
it with Girl on LSD. Let's just go with that.
That would have been a move. I love that from
the single of You Don't Know How It Feels. Believe
it or not, I was actually shocked that the version
on the cassette single to You Don't Know How
It Feels and the CD single wasn't on the All
The Rest box set. I actually had to go back to
my CD single. And that was, to me, that was shocking.
I don't know why they put an alternate. version
but not the version from the cd single i'm going
really deep and nerdy here on that i apologize
but again favorite album that happens okay we
each have one song left here we've gone deep
we've gone into outside bands we've gone into
other things i did a whole episode about this
so i'll keep this brief but 1979's damn the torpedoes
we haven't even touched on it yet refugee Number
15 on the Billboard U .S. Hot 100. Number two
on the Canada's Top Singles Chart. Number 24
in Australia. 23 in Belgium. And number three
in New Zealand. Tell me why you want to lay there
and revel in your abandon. This is the song that
introduced me to Tom Petty. Well, if you listen
to that. cover song dive episode it's actually
the alvin and the chipmunks version from chipmunk
punk but my father said oh you you like this
song brian maybe you'll like this version of
it and that's when my love for tom petty was
born so i would be remiss not to mention if you're
enjoying this tom petty episode go check out
the cover song dive episode because i go into
seven different unique versions of refugee and
yes spoiler alert one of them is alvin and the
chipmunks because I gotta, because it's the song
that got me and introduced me to Tom Petty. Like
the traveling Wilburys introduced you to Tom
Petty. How the hell did Tom Petty not introduce
either one of us to Tom Petty? That's what I
want to know. I love too, though, you shout out
in that episode that, you know, don't forget
about Simon and Theodore because they are Mike
and Ben Mont in this equation. If Alvin is Tom,
it's Alvin and the chipmunks. It's one thing.
Yeah, I mean, if. It's the song that really kicked
them into that next level, right? I mean, they
come off the back of some great American Girl
and Breakdown and Listen to Her Heart and I Need
to Know, come off those first two records. But
this one, when IO Bean comes in and really cleans
up the studio sound and makes them sound professional
and really gets them hitting hard. Refugee, and
of course, obviously, it tortured Stan Lynch,
the drummer, to death because they did 57 takes
or something on this song. But I think at the
end of the day, you've got to look back and say
it was worth it, surely, because what they ended
up with... is again a perfect take and i think
it was more or less live off the floor with some
vocal harmony overdose but i think for the most
part that was the band playing that song live
and you could feel it in that recording there's
so much energy so much emotion this is an end
of the night song to get people rallied up and
going so i felt like it's a perfect spot it Because
it's a song that introduced me and it's my last
pick of the night, I'm kind of leaving you to
either close us on a Grand Slam hit song or you
might throw a curveball and take us real deep.
Who the hell knows? What are you going to close
with tonight? Well, I almost went with a cover
version. I was really close to going with stories
we could tell. Oh! From Pack Up the Plantation
because that's got that sort of good night, let's
all go home. You know, I'd get Tom and Stan to
sit at the edge of the stage and just sing it
on acoustic. But again, we're talking about Refugee.
We talked about I Won't Back Down. Some of those
songs that have to be on a Tom Petty mixtape.
And I'm going to close with this last song Tom
Petty ever played live. American Girl. It's got
to be on there, man. You've got to close out
with this. And I think that that ending. When
you get the big rock ending and the big ba -dum.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Good night.
Lights go out. Tom and the band walk off stage.
You know, and then think about this. It's track
10 on their debut album. I honestly think that
if they led the album with this song, if you
go American Girl Breakdown, I don't think this
sits at the bottom of a closet. In MCA Studios,
gathering dust with the label two weeks away
from dumping the band. I don't think that happens.
To bury this song at track 10 on an album is
madness to me. It's incredible. I'd love to know
the story about why that happened. The original
release only charted in the UK. Hit number 40
on the UK singles chart. But the 1994 reissue
of the song, which coincided with that Greatest
Hits album, reached number nine on the Billboard
US Bubbling Under Hot 100s chart. Regardless
of such. It is the anthem. It's the final song
he ever played live, like you said. I know I've
mentioned Petty Country a lot tonight. Dierks
Bentley's version that appeared on the Petty
Country album also charted, hitting number 49
on the Billboard U .S. Hot Country Songs chart,
number 23 on the Billboard U .S. Country Airplay
chart, and number 38 on the Billboard Canada
Country chart. And while I'm talking about cover
songs, I mentioned Everclear's cover of I Won't
Back Down. But Everclear also covered American
Girl back in the 90s. And on episode 29, Art
Alexakis from Everclear joined me for an interview.
And I specifically asked him about both of those
songs and his love for Tom Petty. So if you want
to hear where Art Alexakis from Everclear feels
about Tom Petty, I definitely recommend checking
that episode out. But what a way to close Side
B of the ultimate. Tom Petty mixtape. Side B
consists of Stop Dragging My Heart Around from
Stevie Nicks' Bella Donna. Cool Dry Place from
Traveling Wilburys Volume 3. We didn't even mention
that there never was a Volume 2, but I digress.
The Wrong Thing to Do from Mud Crutch. Big Weekend
from Highway Companion. I Won't Back Down from
Full Moon Fever. Room at the Top from Echo. Sweet
William from the Room at the Top import single
or the live version from Kiss My Amps. Crawling
Back to You from Wildflowers. Refugee from Damn
the Torpedoes, and American Girl from Tom Petty
and the Heartbreakers. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we've discussed in
this mix through the playlist embedded on the
episode page. Well, Kevin, there is no doubt
among my mind or anybody listening that I couldn't
have picked a more perfect guest for this Tom
Petty episode. However... you have the Tom Petty
project that you put out your podcast. Obviously
people are not questioning your love for him
after the end of this episode, but why don't
you tell people where they can find the show
more about what you do over at the Tom Petty
project and where they could listen. Yeah. So,
so the weekly podcast that digs into the entire
Tom Petty catalog, song by song, album by album
in order. And then I also have conversations
with musicians, fans, and then different people
connected with Tom along the way. So John Scott,
the guy who, At MCA, found that vinyl record
in the bottom of a locker and said, hey, we should
be promoting this. This is good. Had him on.
He was one of my first guests. Paul Zolo, who
wrote the book, Conversation with Tom Petty.
So I spoke to some of those guys, plus musicians
like Jeff Slate, New York musician who does a
lot of collaborations with Earl Slick. David
Bowie and John Lennon's all guitarists. Jake
Thistle, who's a new up -and -coming artist who's
keeping the tradition of John Hyatt, Tom Petty,
Jackson Browne alive. And then a new artist that
I started in my Artist Conversation series, Amelia
McLean, who's going to be putting out her album
within the next two or three months. And I think
that she could be a big, big hitter in world
music for a long, long time. So I've got, yeah,
190 -some episodes. I started out with Rockin'
Around With You. It was on the August 18th, 2021.
It's been going for just over three years. I'm
having a great time. And you can come find me
on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and YouTube
at The Tom Petty Project or on Twitter at Tom
Petty Project. I'd love to have you along for
the ride. Well, Kevin, I think it's safe to say
that you and I just scratched the surface of
Tom's musical legacy here. So I hope that you
would consider coming back for a volume two episode
sometime down the road, because tonight has been
an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for joining
me on my weekly mixtape. Anytime. And thanks
for having me. And like I said to you before
we started recording, you've got to come over
and be on the Tom Petty Project, because I think
we've got a good two, three hours we could we
could chat about Tom for easily. Oh my God. Yeah.
Just mark it down. I'm in. I can't wait. Just
let me know when. And to those listening, remember,
you can find My Weekly Mixtape on almost all
the social media haunts at My Weekly Mixtape.
You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape .com to
check out the full catalog of My Weekly Mixtape
episodes. And if you like what you're hearing
on the show, you can help me out by either telling
a friend, leaving the show a five -star review
wherever you're tuning in, or becoming a Patreon
mixtaper at Patreon .com forward slash My Weekly
Mixtape. There you can enjoy ad -free episodes
of the show, gain early. access to upcoming episodes,
chime in on future topics, become a guest curator
and so much more. That's all for this week. Thanks
again for listening. And until next time, enjoy
the tunes.