My Middle Name Is Earl - The Official ILM Track-By-Track TOM PETTY Listening Thread

favorite TP moment in this song:

“Watch ‘er walk”

something about the casual drawl, idk

Distant xpost, but the shaker in "Refugee" is by Jim Keltner. Maybe that was in the classic album doc? Supposedly he was in the same studio and heard the song when he was walking by and basically just said "that song needs a shaker."

I once heard Amy Ray's punkish solo band do a cover, and it ruled.

Even The Losers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ue4_MWwKY8

alternate thread title: "It's just the normal noises in here."

i don't have enough words to describe how much i like this song. stupendous! monumental! lots of good things! its kinda perfect. sheesh.

i really like this one. it's almost a groove song. same syncopated pulse beat as the byrds' "mr. tambourine man" but amped up for the rock generation. it's like they kept the pulse from "mr. tambourine man" but dispensed with the riff, and the resolving chords, which is almost minimalist in its maximalism. there's nothing much musically to distinguish the chorus from the verse but that's ok; he's got a strong lyrical hook to tag it.

my favorite Tom Petty song

I always associate it with Deacon Blues, we all want a name when we lose, and to get lucky sometimes

Iirc this is the one where the title/chorus just came to him while he was riffing on lyrics during a take.

my favorite Tom Petty song

Me too! Or at least it was my #1 when we did the Petty poll. Lyrically and musically I think it’s kind of the ur Petty song, the title could cover his entire discography.

And structurally it’s so minimalist — the only two verses come right up front, then it’s just chorus-bridge-chorus-to-coda.

ur-Petty is a good call, this is definitely the purest distillation of all the things Tom Petty does best

two cars parked on the overpass
rocks hit the water like broken glass

someone with better ears than me can correct me, but it's remarkable how many of his hits hinge on bright chords. not a lot of moody minor key brooding in that guy.

"refugee" is a counterexample, but in general i agree.

yes omg maybe my fave TP song

WE SMOKED CIGARETTES AND WE STARED AT THE MOON

<3

and that intro audio is the best lol - shoutout to Marcie Campbell

i love that petty's losers still get lucky sometimes and generally don't seem all that bummed out. how could they with such a great tune just for them.

two cars parked on the overpass
rocks hit the water like broken glass

I love this couplet so much. And the way it sets up "God it's such a drag when you live in the past."

yes, my fave moment in his whole catalog, glad others feel the same

another benmont tench special here. the organ sound he and iovine achieved on damn the torpedoes is as good as any organ has ever sounded.

brilliant song, obviously.

someone with better ears than me can correct me, but it's remarkable how many of his hits hinge on bright chords. not a lot of moody minor key brooding in that guy.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, March 28, 2024 8:45 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is true, but he does have a way of making a major chord sound wistful. like on this song–that little lydian melody he uses when it goes to the major iv on "keep a little bit of pride"

Iovine was totally in Springsteen mode at this point, having just worked on Darkness, Patti Smith's Easter, and about to do The River and Making Movies.

Also in re "bright chords," the bridge is a lovely use of a suspended A chord, introduces a little tension and longing without going full-on minor key. *chef's kiss*

And I had no idea this wasn't a single, I heard it on the radio a lot. And it's even on the Greatest Hits. Guess it was just a rock-radio fave.

also noting that he learned his lesson on sequencing an album from You're Gonna Get It, this time they come roaring out of the gate with three total undeniable classics

the ur Petty song

yes! the platonic ideal of petty songform: big, open folk-rock verse-chorus-verse with dreamlike imagery and little melodic twists like, in this exact case, the turn the choruses take on "keep a little bit of pride," which if you asked me how tom petty's sense of melody works, i'd just play those two bars and say it works exactly like that. it looks so simple and straightahead on paper and it's ridiculously hard to pull off in a way that's interesting and resonant and he basically makes its sound so damn simple and straightahead. i dream in english. i think petty dreamt in this exact songform.

and speaking of springsteen mode, this one reminds me of the river, the album not the song, in the way it distills what he wants to say, and how we wants to say it, down to its very essence.

also: third song in a row that fades out. i wouldn't mind if the heartbreakers started figuring out how to end a song.

I keep coming back to that...I've mentioned The River a few times on this thread, and I guess I think of Springsteen as the bigger/more important artist and think of Petty being influenced by Springsteen (like The Wild One, Forever as an example)...but I never thought of the fact that maybe Springsteen was influenced by Petty? Just the economy of what Petty did, the more streamlined much less Wagnerian/Wall of Sound aesthetic, the tenser, tighter version that Petty does really seems to point the way towards Bruce's River/Born in the USA era

also noting that he learned his lesson on sequencing an album from You're Gonna Get It, this time they come roaring out of the gate with three total undeniable classics

This is a perfectly sequenced album. Five rockers on the first side, and then the second side kicks off with "Don't Do Me Like That" which leads into the jamming "You Tell Me," one more rocker ("What Are You Doin' In My Life?") and then the country comedown ("Louisiana Rain") to wrap it all up in under 37 minutes. There's not one bad song on it. It's incredible.

the economy of what Petty did, the more streamlined much less Wagnerian/Wall of Sound aesthetic, the tenser, tighter version that Petty does really seems to point the way towards Bruce's River/Born in the USA era

and maybe even the guitar sound, especially on the river?

i wouldn't mind if the heartbreakers started figuring out how to end a song.

there's this pretty amazing "extended" version of "Here Comes My Girl" w/ a killer outro. I see why they faded it, but it is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3NTVKFdV-I

I don't think Bruce took much influence from Petty, tbh, but there is some overlap of influences, of course. Bruce was once famously described at the '50s plus the '60s, but you don't get much British Invasion in Springsteen. Petty is kinda the '60s plus the '70s, with a heavy emphasis on the Beatles and Byrds and Stones and stuff, plus southern rock.

xp !!!!

"Here Comes My Girl" w/ a killer outro

wow!

and maybe even the guitar sound, especially on the river?

― fact checking cuz,

otm

there is that 50s-influenced 60s stuff that they loved. del shannon, bobby fuller, surf rock stuff. pre-beatles kinda sounds. rockabilly. everly brothers.

x-post

Yeah, Petty produced a Del Shannon record in 1981 while Springsteen and Van Zandt produced Gary U.S. Bonds.

Though Bruce's economy and lean sound of that era was kind of influenced by punk and New Wave, too, without sounding like either. Petty kinda was, too.

yes, absolutely.

was just listening to a fan's bootleg video of a toronto show in 1995 and it is just ridiculously crowd-pleasing. one hit after another. they really got their money's worth. even the crappy audio doesn't take away from how awesome they sounded. i like what they did to "mary jane's last dance". extending it. making it a huge jam. they would have been a jam band worth following if they had gone that route.

the sound disintegrates toward the end but its worth watching for just the first 30 minutes of goodness. maybe they need a dick's picks series. i don't know how often they messed with their songs though. they were entertainers first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f2UdhTiYlg

and billy joel in the 80s. all three of them rolled with the 80s tide. stayed relevant.

x-post

i saw him once when he brought out del shannon to do "runaway"! santa monica civic center, dec '78. i never think of that one when i think of tom petty shows i've seen, because i was visiting a friend so not on my usual turf.

(though you could also argue that petty was part of the very new wave that was influencing bruce.) xp

mary jane is at 32:03 on that vid.

That 1995 show is from the same tour when he/they played the best show I ever saw them do. They were on fire all the way through, the crowd was wild, just super high energy and great. Wildflowers was a real peak Petty time, because on the one hand he was touring on one of his all-time most popular albums, but also he had 20 years of hits and built-up fanbase to work with.

"Even The Losers": Has there ever been a explanation for those between the tracks studio noise bits on this album? Anyway, fantastic guitar break, fine lyrical details, we've all been here. Yeah, Petty at his most Springsteen-esque. One of those songs that gets better as you get older.

It's a love song/It's a friendship song.

the little yelp/hiccup he makes right before "it couldn't've been that easy to forget about me" just kills me every time

Shadow Of A Doubt (A Complex Kid)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91YE_BkUmj8

bruce springsteen never would have thought of that singing in french in her sleep part.

hard to believe there hasn't been a jukebox musical. but maybe tom was smart enough to include in his will: no jukebox musicals!