POLLIN' Me: Tom Petty's "Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)"

By far my favorite Petty album b/w DTP and Full Moon Fever. The album tracks are surprising and solid, and the self-production muddy and endearing (the synthetic sheen on "All Mixed Up" and "Runaway Trains" as DIY quality that Petty had only approximated).

*have a DIY quality

woah didn't know dylan co wrote jammin' me

Petty's never explained why "Jammin' "Me" never showed up on the first Greatest Hits.

yeah i love that song, such a funny litany of 80s media overload. seems almost quaint now! Joe Piscopo!

For this notorious crank, "Jammin' Me" is actually fun!

Weird that Dylan gets a co-author credit on this album, but not on the song that's Petty's most Dylanesque turn ever, "It'll All Work Out" (which I'm voting for).

runawaytrains4vr

yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qKDOSHd35I

was this actually a single? i remember it getting some rock-radio airplay.

Ain't Love Strange, narrowly over the title cut.

I love this record.

songs that probably won't get any votes but are fine nonetheless: "my life/your world," "think about me," "all mixed up," "ain't love strange," title track.

xp or maybe i'm wrong. yeah, "ain't love strange" is good.

also i can't think of another "X and the Ys" bandleader who's ever released such a democratic album jacket.

how many other X and the Y's bands have always been X and the Y's? all the ones that i can think of off the top of my head started out as a solo guy named X. the Y's came later. whereas in this case, it was tom petty and the heartbreakers from day one. there was never a solo guy named tom petty, was there? (that came later!)

(and, yes, that's a very democratic album jacket.)

(though the heartbreakers have gone through some lineup changes)

Buddy Holly & The Crickets came before Buddy Holly, right? That goes way, way back.

Yes, "Runaway Trains" and "All Mixed Up" were the other singles.

was this actually a single? i remember it getting some rock-radio airplay.

― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Monday, January 25, 2010

I remember hearing it for the first time right around when the record came out. i was in a car, at night, in south florida, and it seemed to sound like nothing else on the radio then, and it pretty much stopped me dead in my tracks, and I remember being pretty let down that the entire record wasn't more of the same.

Mike Campbell wrote and arranged most of the music, and you can tell; it's got a "Boys of Summer" vibe.

never made the connection but otm i think. apparently i'm a sucker for spare, melancholy verses with a big chorus and sweet fills.

rogermexico, I may have asked you once, but you lived in South Florida? how long?

petty rejected the Boys of Summer demo Campbell did -- maybe Runaway Trains was Tom's way of saying "you were right" to mike.

xpost never... just made the annual pilgrimage down to see the grandfolks in West Palm. iirc the car was a white olds 98! i was just in Miami in September, too, but only for a night. wow has it changed in the past, oh, 15 years.

btw i think owning half of "Boys of Summer" is probably enough of a "you were right" ;-)

haha, yeah, i'm sure that is true ...

btw campbell fans should not sleep on that first patty scialfa record

oh yeah you told me that once and i never followed up. i should.

"My Life/Your World" appears on the new live album!

That song has one of the stranger last lines.... "they said an airplane had fallen on my block."

iirc there's a photo of that on the inner sleeve or back cover.

Yup.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I am shocked, shocked at the disgraceful turnout for this poll!!!!!!!!!

i voted! i voted "jamming me" ... on a somewhat related note, I was listening to Smog earlier today and thought I'd like to hear Bill Callahan cover "Free Fallin'"

MAKE IT HAPPEN

I'd like to hear Joanna Newsom cover Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)

One vote for "Ain't Love Strange"!

One vote for "Ain't Love Strange"!

boy, talk about lonely...

That's a great song. TP has a habit of burying killer tunes in the middle of side 2, ie Straight Into Darkness, A Thing About You, Dogs On the Run, Ain't Love Strange and many more. I think I have a new topic for my dissertation!

This record is still great.

tempted to poll the first album. the "american girl" landslide is a given, but "breakdown" would get some votes. and there are really a lot of good tracks on it. i'm deeply partial to "the wild one (forever)."

Let's poll how great "Runaway Trains," the title track, and "The Damage You've Done" are.