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Tom Petty: "This was a reaction to the pressures of the music business. I wound up in a huge row with the record company when ABC Records tried to sell our contract to MCA Records without us knowing about it, despite a clause in our contract that said they didn't have the right to do that. I was so angry with the whole system that I think that had a lot to do with the tone of the Damn the Torpedoes album. I was in this defiant mood. I wasn't so conscious of it then, but I can look back and see what was happening. I find that's true a lot. It takes some time usually before you fully understand what's going on in a song - or maybe what led up to it."

Mike Campbell: "That was a hard record to make. It was a 4-track that I made at my house. Tom wrote over the music as it was, no changes, but it took us forever to actually cut the track. We just had a hard time getting the feel right. We must have recorded that 100 times. I remember being so frustrated with it one day that - I think this is the only time I ever did this - I just left the studio and went out of town for two days. I just couldn't take the pressure anymore, but then I came back and when we regrouped we were actually able to get it down on tape." (2003:Songfacts)
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(Tom Petty, Mike Campbell)

Tom Petty - lead vocal, guitar
Mike Campbell - lead guitar, accordion, bass guitar
Benmont Tench - organ, piano, background vocal
Stan Lynch - drums, background vocal
Ron Blair - bass guitar
Jim Keltner - shaker

Produced: Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty
Engineered: Shelly Yakus
Recorded at: Sound City, Van Nuys, California, USA
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Before recording Full Moon Fever, an arsonist burned down Tom Petty's house while he was in it with his family and their housekeeper. They escaped and spent much of the next few months driving between hotel rooms and a rented house, but Petty was badly shaken.

It was on these drives that he came up with many of the songs for the album, and the fire was a huge influence, especially on this song. Petty felt grateful to be alive, but also traumatized - understandable since someone had tried to kill him.

"I Won't Back Down" was his way of reclaiming his life and getting past the torment - he said that writing and recording the song had a calming effect on him. The arsonist was never caught, which made Petty's plight even more challenging. (Songfacts)
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Tom Petty: "That song frightened me when I wrote it. I didn't embrace it when I wrote it. I thought it was too much like me. It's so obvious. God, there's not a hint of metaphor in this thing. It's just blatantly straightforward. Everyone else around liked it. And I said, "God, there's nothing to hide behind." Now I see that it was a good thing, because it meant so much to so many people. I get so many letters about it. I was so moved when a pro-choice doctor down in Pensacola, Florida, used this song. And they shot him. And then Eddie Vedder called me one day. I guess Pearl Jam were down in Pensacola and going to do that song. They had the doctor's son on the phone and we talked for awhile. Pearl Jam did it. They opened up with it that night, and they had the same response I do -- with everyone singing it. That was great. That's how I got my idea to do it the way I do it in the show. Because Eddie did it himself with just a guitar and let the room sing the song. So it was beautiful. But when I first did it, it frightened me. " (1999:AllMusic)

Tom Petty: "At the session George Harrison sang and played the guitar. I had a terrible cold that day, and George went to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses, and then I ran in and did the take." (Mojo)

Mike Campbell: "'I remember that being written in the studio. Tom and Jeff had started it, but they didn't have all the words. We were mixing Freefallin' which we had just done, and they went into the next room and finished it on piano. Things were moving fast around that time.' " (1995:Playback liner notes)
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(Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne)

Tom Petty – lead/backing vocals, acoustic guitar
Mike Campbell – lead and slide guitar
George Harrison – acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Jeff Lynne – bass guitar, backing vocals
Phil Jones – drums, percussion
Howie Epstein – backing vocals

Produced: Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Engineered: Mike Campbell, Don Smith, Bill Bottrell
Recorded at: Sunset Sound Studio, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1988
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Tom Petty: "I wrote that in a little apartment I had in Encino. It was right next to the freeway and the cars sometimes sounded like waves from the ocean, which is why there's the line about the waves crashing on the beach. The words just came tumbling out very quickly - and it was the start of writing about people who are longing for something else in life, something better than they have.

A lot of people think the girl in the song commits suicide, but it's not about suicide. It has also been interpreted as a statement about the country. I was watching the 9/11 concert in New York and the Goo Goo Dolls played 'American Girl'. I could see the crowd cheering in this really patriotic context. But it was just a story when I wrote it. In my mind, the girl was looking for the strength to move on - and she found it. It's one of my favorites, and we'll probably play it Monday. (at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction)

This record is dedicated to everyone who loves music just a little bit more than money." (2002:Los Angeles Times)
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(Tom Petty)

Tom Petty – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mike Campbell – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
Ron Blair – bass guitar
Stan Lynch – drums
Benmont Tench – piano, Hammond organ
Phil Seymour – backing vocals

Produced: Denny Cordell
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Shelter Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, July 4, 1976
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It was a nod to Petty's musical roots, with the lyric "me and Del were singin' 'Little Runaway'" making reference to Del Shannon and "Runaway". (Wikipedia)
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(Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Mike Campbell)

Tom Petty – lead/backing vocals, 6/12 string acoustic, electric guitars, keyboards, tambourine
Mike Campbell – lead guitar, bass, mandolin, slide guitar, dobro, keyboards
Jeff Lynne – bass, guitar, guitar synthesizer, piano, keyboards, backing vocals
Phil Jones – drums, percussion

Produced: Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Engineered: Mike Campbell, Don Smith, Bill Bottrell
Recorded at: Sunset Sound Studio, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1988
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On the True Confessions tour between Tom Petty and Bob Dylan (who both later became members of the Traveling Wilburys), they collaborated on this track which became the opening track on the album. The song is about a man "overwhelmed by the volume of disconnected "news" generated in the disinformation age" containing a "laundry list" of 1980s celebrities such as Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and Vanessa Redgrave, and the apple in young Steve's eye obviously referring to Steve Jobs at Apple, among others. It follows in line with an ongoing theme throughout the album of people "who are reeling from media assaults and shattered relationships", but have a strong desire to survive in order to make sense of the world. Some of the lyrics came from Dylan and Petty picking words out of a newspaper and off the television. (Wikipedia)
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(Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Mike Campbell)

Tom Petty - lead & backing vocals
Mike Campbell - lead & rhythm guitars, bass guitar, percussion
Benmont Tench - piano, organ
Stan Lynch - drums, percussion

Produced: Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Sound City and M.C. Studios, LA

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Tom Petty: “Jeff Lynne and I were sitting around with the idea of writing a song and I was playing the keyboard and I just happened to hit on that main riff, the intro of the song, and I think Jeff said something like, ‘That’s a really good riff but there’s one chord too many,’ so I think I cut it back a chord and then, really just to amuse Jeff, honestly, I just sang that first verse. Then he starts laughing. Honestly, I thought I was just amusing Jeff but then I got to the chorus of the song and he leaned over to me and said the word, ‘freefalling.’ And I went to sing that and he said, ‘No, take your voice up and see how that feels.’ So I took my voice up an octave or two, but I couldn’t get the whole word in. So I sang ‘freeee,’ then ‘free falling.’ And we both knew at that moment that I’d hit on something pretty good. It was that fast. He had to go somewhere, and I wrote the last verse and kind of just polished the rest of the song and when I saw him the next day I played him the song and he was like, ‘Wow, you did that last night?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he said. ‘We’ve got to go cut this,’ and we just took off to Mike Campbell’s studio where we knew we could get in and get it done that day. So we went in and made the record that day.

I don’t know the girl in ‘Free Fallin’ is. I was having to make this drive every day. The studio was in the valley and I was driving from Beverly Hills to the valley and back every day and on that drive I just used to look at Ventura Boulevard, and just life’s great pageant was going in up and down that street. And I tried to grab a little bit of these characters on the road and it was kind of how I saw it. With 'Free Fallin'' I was very lucky because it came very quickly and we recorded that song in a day.” (2016: Billboard)

Jeff Lynne: "I met Tom in England and then I saw him again at some streetlight in Los Angeles. He said, "Jeff, pull over." I did and he said, "I just listened to George's album. What about coming over and writing some tunes together?" I said, "I'd love to." Probably the second song we wrote was "Free Fallin'." I got the chords to it and we both fleshed out the chorus. It was like "Evil Woman" in that we got a repetitive chord sequence and then the melody turns into a chorus. Everyone who heard it knew it was a hit, and the next song we did was "I Won't Back Down."" (2016:Rolling Stone)
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(Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne)

Tom Petty – lead vocals, guitar
Mike Campbell – guitar
Jeff Lynne – bass, backing vocals
Phil Jones – drums

Produced: Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Engineered: Mike Campbell, Don Smith, Bill Bottrell
Recorded at: Sunset Sound Studio, Los Angeles, California, USA
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Mike Campbell: "'Here Comes My Girl' was interesting because we had the chorus and Tom wasn't sure how to do the verse, he kept trying to sing it different ways and he finally came across sort of half-talking it, and that's when the song seemed to come to life." (2003:Songfacts)
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Petty remembers Campbell's chords and tune on a cassette tape, and struggling with the lyrics. Bassist Ron Blair told Petty that what he had was a "really good piece of music." Petty learned to use narration in the verses, similar to Blondie or The Shangri-Las. Petty said the chorus was inspired by The Byrds. (Wikipedia)
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(Tom Petty, Mike Campbell)

Tom Petty — lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mike Campbell — lead guitar, bass guitar
Stan Lynch — drums, backing vocals
Benmont Tench — piano, organ

Produced: Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty
Engineered: Shelly Yakus
Recorded at: Sound City, Van Nuys, California, USA
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Tom Petty: "That was a song that took a long time to write. Roger McGuinn swears he told me the line - about the waiting being the hardest part - but I think I got the idea from something Janis Joplin said on television. I had the chorus very quickly, but I had a very difficult time piecing together the rest of the song. It's about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true. I've always felt it was an optimistic song."
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(Tom Petty)

Tom Petty - rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Mike Campbell - lead guitar, bass guitar
Stan Lynch - drums, backing vocals
Phil Jones - percussion
Benmont Tench - keyboards, backing vocals

Produced: Tom Petty, Jimmy Iovine
Engineered:
Recorded at: (album:Sound City, Van Nuys, Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA and Goodnight, LA), early 1981
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Tom Petty: "That was inspired by the Gulf War. I remember that line about the rocks melting and the sea burning being directly inspired by seeing this whole thing on TV. I think that was the jumping off point. It became something a little more substantial than that but that is how it started." (2014:Performing Songwriter)
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Tom got the idea for this when he saw a pilot being interviewed on TV. The pilot said how it wasn't hard learning to fly... the hardest part was coming down. (Songfacts)
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(Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne)

Tom Petty - acoustic guitar, vocals
Jeff Lynne - guitar, synthesizer, electric piano, bass, backing vocals
Mike Campbell - acoustic guitar, lead guitar, slide guitar
Stan Lynch - drums, percussion
Howie Epstein - backing vocals

Produced: Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: (Album: Rumbo Recorders, Studio C, Canoga Park, California and M.C. Studios)
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Tom Petty: "That came from a riff that Mike had. It was almost a throwaway. Almost just tossed off. And the next thing we know, it’s the single." (2014:Performing Songwriter)

Mike Campbell: "'You Got Lucky' was written to a drum loop. I had made a drum loop in my studio and put the music together. We went into the studio and actually recreated another drum loop. The drummer would go out and play, then we'd cut the tape and tape the loop together. We ran it around the room over some mic stands and through the tape heads, and then printed that for 3 or 4 minutes and then recorded the song over that drum loop." (2003:Songfacts)
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(Tom Petty, Mike Campbell)

Tom Petty – lead vocals
Mike Campbell – rhythm/lead guitars
Howie Epstein – bass guitar, backing vocals
Stan Lynch – drums
Phil Jones – percussion
Benmont Tench – acoustic piano, synthesizer

Produced: Tom Petty, Jimmy Iovine
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: (Album: Record Plant, Wally Heider's and Crystal, Hollywood, CA; Rumbo Studios, Canoga Park, CA)

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The original inspiration was a romantic encounter that producer David A. Stewart of Eurythmics had with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. On The Howard Stern Show, Stewart explained that the title's phrase was actually uttered by Nicks. She had broken up with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh the night before, and invited Stewart to her place for a party after an early Eurythmics show in Los Angeles. Stewart did not know who she was at the time, but went anyway. When the partygoers all disappeared to a bathroom for a couple of hours to snort cocaine, he decided to go upstairs to bed. He woke up at 5am to find Nicks in his room trying on Victorian clothing and described the entire scenario as very much reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. Later that morning, she told Walsh, "Don't come around here no more." (Wikipedia)
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David A. Stewart: "I really liked Stevie and she seemed vulnerable and fragile when I was leaving that morning. I was thinking about that and the situation she was in and I started singing, 'Don't come around her no more.'"

Tom Petty: "I was always very partial to that one. Odd song. That was an idea that Dave Stewart had, this tom-tom thing going. I think it was my idea to take it double-time when it got out a little ways. We really went nuts. We worked on that record for a long time. We wrote it very quickly. We were doing stuff like grabbing the tape and pulling it off the reel. There’s one part, if you listen where the piano does this rrrvvvvv thing. And we did that by literally grabbing the tape and yanking if off the reel." (2014:Performing Songwriter)
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(Tom Petty, David A. Stewart)

Tom Petty - lead vocals, piano
Mike Campbell - guitar, bass synthesizer
Howie Epstein - bass guitar, vocals
Stan Lynch - drums, percussion
Benmont Tench - string synthesizer
David A. Stewart - electric sitar, synthesizer, vocals
Dean Garcia - intro bass guitar
Daniel Rothmuller - cello
Alan "Bugs" Weidel - wild dog piano
Marilyn Martin - backing vocals
Stephanie Sprull - backing vocals
Sharon Celani - backing vocals

Produced: Tom Petty, David A. Stewart, Jimmy Iovine
Engineered: (LP) Shelly Yakus, David Bianco, Joel Fein, Alan "Bugs" Weidel, Don Smith
Recorded at: 1984, (LP) Gone Gator One; Sound City; Village Recorder; Sunset Sound, LA and Church Studio, London
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Tom Petty: "That was one I wrote during the Full Moon Fever sessions. I wrote all but the chorus. I just had the loop going around and around and really had most of the words and everything. And I played that tape for Rick [Rubin] and he liked it a lot and suggested I write a chorus. So I tried to finish it up while I was making Wildflowers, and there were maybe five years between the writing of the verses and the chorus. I don’t think I was writing about pot. I think it was just a girl’s name." (2014:Performing Songwriter)

Mike Campbell: "That song took on a few shapes. It was written in my garage. I didn't write it, but we were jamming in the garage and Tom was playing one of my guitars. It was called 'Indiana Girl,' the first chorus was 'Hey, Indiana Girl, go out and find the world.' We liked the song and Rick Rubin suggested we cut it. It had actually been around for a while, just the basic riff and that chorus. We cut the song and Tom was singing the chorus, and he decided he just couldn't get behind singing about 'Hey, Indiana Girl,' so we went back and about a week later he came in and said 'I've got a better idea,' so he changed the chorus to 'Last dance with Mary Jane.' In the verse there is still the thing about an Indiana girl on an Indiana night, just when it gets to the chorus he had the presence of mind to give it a deeper meaning. My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it's a drug reference, and if that's what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song." (2003:Songfacts)
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(Tom Petty)

Tom Petty – lead vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, percussion
Mike Campbell – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, accordion
Howie Epstein – bass guitar, backing vocals
Stan Lynch – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Chris Trujillo – percussion
Benmont Tench – keyboards, piano, backing vocals

Produced: Rick Rubin, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Engineered:
Recorded: July 22, 1993
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Petty wrote this after his first group Mudcrutch moved from Florida to Los Angeles in 1974. (Songfacts)

Petty strongly considered giving the song to The J. Geils Band because he thought it had their sound, but was convinced by producer Jimmy Iovine to include it on the album because he sensed it would be a hit. (Wikipedia)
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(Tom Petty)

Tom Petty – lead vocals, 6/12 string guitars, harmonica
Mike Campbell – 6/12 string guitars, slide guitar, keyboards, accordion, electric bass
Benmont Tench – piano, organ, harmonium, backing vocals
Ron Blair – electric bass
Stan Lynch – drums and vocals

Produced: Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty
Engineered: Shelly Yakus
Recorded at: Sound City, Van Nuys, California, USA
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The song tells the story of a guy named Eddie who moves to Los Angeles, meets a girl and becomes a rock star. On their journey, there is struggle, but always possibility, as the future is wide open. Eddie plays from the heart, and it pays off with a record deal and a hit. But once he's achieved his dream, the sky is no longer the limit, as his A&R man spouts that industry cliché, "I don't hear a single." Petty, who knows a thing or two about record company machinations, leaves it to the listener to decide what happens next. There's a good chance it doesn't go so well for Eddie. (Songfacts)
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(Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne)

Tom Petty – vocals, 6/12-string acoustic/electric guitars, keyboards, percussion, bass
Mike Campbell – lead guitar, 12-string guitar, bass guitar, Dobro, keyboards, slide guitar
Howie Epstein – bass guitar, backing vocals
Benmont Tench – acoustic/electric pianos, accordion
Stan Lynch – drums, percussion
Jeff Lynne – guitars, bass, piano, synthesizer, percussion, sound effects, vocals

Produced: Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: (Album: Rumbo Recorders, Studio C, Canoga Park, California and M.C. Studios)
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This song is an attack on corporate takeover of radio stations in the late 1990s. Radio stations would have one DJ record shows and have it broadcast over many stations, saving money but also losing the local connection with audiences. Since the DJ is not local and is recording the show ahead of time, he cannot refer to timely events and must make an effort to connect with an audience he does not know. ..... The song was banned by many stations owned by Clear Channel Communications for being "anti-radio." (Wikipedia)

The influential KLOS disc jockey Jim Ladd is often cited as the inspiration for this song, and Petty wrote in the album liner notes, "Thanks to Jim Ladd for his inspiration and courage." (Songfacts)
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Tom Petty: "Radio was just a metaphor. ‘The Last DJ’ was really about losing our moral compass, our moral center." (Mojo)

Tom Petty: "about a D.J. in Jacksonville, Florida, who became so frustrated with his inability to play what he wants that he moves to Mexico and gets his freedom back. The song is sung by a narrator who's a fan of this D.J." (Jim DeRogatis interview)

Tom Petty: (plagiarism lawsuit) "My song, 'The Last DJ,' was written completely without any outside influence. It is a wholly original composition. Claiming that Jim Ladd ever gave me another piece of music or discussed the plaintiff or his song with me in any way whatsoever is a total falsehood."
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(Tom Petty)

Tom Petty – guitars, vocals, piano, ukulele, bass
Mike Campbell – guitars
Scott Thurston – guitar, lap steel guitar, ukulele, background vocals
Steve Ferrone – drums
Benmont Tench – piano, organ, various keyboards
Lenny Castro – percussion
Jon Brion – orchestration, conductor

Produced: George Drakoulias, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Cello Studios, Hollywood, California, USA
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Tom Petty: "I wrote it on a break from recording at the Shelter Studio in Hollywood. I think we took a break because we had recorded everything we had and I made up “Breakdown.” I wrote it on the piano. I still have that piano. I bought it (laughs). Many years later, it’s sitting in my living room.

I wrote it very quickly. It’s a very short song. I played it to them, and they really dug it, and we made the record. I think we got the drumbeat from a Beatles record, “All I Got To Do.” We just varied it. That was the idea, to have that kind of broken rhythm on the highhat." (2014:Performing Songwriter)
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(Tom Petty)

Tom Petty – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Mike Campbell – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
Ron Blair – bass guitar
Stan Lynch – drums
Benmont Tench – piano, Hammond organ
Phil Seymour – backing vocals

Produced: Denny Cordell
Engineered: ??
Recorded at: Shelter Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1976
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