How Rick Rubin saw gold in Tom Petty’s joke: “The first psychedelic folk song”
Over the course of his career, Tom Petty courted success with virtually every release in his catalogue and was celebrated for his timeless songwriting sensibilities. It wasn’t a case of him constantly changing things up or tweaking the finer details too much; it was more a case of finding what worked for him and honing that style to a point of perfection.
In this regard, Petty was virtually untouchable by his peers and was rightfully lauded for having shown this mastery at every opportunity.
However, there were times when he did deviate from the norm, and certainly knew how to adopt a different tone within his music, with some records showcasing him in an outright passionate mood, and others coming from a place of introspection and deeper reflection on himself and society. It was the subject matter that was more prone to change with Petty rather than his actual musical style, but his versatility in this regard made him such a delight to listen to.
He may well have known how to write tales of heartbreak and despair, but he also knew just when the right time was to let loose and have a bit of fun with his songwriting. Not many of Petty’s songs have this silliness in them, but there’s one song that emerged from his Wildflowers recording sessions that didn’t make it onto the 1994 album that sees Petty in the most ludicrous mood, and the track has become something of a cult favourite among fans.
It was during this moment of goofing about that he ended up impressing the socks off superproducer Rick Rubin. Even though ‘Girl on LSD’, the B-side to ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels’, was initially meant to be a throwaway composition to make those in the studio laugh, Rubin saw potential in the track, even going as far as to say it should have been a single.
While the track was rejected from being a single by Petty’s label, Warner Bros, on the grounds that the lyrics about dating girls on different types of illicit substances were a little too controversial, it undoubtedly gave those in the studio a chuckle, which Petty revealed the details of in an interview with Jim DeRogatis in 2003.
“I think I was just trying to entertain George Drakoulias,” Petty claimed, referring to the producer he had worked with on numerous Heartbreakers records. “He frequently came to the Wildflower sessions, and I remember that night I was really singing that to George, just trying to make him laugh, and Rick Rubin said, ‘We’ve really got to put that down!’ And I was like, ‘Are you serious?’ He said, ‘Yeah, come on, come on!’ I think it’s one of the first psychedelic folk songs.”
While Petty was certainly being facetious about having written one of the first psychedelic folk songs, as plenty of those had already existed prior to 1994, he certainly made a wise decision to lay down a recording of the song upon Rubin’s request, as it has now become one of Petty’s most beloved deep cuts. Taking cues from Buffalo Springfield, an act that he acknowledges as having been true early pioneers of psychedelic folk, he manages to nail the balance of humour and great musicianship, and while it’s an unusual song for Petty, it’s still a quality track.
