Should Tom Petty have given ‘Runaway Trains’ to Stevie Nicks?
Every single musician usually has a horror story about the song that got away from them. Whether it was a case of poor timing or not understanding what they had on their hands, sometimes the greatest tunes of all time can’t be fully realised until they have the right voice behind them, and Tom Petty already knew that too well when turning down Don Henley’s ‘Boys of Summer’. So when it came close to happening again with Stevie Nicks, he was determined to keep the best pieces for himself.
Then again, Petty was always diplomatic when working on material for the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman. The whole point behind her going solo was to make something in the vein of Petty, so giving her ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’ felt like a no-brainer. But for someone who had already written fantastic songs, the heartland rocker was not going to cower whenever Nicks needed something to fill out her record.
And especially after coming off the road with Bob Dylan, Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) was the moment Petty had a bit more to prove. He had already come off of his house getting burned down, and now that he had worked with a legend like Dylan on ‘Jammin’ Me’, this record was meant to be the next step where the band would be able to cut loose and play what they felt half the time.
Although some songs did end up working out, Nicks ended up getting wires crossed when looking through Petty’s material. He had already recorded a version of a song called ‘Runaway Trains’, but for The Other Side of the Mirror, Nicks had accidentally taken the basis of the tune and combined it with lyrics for the tune ‘Ooh My Love’. While any songwriter would have been absolutely furious if someone stole the basis of their song, would it have worked better for Nicks?
I mean, Petty was already known to be one of the best rockers of his day, and having this synth-driven affair in the middle of a standard rock album completely messes with the formula. And since Nicks was never meant to be in one lane for too long, this felt like a way for her to take her emotional lyrics and have them compete on the same level as someone like Annie Lennox from the same time.
It even has Nicks’ trademark habit of hanging on certain chords for ages. A lot of her best moments are about letting songs build, and given how well the pre-chorus and chorus are set up in Petty’s version, it sounds like it’s aching for Nicks’ soaring voice once the main hook kicks in. But if Nicks could deliver a stirring rendition of this song, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have had nearly enough heart.
In an ideal world, what should have happened was to have Petty write the lyrics of the song and have Nicks sing it, much like he had done on ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’. But listening to the track on its own after a while, this might be the ultimate example of Petty being the only person who can deliver this kind of tune. Nicks may have been able to take songs like ‘Dreams’ to new heights, but a song about chalking up his troubles to something that can’t be explained hits the listener a lot differently knowing the struggles he went through.
While Petty probably could have thought of a better place to put it in his discography, this could have joined the likes of Full Moon Fever a few years later and been given the duet treatment with Nicks joining him. After all, Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) was a lot more barebones than this song, and even if Nicks wasn’t the ideal person to sing it, it deserved a much better home than being the breakout single from one of his more antiquated albums.
