The song Tom Petty struggled to sing but refused to give away: “I can’t give you this”
Finding a partner in the world of music can be a very fruitful discovery. However, very few can be as lucky as The Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but Tom Petty certainly tried.
Across his career, he teamed up with some of the scene’s brightest musical minds. Of course, he wouldn’t have enjoyed the fame he did without the songwriting talent of fellow Heartbreaker, Mike Campbell, with whom he wrote some of his best songs. However, likewise, Petty found a kindred spirit in producer Jeff Lynne. But there was another musical soul that seemed to intertwine with his own: Stevie Nicks.
Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty were two of the most influential figures to emerge in the 1970s. This, in tandem with both artists coming from a profoundly American and folkish background, meant that it made a lot of sense to fans when the pair finally worked together.
The Fleetwood Mac frontwoman and The Heartbreakers leader first converged for the former’s debut solo outing, 1981’s Bella Donna. Notably, this is the record that produced the classic track ‘Edge of Seventeen’ and features the Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song, ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, as the hit lead single. The body of work was a marvellous way for Nicks to kick off her extra-Fleetwood Mac career.
Interestingly, though, Nicks originally intended to record another Petty song before he realised it was too good to give away. Not a particularly unusual occurrence, you might think, until you understand just how much the track troubled him before he managed to get it down on tape. In fact, he seemed to take this difficult decision after striving for the vocal performance.
Explicitly wanting to emulate the sound of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers on her debut album, it was only natural that Nicks enlisted their leader for a song. Although she eventually released ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, it was ‘Insider’ that was initially in the running to make it onto the record.
In Zoe Howe’s book Stevie Nicks: Visions, Dreams, and Rumours, Petty recalled the significance of ‘Insider’ at that point in his career. He described it as “one of my best songs [up] to that point. I loved it.” It was during the recording that he realised that he couldn’t give it up, with Nicks’s producer, Jimmy Iovine, also reciprocating his attitude towards the track.
Petty also revealed that the song “hurt” to sing, meaning that he had a better connection to it than most of his others from this period, as he poured so much of himself into it through pure struggle. He explained: “I remember bringing it to him, and he said, ‘God, when I asked for a song, I didn’t expect this!’ And I was really attached to it. And it really hurt me when I did the track and the vocals.”
Petty did the right thing and revealed that he personally told Nicks that he would be keeping track for himself. In a show of her respect for the Floridian, she understood where he was coming from. “And I said, [softly] ‘Stevie, I can’t give you this,'” he expressed. “And she said, ‘Well, I can relate to that. I completely understand. I’ll take something else.'”
Years later, when speaking to NPR, Petty recalled that both tracks were released at roughly the same time. It was an “awkward position” for him and The Heartbreakers, as many radio programmes didn’t want two of his songs during the same period. This was made more uncomfortable for the band as one received what he called an “extreme amount” of airplay.
It goes to show that no matter how much a partner can be essential to the songwriting experience, one must always trust in themselves as an artist to make the best work possible.
