The 10 best Tom Petty songs
From the minute he picked up a guitar, Tom Petty had rock and roll coursing through his veins. Whether it was playing a take on The Byrds or quoting something out of his own heart, Petty was always born and bred on the tradition of writing classic songs for himself as much as he did for his audience. Though he came from the new wave of artists in the 1970s, a handful of his creations deserve to be among the ranks of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs of all time.
Coming from his native Florida, Petty always had a distinctly American take on the British rock he grew up on. For as easy as it is to detect hints of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in his songs, there are also the slightest traces of Delta blues players and the sounds of folk and country music seeking through his best work.
Outside of the raw fury that he could pull out of The Heartbreakers, Petty’s knack for writing lyrics was on par with wordsmiths like Bob Dylan. Compared to the usual rock songs that had to do with having a non-stop rave-up, Petty captured specific moments in life that nearly anyone could relate to, from falling in love for the first time to the loneliness that comes with being a rock star.
Ever since his death in 2017, Petty’s music has still resonated throughout the years, being one of the few benchmarks of what classic songwriting is supposed to be. Although he came out amongst songwriters like Dave Stewart and Jeff Lynne, the sheer earnestness of Petty’s songs put him in the same league as artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
The 10 best Tom Petty songs:
10. ‘Square One’ – Highway Companion
One of the biggest draws of Petty’s work is that he never stopped for a minute. Throughout his career, fans could see him grow as a songwriter, going from the naive kid looking to go against the norm to the weathered rock star taking inventory of his life. Still, after three decades in the business, Petty hadn’t lost the power that comes with an acoustic guitar and a good melody.
Hooking up with Jeff Lynne for the first time since the ‘90s, ‘Square One’ is one of the most singularly pretty songs that Petty would ever write, as he talks about all the hardships he had to face throughout his life. As Mike Campbell adds a delicate slide guitar solo, Petty carries all the emotion in his voice, never once neglecting how the odds were stacked against him as he sings about having far more dogs than bones.
For all that hardship that has built up, there’s no more annoyance or fatigue in ‘Square One’. Petty might sound winded from the journey, but this is the first song since the ‘90s where he sounds like he has found some inner peace.
9. ‘American Girl’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
It’s impossible to get around any conversation about Tom Petty and not bring up ‘American Girl’. As Petty was just getting started in songwriting, his first stabs at becoming a major songwriter started the minute he wrote this loving ode to the traditional American heartthrob. However, once he brought to the rest of The Heartbreakers, something magical started to happen.
Starting with that dazzling Mike Campbell guitar chord, Petty’s signature tune recalls the rock ‘n’ roll of days gone by, having traces of The Byrds in its delivery. Rather than write about the traditional love song that most rockers were used to, Petty is the observer, looking in on the American girl’s life as she vows to make something of herself past the lonesome town she’s lived in for half her life.
Although Petty would have a lot of work to do once his debut album didn’t light up the charts, ‘American Girl’ remained one of the biggest tunes of his career, becoming emblematic of everything that heartland rock was supposed to be. Petty never liked to dissect any of his songs that intensely, but ‘American Girl’ may as well be considered the secondary national anthem for the US.
8. ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ – Southern Accents
Going into recording the album Southern Accents, Petty wanted to paint a picture of what life in the Southern United States meant to him. Although the initial plan was to make a double album of new material, the amount of debauchery behind the scenes forced the band to pair it to the most salvageable material. While ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’ didn’t fit in with the theme, Petty’s decision to go outside his comfort zone paid off in spades.
Working with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, the song was the first time Petty flirted with electronic music, crafting pieces from a drum machine and Stewart feeding different guitars through effects pedals to sound like a sitar. Playing into the otherworldly theme, Petty’s vocal delivery is almost spooky throughout the song, as he timidly warns his old flame to stop tangling with his emotions.
Although this might have been the first sign that Petty wanted to work outside the Heartbreakers’ model, what seals the deal is the final few minutes of the track, with the rest of the band storming in and Stan Lynch laying down one of his greatest drum performances with his chaotic drum rolls. By this point, Petty’s life had already become a bit of a circus, and this was the closest that his fans could get to his musical wonderland.
7. ‘The Waiting’ – Hard Promises
It was never going to be easy making a follow-up to Damn the Torpedoes. After slogging through a huge lawsuit with his record label, Petty was finally free to do as he pleased, crafting a record that would be a logical extension of the heartland rockers that he had become famous for. While his previous record opened with him not wanting to live like a refugee, ‘The Waiting’ is the afterglow of the victory.
Opening with the fantastic line, “Baby don’t it feel like heaven right now”, every word out of Petty’s mouth is lovestruck, never knowing that his connection with his lover could mean so much. While Petty seems to be addressing a woman throughout most of the song, he could just as easily be talking about his connection to music.
Quoting Janis Joplin, the chorus line was one of her philosophies about being a singer, saying that everything in her life is just waiting to get back onstage again. Then again, Petty’s knack for wordplay has always kept it open to interpretation. It could be waiting to realise one’s dreams or waiting to see if a relationship will last, but either way, it’s all about getting one yard farther every day.
6. ‘Learning To Fly’ – Into the Great Wide Open
When Petty entered the ‘90s, his career renaissance was just starting. Although he had never faltered throughout his career, his status as a living legend was starting to cement itself, becoming one of the youngest members of The Traveling Wilburys and creating a knockout album with Jeff Lynne. Since he had already had a certain level of success with The Heartbreakers, why not bring them into the world he and Lynne created?
Built around a simple four-chord loop, Petty turned in one of his most optimistic songs, ‘Learning to Fly’, telling the story of one man’s journey from humble beginnings to being able to fly around the clouds. Given that Petty had been a rock star for over a decade now, the line about coming down being the hardest thing may as well be a reminder to himself to stay level-headed even at his most successful times.
That’s before Petty took the song to the live stage, where he turned this humble little song into a spiritual release, looking to fly over all of his troubles back on the ground. While some musicians try their entire career to touch the sky, ‘Learning to Fly’ is the gentle nudge from Petty that even seemingly impossible dreams aren’t always that impossible.
5. ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’ – Full Moon Fever
For the most part, Petty’s reputation has always been that of a mellow rocker type. Outside of the handful of punk-leaning songs he made during his early years, it’s easy to write him off as an old-time rocker who would break out in hives if he ever had to play something above a certain BPM. Amid all the fantastic ballads on Full Moon Fever, Petty threw in one of his fiercest rockers right in the middle of the record.
Featuring a bad-boy blues riff to kick everything off, Petty is at his finest on ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’, telling the story of a beautiful day where nothing can get him down. Although most songs with this BPM tend to be far angrier, Petty is still as exuberant as ever, with a backbeat that feels like putting a car into fourth gear and letting loose on the highway with all the windows down.
For all of the rock ‘n’ roll swagger that Petty can muster, the real magic behind the song comes from Mike Campbell. Compared to his normally subdued approach on guitar, Campbell’s round-robin guitar licks are some of the most tasteful in rock, as if he’s trying to squeeze every last bit of emotion out of his instrument. Since Petty has always been about chasing his dreams, ‘Runnin’ is the ultimate example of him racing after what he wants with everything he’s got.
4. ‘Here Comes My Girl’ – Damn the Torpedoes
One aspect of Petty’s writing that is often overlooked is his ability to write about romance. Outside of The Beatles, there aren’t too many musicians in the rock scene that can get down to the nitty-gritty of what love is supposed to be quite like Petty. Even when he’s talking about all of the hardship that he has to go through day after day, ‘Here Comes My Girl’ assures him that everything will be alright.
After coming out of the haze of ‘Refugee’ on Damn the Torpedoes, the bright chime of the electric 12-string leads the listener into Petty’s vocal. Spoken in a low register, this is the closest soul that Petty ever got in his career, saying that he can rise above the hopeless world once his lover puts her arms around him.
Compared to the standalone stories that he would write later on in his career, ‘Girl’ is a tour-de-force for all of The Heartbreakers, with every instrument blending well and Benmont Tench delivering the perfect sonic flourish on the piano to offset Petty’s vocal on the chorus. While most other writers tend to work well when writing songs about lust, this kind of innocent romance seems to be ripped out of small-town America.
3. ‘To Find a Friend’ – Wildflowers
Up until his death, Petty insisted that Wildflowers was one of the best records that the band ever made. Although it had been credited to Petty in name, all of the Heartbreakers outside of Stan Lynch played a role in bringing it to life, making for some of the most organic performances of their career. While the album was a lot more mellow throughout its runtime, ‘To Find a Friend’ was a sign of Petty coming into his own as a classic songwriter.
Documenting the life of a man who walked away from his family, Petty leaves in just the right amount of specifics as he talks about this family that gets completely rearranged as his wife’s boyfriend takes over their house. Even though the protagonist may have thought he was leaving his life behind for something better, he starts to understand just how hard it is to find a friend out in the wild.
Despite the character portrait, Petty may as well be singing to himself on this track, being in the throes of divorce and eventually pouring his heart out on the following record, Echo. Everything might change and change again, but it’s up to Petty to decide whether or not he can move on with life.
2. ‘Free Fallin’ – Full Moon Fever
From the sounds of the Full Moon Fever sessions, it sounds like everyone was having a good time. Fresh off working with The Traveling Wilburys, Petty made songs faster than he could spit them out, working with Jeff Lynne on one classic after the next, like ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and ‘Face in the Crowd’. While all of those stand on their own as fantastic songs, ‘Free Fallin’ captures a moment in time much better than anything in Petty’s songbook.
Pivoting between just three chords, Petty sets the scene with a good girl living in America whose heart was broken by him. As he goes out to California and cavorts with the vampires on Ventura Blvd, he still has his old flame on his mind, wanting to be able to write her name in the sky and leave this world for a little while.
Opening up to one of his best choruses, Petty’s free fall is full of bravado as he looks to venture out into the great wide open and see what else life has to offer him past the city limits. This kind of scenario may become a lost art in the world, but Petty’s snapshot of a simpler time couldn’t be any more romanticised.
1. ‘Southern Accents’ – Southern Accents
After the double-album idea for Southern Accents was abandoned, there was no way that Petty’s concept record of the south would work out. Compared to the usual albums that tell a story, only a few songs on the album had anything to do with Petty’s upbringing, usually focusing on songs that made for the best singles than anything that would connect together. Even with his judgement getting the better of him throughout most of the recording, Petty knew not to touch the perfection he had on the title track.
Coming straight from his heart, ‘Southern Accents’ paints a vivid picture of Petty’s roots, talking about having his own way of talking, working and praying throughout the day. Although certain aspects of the South have been painted negatively in the past, Petty highlights all of the romantic sides of his hometown, like trying to get work in Orlando if the orange groves don’t freeze.
Once he reaches the bridge, Petty’s tender words about his mother coming to him in a dream and saying a prayer for him are enough to make any non-religious person a believer for at least a few seconds. The music of Tom Petty has always meant to be a bit rough around the edges, but in just five minutes, he sculpted a tune that has as much resonance as The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’.
