The classic Tom Petty song he considered “a throwaway”
A lot of great songwriters tend to consider their songs like their children. They are usually the fruits of their hard work; they reflect everything they wanted to give to the world, and more often than not, it hurts having to let them go. While Tom Petty wrote a repertoire of fantastic songs throughout his life, he considered the 1980s staple ‘You Got Lucky’ one of the more boring pieces in his catalogue.
If there were anyone who had earned a break by the time they had the 1980s, Petty would be among those elite few. After spending the last half of the 1970s making a name for himself with the Heartbreakers, the constant legal battle trying to get the rights to his songs under control led to him going through hell recording his third album, Damn the Torpedoes.
While the album would feature future Petty staples like ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’, a few more headaches lay ahead when making the album Hard Promises. Outside of becoming a collaborator with Stevie Nicks on her first solo album, Petty had to go through losing his mother during the recording, losing bassist Ron Blair after he quit following the tour, and even losing John Lennon after it was rumoured that the former Beatle would be visiting the sessions.
Although the band welcomed new bassist Howie Epstein perfectly, there were more than a few hangups when cutting the album Long After Dark. Needing to appease their higher-ups, much of the album features the band making different strides with synthesisers. While songs like ‘One Story Town’ and ‘A Wasted Life’ gave the instrument a proper place in heartland rock, songs like ‘Straight Into Darkness’ often delved into lacklustre territory, with an intro sounding like it should be played over the beginning of a cheesy daytime drama.
Even though the album would be remembered as a creative exhausted by Petty, ‘You Got Lucky’ introduced him to MTV in style. Rather than make the traditional performance spot, Petty made one of the first videos with a linear storyline, taking place in a futuristic wasteland as the band enters rundown casinos and gets up to the usual rockstar hijinx.
While the song may have been a decent slice of pop music, Petty thought that the whole thing could have been thrown out, telling Performing Songwriter, “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”. Compared to the usual Petty fodder, the song is fairly simplistic by his standards, reminding his former flame that she’ll never find a love like his again.
Petty may have thought enough of the song to include it on various greatest hits albums later on, but even the band weren’t that thrilled about the single, either. During various outtakes for the video, the band could be seen horsing around with different props, which included Petty acting out a scenario where he held keyboardist Benmont Tench at gunpoint if he put synthesisers on an album again.
The headaches were about to start all over again, though, with the next album, Southern Accents, being marred by production delays and copious amounts of cocaine flying around the studio. ‘You Got Lucky’ may not have been considered the best single that the Heartbreakers ever made, but it doesn’t hurt when the least exciting thing about your album is the number-one hit.
