The song Eddie Vedder wrote as a tribute to Tom Petty
The death of Tom Petty sent shockwaves through the musical community as the world mourned an artist who defined America. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder was a personal friend of the singer-songwriter and later paid tribute to him on his solo work. However, as it was a subtle nod, many may have missed the homage.
Vedder’s love of Petty is no secret. In a public display of his affection, the Pearl Jam singer performed the late musician’s track ‘Room at the Top’ at the Oscars ceremony in 2018. The cover occurred during the ‘In Memoriam’ segment of the awards show, which paid tribute to the important figures who had lost their lives in the previous twelve months.
Additionally, he regularly covers tracks from Petty’s oeuvre during his live shows, and the pair also joined forces on numerous occasions. In 2012, Vedder supported Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers across Europe and, notably, performed ‘American Girl’ with the band in Amsterdam.
At that time, Vedder was already the frontman of one of the world’s biggest groups and didn’t need to take time out of his busy schedule to support anyone. However, when Petty presented an offer to hit the road, it would have been sacrilege to reject the opportunity.
During a discussion with Bruce Springsteen about Vedder’s solo album Earthling, Springsteen noted the similarity to Petty on the track ‘Long Way’, which he claimed contained “the ghost of Tom”. In response, the Pearl Jam frontman revealed: “Somebody acquired for me a Guild four-string tenor [bass] – it almost looks like a Hofner in a way. So I started playing some little things and had my guy record it and then I put drums on it and put some vocals on it and it all happened in an afternoon. But I didn’t know what the chords were because I’m playing a Tenor – I’m just making shapes and sounds and all that.”
Vedder then explained how he realised the chords used in the song were standard but used cleverly, similar to Petty. “I thought I was coming up with some really interesting ones that’d never been played before. It was very simple chords and that was kind of how Tom Petty would write,” he continued.
Discussing their relationship and the influence of Petty on his artistry, Vedder added: “I got to be fairly close to Tom and maybe subconsciously you start writing songs or you write songs that you need to hear. We thought we should put some B3 [organ] on it and we know Benmont [Tench] from The Heartbreakers, so we called Benmont and he came down. I think it was the first time he had pulled the organ out of storage since the last show. It was very, very powerful.”
Listen to ‘Long Way’ below.
