The Tom Petty song he was too scared to record: “I should disguise it”
Tom Petty was never one to scare easily. From the various legal troubles he found himself in to someone setting his house on fire, Petty would always stand in defiance to anyone in his way, willing to go down with the ship rather than have someone intimidate him. Although Petty may have been able to stand tall against any kind of musical adversary, the only thing that ever made him nervous came from his own music.
As Petty arrived in the late 1980s, he had already gone through a hellish few years. Following the release of his album Hard Promises, his mother had passed away, leading to him overdoing a lot of his vices when making the almost-concept album Southern Accents. After breaking his hand during the recording, Petty’s luck began to change when he was asked to work alongside Bob Dylan on his next tour, serving as his backup group for most of Dylan’s sets.
From there, Petty would have various strange coincidences happen to him all at once, starting with him joining the Traveling Wilburys. With George Harrison’s guitar being at his house, Petty would find himself down at the studio where the former Beatle was cutting a new song with Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra.
Convincing themselves to write a few more tunes to create an album, the newly formed band created a carefree atmosphere that led to a creative resurgence. Although the group stuck around for one more record after Orbison’s passing, Petty and Lynne would become much more friendly when living next to each other in Los Angeles.
Looking to get some songs completed, Petty would release his first official solo album with Full Moon Fever, penning most of the songs with Lynne and recording them at Mike Campbell’s home studio. Although many of the hits off the record came together in no time like ‘Free Fallin’, Petty would be nervous about taking on one of his classics.
Featuring a driving rhythm and immaculate harmonies, ‘I Won’t Back Down’ was everything that someone could expect in a Petty song, including a brilliant lyric about not cowering to anything in your way. Even though Petty was proud of what he had written, he was hesitant to record it because of how direct it was.
When talking in Runnin’ Down a Dream, Petty was scared of putting the song out with so little adornment, saying, “I thought maybe I should take it back and sort of disguise it a little bit, but I’m glad I didn’t. It’s very much like me”. With a bit of help from Harrison on the chorus, the song would become a mainstay in Petty’s catalogue up until the end of his career, remaining in his setlist at nearly every show.
Petty wasn’t the only one who felt the power behind the song, either, with country legend Johnny Cash recording a version of the track shortly before his death in the 2000s. Most writers may have a hard time figuring out what to write in their lyrics, but Petty proved that you can’t go wrong when speaking your mind.
