The Tom Petty song that waited 30 years to be released
For most artists, there’s no real end to the creative process. Even though it might be easy to write songs that are clear and to the point on an acoustic guitar, it’s another matter of trying to make that sound come to life in a studio and capture that magic together. While Tom Petty has been known to make most of his songs leap out of the speakers from the first time they came on, one of his undiscovered gems had to sit in the vaults for decades before finally seeing the light of day.
Then again, Petty was pretty burnt when he reached the end of the 1980s. Having lost his mother and struggling with the loss of John Lennon while making the album Hard Promises, Petty thought he was treading water for the following album, Long After Dark, after which he parted ways with longtime producer Jimmy Iovine.
After trying to work on the next album by themselves, the band’s decision to take a few months off from each other spelt disaster when they got back into the studio. For all of the fantastic music they had created for the past decade, the band’s nefarious drug habit began to take its toll when they started work on the album Southern Accents.
Looking to paint a picture of the American south, every song was supposed to reflect some aspect of the lifestyle that Petty had known for years. After mulling over different song titles, one of the prospective themes of the album was a song called ‘Trailer’, which talked about a simple man living off the land in a trailer park.
While the song may have reflected many of the ideas that Petty had for the album, nothing was coming together when the band hit the studio. After months of nothing getting done and Petty inadvertently breaking his hand during recording, Iovine was asked to return to salvage the sessions into a great single album.
Though Petty would say that he was proud of where Southern Accents ended up, ‘Trailer’ remained in the vault for the next few years, only getting a half-hearted release when included with various outtakes on the compilation album Playback. While it may not have worked for the Heartbreakers, Petty had something else in mind when putting together his old band, Mudcrutch.
Founded with original Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell, the reformed Southern rock outfit would release two albums alongside Petty’s main discography. While the first album boasted a healthy mix of rock and roll and bluesy jamming, the band’s imaginatively titled sophomore release 2 kicked off with ‘Trailer’, making it the first time audiences heard Petty’s vision for the song since 1987.
Even though a handful of lyrics were changed here and there, most of the song remains intact from the group’s early years, with Petty replacing his youthful wail with a weathered Southern drawl throughout every one of the verses. ‘Trailer’ may have been a highlight from Petty’s body of work no matter when it came out, but he may have needed the right musicians to make the song truly come alive.
