YOU RANK ME BABY, YEAH YOU RATE ME 1-2 - ILM Artist Poll #71 - Tom Petty (results)

As a New Zealander, it feels like he translates better to New Zealand than Seger, Mellancamp, or Bryan Adams. He's had two number one albums here (Torpedoes, Hard Promises).

American Girl is also what the Senator's daughter is rocking out to right before being abducted in 'Silence of the Lambs'.

Re: Refugee (which I somehow have not heard used ironically even once during the whole Syrian debate) -- I had a friend in college who hated Tom Petty solely because the line about "kidnapped-tied up-taken away-held for ransom" drove him crazy. "It has too many words!"

one of three of his songs that could be #1 for me on any given day, the others being Even The Losers & The Waiting.

I'm not crazy about Refugee, but it has a hell of an intro.

Ever since Amy Ray covered it I've always admired the versatility of "Refugee" as a sort of all-purpose protest song.

according to Iovine in the doc, it took the Heartbreakers days to get the intro right.

agreed Josh.

I am certain of four of the top five but the fifth eludes me. Do not tell me When The Time Comes is not on this list. DON'T TELL ME.

I'm still trying to squeeze 6 songs into the last 5. Looks like the title track from 'Into The Great Wide Open' missed out on the top 40 altogether, right?

re: Refugee, apparently they did like 70 takes, and fired and rehired Stan like 70 times

re: what's coming http://i.imgur.com/Y22tlUZ.png

http://i.imgur.com/bnbGxA5.jpg

5 (TIE). Stop Draggin' My Heart Around – 333 points (12 votes)
http://youtu.be/6UD0c58nNCQ

Yay! I am glad this wasn't $1 since it can only be found on a Stevie Nicks album.

I think it's been added to subsequent editions of the '93 Greatest Hits?

So mad that one of the Bonnaroos I missed was the one where Petty headlined and Stevie came onstage to sing this.

2006?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyzgvaYAqk

Yep, that was the one.

Out of curiosity I just checked how many of the songs on my ballot were Campbell co-writes. Six, including this one. That's fewer than I would have thought, but actually looking at the track lists, he generally didn't have more than two or three per album. I think of him as being more of a writing presence than he is.

Just noticed that Stop Draggin is tied, so everything is accounted for.

yup - you nailed it upthread, but i wasn't going to let the cat out

Campbell generally only got co-writing credit for tracks that he created on his own and petty then wrote to (obv the arrangements might change by the time the track was fully produced).

obv i'm on record as seeing his contributions going a lot deeper than that. there are a ton of tracks he didn't get writing credit for that can't be hummed without including his parts.

http://i.imgur.com/WiJUOgy.jpg

5 (TIE). Straight Into Darkness – 333 points (12 votes)
Original: http://youtu.be/oUovjEQri2I
Live, 1985: http://youtu.be.com/yONs2C6od-g

The obscure album track that surprised absolutely nobody with its placement. Easily one of his greatest songs.

And perfect picture!

I can't think of any recent poll results that more completely reflect the collective idiosyncrasies of ILM. Like, I wouldn't expect your average Tom Petty fan to even know this song, much less put it in the top 10.

Every poll is like this, there's always a Sway.

nah there's tons of polls with predictable results but maybe I'm just focusing on the ones I've run

It's funny, I don't think of this as obscure because Long After Dark was the first Petty album I owned, and this one got at least some rock radio play at the time. So it's always seemed canonical to me. As a teenager, it was one of those songs that seemed full of adult knowledge -- I couldn't directly relate to the sense of loss, but it made it palpable as a thing that was in the world to be experienced.

(And Campbell's guitar tone gave at least some idea of what it felt like.)

there may be some debate about "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" being one of Petty's finest songs. however, there should be no debate that "Stop Draggin' My Car Around" is one of Weird Al's least inspired parodies.

yup. if anything we just know now to look for the Sway. #5 on my ballot and in ILM's heart, and apparently one of Springsteen's favorite Petty tunes.

not sure i have anything to say that hasn't been said, and I totally hear what Petty means when he says they tried to do it as a guitar song but it didn't really come to life tip they turned it over to the piano.

dig the live version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86sQqz3GCkE

Yeah, definitely need to give Benmont credit too -- the piano and organ are sad and gorgeous.

It's on the two disc Anthology - feels like that defines the pre-Wildflowers Petty canon.

some dude OTM -- "stop draggin' my heart around" didn't even make my ballot and i still nurse a real grudge against weird al for his lazy-ass parody. come at the king, you best not miss iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb-NHxEFxQU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M191OMg2BEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEMEpeE_bmY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSs4zE-aDj0

:/

this is why I love participating in polls, you always get that, 'oh yeah, that song!' moment.

https://i.imgur.com/Jg73LDQ.jpg

4. Even the Losers – 341 points (12 votes, three #1)
Studio: http://youtu.be/E30XxSYgmqo
Live, 1978 (he's still working on the lyrics): http://youtu.be/hBcBPMckeyM

TOO LOW

lol @ that mustache

AGH. Too low. My number one, by a wide margin.

BABY EVEN THE COUGARS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnic4kZFs0

dude we get it

simmer down, only 1 of the top 3 has a Cougar Town episode named after it

"Cougar Town" sounds like a Mudcrutch title.

Regardless, can we talk about Even The Losers? The bridge (two cars park...) is the greatest moment in Tom Pettydom. It's the song with his most evocative lyric, strongest melody, best use of "oh oh oh oh" on the outro, most melodic chorus and more. Holy mackerel what a song!!!

lol @ that mustache

"Straight Into Darkness" made it to both "Playback" and "Anthology," so clearly he rates it. As far as album track obscurities go, I'd be curious to see what songs didn't make it to the first three discs of "Playback."

I'm glad ILM thinks "Losers" is better than 'Refugee"