My Middle Name Is Earl - The Official ILM Track-By-Track TOM PETTY Listening Thread

"Nightwatchman": fcc upthread described "Louisiana Rain" as a 'basically a warren zevon song except no one dies,' which to me is a more apt description of this one (and the next couple tracks as well...except there's certainly some death in tomorrow's track). Definite shades of stuff like "Meet Me In LA," "Midnight In The Switching Yard" etc.

"Nighttime In The Switching Yard" that is...

...and "Join Me In LA"

Don't get me started on "Dire Wolves Of London"

lol. i hear zevon in nightwatchman too. a different side of zevon than i hear in lousiana rain.

Something Big

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

One of Dylan's favorite Petty songs. Here's where Petty's narrative instincts work (Speedball and the nightclerk!).

and I think that's Petty on electric piano

a nice dylanesque exercise, always coming back to the same line. this is the kind of workout where it's best to just rampage through the lyrics and leave some ambiguity and rough edges. here their studio preciseness maybe hurts them a little bit. this probably worked great in concert.

someone should make a compilation of these, e.g. robert earl keen's "the road goes on forever."

"Nightwatchman" - yeah, slinky groove... I like how the band open things out in the more country-flavored B section. I remember finding the lyrical conceit dopey (see also, James Taylor pretending he's a steamroller), but I think my real issue was just that "I'm the nightwatchman" is the only really clearly-spoken line. I wanna spend some time with this one... it's got more going on than I thought.

"Something Big" again making me think of R.E.M. --- like, deep cut on New Adventures R.E.M. Especially once we hit the organ break. Maybe "roots rock" is starting to displace "power pop" in the special sauce. Have Buck or Mills ever talked about Petty?

I feel like Petty's vocal has been slightly slowed/pitched down. Possibly the whole track, as discussed upthread. "Worrrrkin' on somethinn' BLEAHHHGHH."

he's developing what xgau has uncharitably called his "weird, self-pitying child-drawl."

...which he pretty much lost after Let Me Up.

I will not tolerate this lukewarm response to one of the very best TP deep cuts, I love playing this as the bar because everyone recognizes that it is Tom but many people have not heard it

I love the slinky groove in the verses, that almost reggae thing

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, April 10, 2024 10:07 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

could've written this post myself. love nightwatchman and that is exactly the situation in which i've most often put it on

here their studio preciseness maybe hurts them a little bit

more than dylan, this tragic story song with a couple details withheld reminds me of springsteen. it wouldn't sound out of place on nebraska, which springsteen was just beginning to conceive around this time, and which he'd famoisly realize he'd have to do alone, without the studio precision and formalities of his band (not that he and they didn't try, though).

i think i want to like this song more than i do. i love the effort put into the lyrics but its a little too vague for me. i'm also not a big fan of Nebraska. i just never thought those songs or lyrics were that great. not everyone is John Steinbeck. you can sue me if you want, Nebraska fans. i can give you the name of my lawyer.

I don't like Nebraska either, scott. Gimme Big, Big-Assed, Glittery Bruce.

don't need no lawyers, we can settle this right now with the baton i'm currently a-twirling on my front lawn.

(xp)

i keep telling myself i'll get around to nebraska. gimme wool-capped word-slinging bruce.

I like "Something Big." I even did an illustrated version of it for some 8th grade English assignment.

born in the u.s.a. might be my fave album when all is said and done. i just can't deny that damn "glory days". i just can't. i love how that song is written. every single country singer should encore with that. they would blow the roof off of the place.

the wool-capped live in London thing. on Youtube. i think its the whole show. that is a humdinger. can't remember what year its from. it will make someone a believer if they aren't one.

^^1975, Hammersmith Odeon, officially released on the Born To Run box, with the audio getting its own release later.

i saw him like a month after that -- the show where they taped "santa claus..."

i love nebraska and i love big assed glittery bruce and i love wool-capped word-slinging bruce and i loved living in new jersey but i've never had much use for "glory days."

they passed you by

i was walking in, they were walking out, if i recall
correctly

"Glory Days" is my least favorite of the BITUSA singles, but I understand its lasting popularity. Speaks to some universal experiences. Still bothered that he says "speedball."

you know what gets me is that "sir" he borrowed from woody or pete or whoever. i cringe every time he says "sir." that's why i'm afraid of nebraska.

There are some sirs on Nebraska, but the writing on that album is great.

speedball

ha that's one of the few things i like about glory days. i love the non-awkward awkwardness. it works.

but you know who else uses that word? tom petty! in something big!

i always mishear "when i feel like clarence i start laughing.."

"Something Big": If the Travelling Wilburys were Petty, Dylan, Springsteen, and Zevon...

Again, I think this Petty doing Zevon Noir, but with a vaguer storyline just because. Love the reduction of the title as a punchline in the last verse. Another winner from this album.

The thing about Springsteen is if he had written it, the narrative *might* remain vague, but there would be way more details: more names, guy has a car we know the make and/or model of, daddy issues, maybe a babe appears etc.

otm

I'm okay with the sketchy details, but something a little more like a plot would be nice. This one is growing on me as I pay greater attention to the Heartbreakers. It still feels like there's a verse or two missing, but it's got a good sweaty southern flophouse noir vibe going.

Kings Road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8nAdQQTJkM

tom looks askance at british punk?

vaguely remeniscent of that smithereens song? semi pet peeve -- when the drummer starts bashing away on every beat to simulate "excitement."

"a girl like you" is the one i had in mind.

“Kings Road” is pretty hooky, I like it. But it’s no “King’s Highway” imo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ekIDJKDRE

this is awful. if you told me it was the result of someone asking an AI to write a song tom petty would've come with during a day off in london circa 1979, i'd believe you.

what does this mean: "they had socks and shirts and underwear / that i'd seen before but i don't know where"

probably at stevie nicks' house.

lol

https://i.imgur.com/pgdFLZ3.gif

"Kings Road": Okay, I was wrong a few days ago: there's not so much Zevon in this song (except maybe in the last verse). This is pleasant and catchy, but a step down from the rest of this album so far. Reminiscent of the rockers on Torpedoes or even The River.

spirited riff and performance, absolute throwaway lyric. suddenly Something Big seems like a ten-verse Dylan epic.