Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLXIII--Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Refugee

I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the first time in the summer of 1980, which was just a few months after the release of the album that would turn them into superstars, and just about the same time that "Refugee" was making its run up the charts.  As you might expect, the song was one of the most anticipated of the night, and we all roared when the band broke into its intro...only to have Petty suddenly scream for the band to stop.  He then proceeded to pace the stage, from one end to the other, staring into the crowd, looking as pissed off as a man can get, and I figured, "Great, one of the best songs of the night and some idiot decides now would be a good time to throw something at him."  Petty stormed the stage for about thirty seconds and then walked up to the microphone and said, "This is America.  It's a free country.  You can stand up for this song if you want to...." and the band broke into the song again, from the beginning.  In all the dozens of concerts I've seen through the years, I have never seen a crowd erupt into complete delirium quite like we all did at that moment.

Tom Petty's rock and roll dream began at the age of 11 in Gainesville, Florida when an uncle who was working on the set of the movie Follow That Dream introduced Petty to one Elvis Presley.  And what a dream it became:  Petty would go on to sell over 80 million records, releasing 13 albums with the Heartbreakers, three solo records, two late in career albums with his original band Mudcrutch, and two albums with superband The Traveling Wilburys (featuring Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison).  Petty went on numerous world tours, and he and the Heartbreakers were also Dylan's back up band on one of his tours.  They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and also showed up on Rolling Stone's greatest artists and albums of all time.  And truth be told, in the pantheon of emaycee's favorite rock and roll artists, he finishes just a half step behind Bruce Springsteen.  Needless to say, his death last October, as I noted in a post at that time, was only the second time I cried at the passing of a celebrity (Muhammad Ali being the first).

Fun Fact:  One of Petty's early guitar teachers was Don Felder, who would go on to have some fame of his own as the lead guitarist for a little band called The Eagles.

Released in 1979 on his classic LP Damn the Torpedoes (and what a classic album title that was), "Refugee" would go on to become the second biggest single of Petty's career (trailing only "Don't Do Me Like That" from the same album), eventually peaking at #15 (most assuredly with a bullet!).  Through the years, it would eventually become Petty's signature song, and it's one of those rare cuts that remains fresh and vibrant even nearly forty years down the road.

In listening to it over the past several days, I think the aspect of the song that stands out the most was what a showcase it was--not just for Petty's wondrous vocals, but for the rest of the band as well.  The song features stunning guitar work from Mike Campbell (as usual), some nice piano cut ins from Benmont Tench, and some pulsating drum work from Stan Lynch.  I think the Heartbreakers, moreso than say, The E Street Band, tend to get overlooked a bit as far as great backing bands go (perhaps, in all honesty, because of their reserved nature--none of them have the colorful personality of a Clarence Clemons) but this song (as many others) really shows what a force they were in Petty's success.  "Refugee" can also be noted as being one of several songs on Damn the Torpedoes in which at some point Petty barks out a raucous "Oh, oh, oh!" which I always wait for and thoroughly enjoy more than I probably should.  It's the little things in life, my friends, the little things...

Lyric Sheet:  "Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some/Who knows maybe you were kidnapped tied up/Taken away and held for ransom..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee