Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXCV--Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Damn the Torpedoes (Album)

 Yeah, I'm late--whatevs.  This is my yearly "It's My Birthday And I'll Write About An Album If I Want To" post....

[Sixty-seven years young, for those counting at home.]

It would be impossible to overstate how influential this album has been to my life listening to music.  It was originally released October 19, 1979, and somewhere around that time I read a rave review in Rolling Stone.  I put it on my Christmas list for December of that year, and Mom and Dad were kind enough to oblige, and I started listening to it on Christmas Day.  I immediately recognized the first song on side two as one I'd been hearing on the radio and had yet to find who sang it (well before the internet for you young 'uns wondering how I wouldn't know).  Within a matter of weeks, I had gone to the record shop to buy their first two albums (absolutely killer records as well).  Thus began a love affair with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers that lasts to this day and is only slightly surpassed by my love for Bruce Springsteen.

Damn the Torpedoes (and what a great album title that is) would go on to become Tom Petty's breakthrough album, eventually reaching #2 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the Billboard 200, and spawning two top fifteen singles.  It featured the band's original line-up:  Mike Campbell on lead guitar, Benmont Tench on piano/organ, Ron Blair on bass guitar, and Stan Lynch on drums.

As these yearly posts generally end up quite long, we'll start here without further ado....

Refugee--And what a song to open an album with--one of my all-time favorites.  Every band member shines:  the guitars are ominous, the organ searing, the bass pulsating, the drums crashing, and the sneer in Petty's vocals is to die for.  And to top it all off?  The beyond killer backing vocals in the chorus.  A stunning piece of music.  Favorite line:  "Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some/Who knows maybe you were kidnapped, tied up/Taken away for ransom...."

Here Comes My Girl--Aaand...the second one is amazing, too.  The music is the sound of love triumphing, as Petty talk sings his way through the stanzas and his antagonist lets us know how her love has saved him and made it all make sense.  When the instrumental break begins and Petty says, "Watch her walk" it always sends me into musical ecstasy.  Favorite line:  "Every now and then, I get down to the end of a day/I have to stop, I ask myself why I've done it/It just seems so useless to work so hard/And nothin' ever really seems to come from it..."

Even the Losers--This one is actually based on Petty's young life--he spent an evening with a popular girl and she let him know the next day that one night together was all he'd ever get.  Great guitars, plenty of power from the rhythm section, and Petty's defiant vocals rule the day.  The spoken "It's just the normal noises in here" that ends the static at the song's beginning is Mike Campbell's wife.  Petty's anthem for the not so cool kids.  Favorite line:  "Baby, even the losers/Get lucky sometimes/Even the losers/Keep a little bit of pride..."

Shadow of a Doubt (Complex Kid)--It had been a while since I heard this one until I did my half-assed research this week.  Kind of forgot--though it's not a standout track--that it was a pretty nice little ditty.  Petty does a nice job vocally of capturing the protagonist's doubt about his girl's love for him--or is he just kidding himself about those feeings?  The band's playing--as always--is solid and just a bit understated, which plays perfectly with the song's theme.  Favorite line:  "And when she's dreaming/Sometimes she sings in French/But in the morning/She don't remember it..."

Century City--There actually is a Century City--it's in L.A. and is quite well known as a commerce center.  I've often wondered if this is Petty's ode to Los Angeles, the modern world where he would make his home for many years.  Nice track, the band is solid and makes the music sound futuristic to go with the storyline.  Sci fi music for the late seventies....  Favorite line:  "Sometimes I get discouraged/Sometimes I get so down/Sometimes I get so worried/But I don't know what about..."

Flip it over for side two....

Don't Do Me Like That--The song that made me a fan for life.  Benmont Tench steals the show with his organ playing, Stan Lynch pounds the drums into oblivion, Mike Campbell throws in a few nice licks, and Petty's gritty vocals take us into another stratosphere--and turned them all into superstars.  Two minutes and forty-one seconds of unadulterated rock and roll joy.  Oh, oh, oh indeed.  Favorite line:  "I was talking with a friend of mine, said a woman had hurt his pride/Told him that she loved him so and turned around and let him go..."

You Tell Me--And follows it with...a not so upbeat number.  Could have been called "A Man with no Self Respect."  Petty spins a tale of a man trying a little too hard to hold on to the one he's got.  A solid if unspectacular effort.  Favorite line:  "Well you put me through your paces and you twisted/Until I felt like dying/Yeah the last thing I needed/Was to finally realize you were lying..."

What Are You Doin' in My Life?--A song about the stalker from hell. Petty plays the victim with a touch of terror and a touch of humor.  Ron Blair's bass in killer throughout--almost hear echoes of rockabilly here.  Add in some nice riffs from Campbell and some terrific piano from Tench and we have another winner.  Favorite line:  "Well, you're the last woman in the world that thrills me/Now you got my girlfriend trying to kill me..."

Louisiana Rain--I've always thought this was one of Petty's more underrated tunes (translation:  I really, really like it).  Not sure if this was their stab at a country song or a southern rock ballad, but either way, it worked.  It's the story of a man travelling America and the years have not been kind (unlucky in love, booze, the world's sorrow always in his sight), still hoping (or not) to get back to Baton Rouge.  Petty's vocals carry all his pathos, Tench's organ guides him from city to city, and the rest of the band plays their part in playing out his story.  Just a tremendous ending to a tremendous album.  Favorite line:  "Louisiana Rain is falling just like tears/Running down my face, washing out the years/Louisiana rain is soaking through my shoes/I may never be the same when I reach Baton Rouge..."

Can't begin to tell you what a joy it was to revisit this year's album.  Here's hoping next year is equally as satisfying--same bat time, same bat channel....

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

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

It's just the normal noises in here

My introduction to T.P.

Like I did with Bruce Springsteen and Born to Run, I discovered Tom Petty with the release of his third album (Christmas present, 1979), Damn the Torpedoes.  For the better part of the next twenty years, the announcement of each and every release of his was cause for celebration and each album was a joy to listen to.  Unlike The Beatles or The Rolling Stones or even The Who, whose best work was behind them by the time I discovered them, Petty (and Springsteen and John Mellencamp) had numerous albums full of classics that I got to discover without the grace of the past and was lucky enough to watch his brilliant career unfold in real time.

Hearing of his passing yesterday at the age of 66 brought me to tears for only the second time when a hero of mine had died (Muhammad Ali being the first), and I have spent the better part of today listening to my favorite songs of his and not without some emotion.  I keep thinking "My God, he's gone," but he really isn't.  His musical legacy will be with me and his many fans for the rest of our lives and that is no small gift.  It's also a reminder that we are all here for a relatively short time, and it's the (hopefully) happy memories that will survive us.

For some odd reason, of all the umpteen songs of his that I loved, the one that's been resounding in my head since I heard the news is a relatively unknown cut from his Echo album, entitled, appropriately enough, "Echo."  Probably because his passing leaves me with the "...the same sad echo":

R.I.P, Mr. Petty, and thanks for the happy memories....

emaycee