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. CDLXXIII--Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Don't Come Around Here No More

 Once again, a week late.  Ah, well....

When this week's featured tune first was released, it was quite a departure from the usual Tom Petty fare and wasn't well received by many.  I was not among them--I thought Petty had walked the fine line between releasing a song that was different (Petty has mentioned this was a goal of the sessions), but still captured the vibe that was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.  Time has proven those of us who heard its brilliance early on to be correct--it is widely considered to be one of his best tunes....

I wrote about Tom Petty in Vol. CLXIII, and much like Bruce Springsteen a couple of weeks ago, find it hard to believe this is only the second song of his that I've written about as he is truly one of my musical icons.  As with Springsteen, I'm sure there will be a lot of catching up in the years to come.  As for the bio, been there, done that and since his passing in 2017, not much new to add.

"Don't Come Around Here No More" was the first single released from Petty's excellent 1985 release, Southern Accents.  The single peaked at #13 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #7 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Petty co-wrote the song with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.  Stewart actually started the song after spending the night (platonically) at Stevie Nicks' home.  In the wee hours, her former flame, Joe Walsh of Eagles fame, came looking for her and as Nicks booted him from her home, she reportedly told him, "Don't come around here no more."  Stewart came up with a chorus from it, and Petty wrote the rest.

One need only to listen to the opening sitar to know that Petty and the Heartbreakers (though Stewart played the sitar) are going to take us on a very different musical journey with this week's tune.  Petty's trademark scowl marks his foray through the vocals, and the Heartbreakers (if ever there was an underrated backing band...) perform with their usual aplomb, complimenting Petty's scowl with a rousing "Hey!" in their backing vocals and kicking ass and taking names later with their instrumentation.  The song's closing--with Mike Campbell playing a jangly guitar to end all jangly guitars--is just this side of the Eagles "Hotel California" in wondrous glory, and the song captures all the pain and anger in telling a one-time flame to stay the fuck away.  A veritable masterpiece.

Lyric Sheet:  "I don't feel you anymore/You darken my door/Whatever you're looking for/Hey! Don't come around here no more..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emayce

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDLIII--Mudcrutch: Trailer

 Prior to doing my weekly half-assed research for this week's tune, I thought my introduction to it was the song being featured in the Showtime series that I was one of about three people who thought it was a good show:  Roadies.  But after a little reading...how's that for a lame-ass teaser?

Mudcrutch (quite the intriguing name, may or may not have had its origin in the fact that the band members were all dirt poor and/or looking for a psychedelic sounding name) formed in Gainesville, Florida in 1970, and quickly developed into a popular band from Central Florida to Southern Georgia.  They moved to Los Angeles in 1974 and signed with Shelter Records.  They released a single that didn't sell, and after a year the label lost patience with their lack of success and broke the band up.  Three of the members--Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, and Benmont Tench (you may have heard of them)--went on to form Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with some measure of success.  Mudcrutch would reform in 2008 and release their first album to commercial and critical success.  The band released a second album in 2016, but sadly it would be their last as Petty passed away in 2017 from an accidental overdose. 

"Trailer" was featured on Mudcrutch's second album, the rather appropriately named 2.  The song was not released as a single (though there was a promotional single for it).  The album peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200 and was also named one of Rolling Stone's top fifty albums of 2016.

Fun Fact:  As noted above, until I began reading about this week's tune I thought the first I'd heard it was on Roadies.  Turns out the song was actually originally released as the B-side of Petty's 1985 single "Don't Come Around Here No More."  It so happens that I own that particular single, and when I checked it out, sure enough the B-side was indeed "Trailer." As at one time I was quite the devotee of B-side singles, there's a good chance that I had heard it before, though apparently it didn't make much of an impression back then.

One of the gifts that Tom Petty had--and despite his success, never lost--was his ability to write songs about everyday people that touched the heart.  In "Trailer" Petty weaves the tale of a young man who fell in love in high school, bought his love a trailer for the two of them to share, only to have her leave without so much as a goodbye and all he has left is a trailer that he doesn't much like and the dreams he has of the life he might have led had he never bought it.  In truth, it's kind of a sad song, but Petty and Mudcrutch never let it devolve into mawkishness.  There's some nice guitar work from Mike Campbell, a bit of emaycee fave harmonica, and Petty's vocals capture the yearning of a man reeling from the disappointment that his life has become.  And it's all done in three minutes and seventeen seconds--one of the truly great aspects of rock and roll is its ability to say so much with so few frills, and with "Trailer" Mudcrutch gives a master class in how it's done.

Lyric Sheet:  "I can't find a band aid that gives me an answer/That shines any light on the way things went/I get by on my own time..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXI--Traveling Wilburys: End of the Line

At one point in time I had thought that if I ever decide to bring Friday Night Jukebox to a close this week's tune would be perfect for its ending...but considering that I have songs to cover the next three years and seem to come up with a year to a year and a half's worth of songs each year to continue FNJ, its demise seems pretty remote....

The Traveling Wilburys formed in 1988 when George Harrison (Nelson Wilbury) asked Jeff Lynne (Otis) and Roy Orbison (Lefty) to help him with a B-side for his next single.  As Bob Dylan's (Lucky) house was nearby and had a recording studio, they asked if he'd let them use it.  Tom Petty (Charlie T., Jr.) came on when Harrison stopped by his house to pick up a guitar he'd left there.  They deemed the B-side single they recorded ("Handle with Care") too good for a B-side...and decided to join forces.  Their first album was a surprise hit, won a Grammy, and led to a second--and final--LP.  Sadly, Roy Orbison passed away shortly after the first album was released, George Harrison passed away in 2001, and Tom Petty in 2017.  The band discussed touring but it never came to be.  The super group is credited with revitalizing the careers of Dylan, Petty, and Roy Orbison (the revitalization, especially Dylan, played a large part in their only releasing two albums, as solo careers took precedence), and also with giving rock and roll a shot in the arm as it defied what were then the most commercially successful genres of pop music.  If nothing else, they were a hell of a lot of fun....

"End of the Line" was the second single released from the Wilburys' appropriately named debut album, The Traveling Wilburys, Vol 1 (have to admit the "Vol. 1" was a nice touch, separating them from every other group with an eponymous album).  The single would reach #63 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album roared up to #3 on the albums chart.

Fun (if somewhat sad) Fact:  Roy Orbison had passed away by the time the Traveling Wilburys made the video (seen below) for "End of the Line," so Orbison is memorialized by showing a rocking chair with a guitar on it next to his picture every time Orbison's vocals are present in the song.

The Traveling Wilburys pretty much had me at the jangly guitar (adroitly played by Harrison) at the beginning of the song--that the rest of the song is a gem is just icing on the cake.  Much like the Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey" (which I wrote about in Jukebox No. 23, "End of the Line" is a paean to getting older and relishing in it.  While I was still a young man when the single debuted, I've come to appreciate its sentiments more and more as I get older.  Surprisingly enough, getting older is "all right" as the band tells us, and you do tend to appreciate the day to day treasures just a bit more.  The song features Tom Petty's vocals through the stanzas, and each of the band members (except Dylan) takes a turn leading the chorus vocals.  The music is top tapping good, there's a knowing humor to both the lyrics and the vocals, and the band's chiming "...at the end of the line, end of the line..." as the end of each sentence Petty sings makes one of those special moments that all great songs have.  As I've noted here a time or two, one of the surest ways for me to know how amazing a song is is how much I sing it after I've done my half-assed research for the week--suffice it to say this one's been driving my wife and youngest son nuts all week--having to listen to me sing it again and again and again....

Lyric Sheet:  "Well it's all right, even if you're old and gray/Well it's all right, you still got something to say..."


Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
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

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLXII--Dwight Twilley: Somebody to Love

It's easy to forget now that MTV has become whatever it is it's become (far too old to watch it anymore) but doesn't have much to do with music, that at one time it was a place where pop music geeks could go in the wee hours of the morning and find little pop gems...just like this week's tune.

Dwight Twilley is another in a long line of musicians who could have been a contender.  While I'm only nominally familiar with his work, Twilley has been a critical favorite for many years and has a small but devoted fan base.  Starting out in the thriving metropolis of Tulsa, Oklahoma (Twilley's career has taken him all over America, but he's settled down near his home), Twilley originally formed the band Oister with Beatle movie buddy Phil Seymour before the band  went to L.A. (via  Nashville and Tupelo, Mississippi), teamed up with Leon Russell, and became the Dwight Twilley Band.  The band had a hit single in 1975 with "I'm on Fire" but couldn't mount much more and went their separate ways a few years later.  Twilley went solo at that point, and had another hit single, "Girls," in 1984 (with Tom Petty, a longtime friend, performing backing vocals).  Unfortunately, bad labels, bad timing, and plain old bad luck seemed to follow Twilley's successes and he never quite achieved the stardom some felt he had within him.  Still, he released 4 albums with the Dwight Twilley Band and 25 solo albums (the latest in 2014) and is still performing some forty some odd years down the road.  Not a bad gig if you can get it...

Alas, the story of "Somebody to Love" is not the stuff that dreams are made of.  Originally released in 1979, it was supposed to be Twilley's breakout hit--and ended up being a dud.  His label was so disappointed with its sales performance that they cancelled the album it was supposed to be released on (Blueprint), and Twilley moved on to a new label .  Twilley took some songs from that album (including "Somebody to Love") and with a few new ones released Scuba Divers in 1982 (at which time I heard "Somebody to Love" in its MTV incarnation).  The single did not become a hit the second time around, either.

It's really a shame it didn't--the song is anthemic in nature, and one with a discerning ear (well, at least me) can see it as the kind of song thousands of fans pack into an arena to hear every time Twilley tours.  It's power pop in the Todd Rundgren and Cheap Trick (among many others) mold, featuring some solid guitar work from Twilley that turns it into rock and roll overdrive.  The song is basically a call to arms--we all need somebody to love and Twilley outlines the many reasons we do (somebody to spend your money on, somebody to hold on tight to, somebody to break your heart) with "somebody to love" being crooned over and over in the background.  And when Twilley sings the chorus and finishes the last "love" with a drawn out "la-ah-ah-ah-ove" it's pure pop heaven--which, come to think of it, pretty much perfectly describes "Somebody to Love."

Lyric Sheet:  "Somebody to love/Somebody that you can depend on/One place in the sun/One feeling there's just no denying...."

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

Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music...

The Man in Black saves the day yet again...

I've been having a hell of a time lately of writing posts for this blog--with a wife and two children with pre-existing conditions, the repeal of Obamacare and the passage of the AHCA in the House, while still a long way from being a done deal, is a lot closer to bringing misery to those I love.  Watching republicans show their complete and utter contempt for this country (I lived through Watergate, and whatever fault republicans of that era may have had, they realized the consequences of what Nixon had done and put their country before their party) just so they can pass tax cuts for the wealthy and shred the social safety net for working men and women has left me feeling a lot like Sisyphus.

For those not familiar, Sisyphus, in Greek mythology, was condemned for an eternity to push a boulder up a steep hill, only to have the boulder hit him on its way back down again and again.  And that's the way the political situation has seemed to me over these past few weeks:  utterly hopeless.

But as I was cutting the grass yesterday, listening to songs shuffle on my iPod against the roar of the lawn mower, Johnny Cash's version of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" began to play, and it dawned on me that even if we lose, over and over again, for history and posterity it will be enough to say that we didn't stop fighting.

Sometimes, it's the best you can do.

The Man in Black:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

The same sad echo

Democrats in the Senate, which we control 55-45, are on the verge of "compromising" on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the tune of $9 billion.

Un-fucking-believable.

I know it's the same sad echo, but we live in a time when one in six Americans--in the wealthiest nation in the world--live in poverty, when one in five Americans are food insecure, when there are three unemployed Americans for every job opening, and Democrats, led by my home state's own Debbie Stabenow, are for the first time in our party's history willing to concede to steep food stamp cuts in order to prove they are as callous as republicans.

We're talking children going hungry here.  Children.

Frankly, this is simply unacceptable.  Helping those in need is a core principle of the Democratic Party, and if abandoned, makes our party's leaders no better than let them eat cake republicans.

Bill Clinton's compromise on welfare reform has had harsh consequences for poverty in America, and this one will do the same for hunger in America.

Peace,
emaycee