(needle crackling on record)
(tonearm clicking)
TOM PETTY:
Who is it?
Room service.
Can we clean the room, please?
-What?
-Can we please
clean the room, please?
-Get out of here.
-Please, can we please
cl-clean your room?
Get out of here.
Excuse me, sir.
(door opens)
TOM:
Get the f*ck out of here!
Kind of like going
for wild bear.
-(band playing "Refugee")
-(crowd cheering)
We got something,
we both know it
We don't talk
too much about it
Ain't no real big secret
all the same
Somehow we get around it
Listen
It don't really matter
to me, baby
You believe
what you want to believe
You see, you don't
have to live like a refugee
Don't have to live
like a refugee
Somewhere, somehow
Somebody must've
kicked you around some
Tell me why
you wanna lay there
And revel in your abandon
Listen
It don't make no difference
to me, honey
Everybody's had to fight
to be free
You see, you don't
have to live like a refugee
Don't have to live
like a refugee
No, you don't
have to live like a refugee
Don't have to live
like a refugee
No, no, whoa!
(electric guitar solo playing)
(tempo slows,
band playing flourish)
(song ends)
(crowd cheering)
WOMAN (over speaker):
Cameron, bring ABTR H phase
a little bit to the right.
I thought we were gonna
ABO that sync
-like on the Norm Crosby...
-MAN: Hey, what are you doing?
What do you mean
what am I doing?
My name is Cameron Crowe.
I've been writing about music
for the last ten years,
and I've had a chance
to interview
a lot of the legendary figures
in rock and roll.
-But for the first time...
-Cameron, Stan Lynch is
on the phone.
Could you please take a message?
I'm busy.
-Okay.
-For the first time,
I can take you with me
for a video profile,
and we're going to be taking
a rare behind-the-scenes look
at one of the most important
bands around: Tom...
Cameron? Stan says
to cut this intro out.
No one wants to see
this kind of thing.
I got to go.
CROWE:
Well, Tom, when we first decided
to do this interview,
you said you wanted
to go cruising
around the streets
of Los Angeles in a limo.
Why a limo?
TOM:
Well, I like limos,
'cause I can be
in any state I want
and not have to worry
about driving.
It's a pretty, you know,
obnoxious way to travel around.
And I don't have to ride in a...
in an old Ford
to convince myself
that I'm of the street.
You know, I know
I'm of the street. (laughs)
Our guest has been described
as an authentic,
all-American rock and roll hero,
which I'm sure...
-(crowd cheering)
-(man clears throat)
I'm sure nobody here
would argue with.
He, uh, he does not normally do
things like this or interviews
because he doesn't like them,
which is one of the reasons why
we're especially pleased
he agreed to be our guest today.
Please welcome Mr. Tom Petty.
(crowd cheering)
I'd say, "Why?
What am I gonna do,
go give a lecture at college?"
Like that was the ultimate hoot,
as far as...
And he said,
"No, I think it'd be great."
I said,
"No, I don't want to do it."
MAN:
How's it going, Tom?
(chuckles) Can't complain.
First off here,
I just want to say that
I hope you keep pumping out that
good kick-a*s rock and roll.
It helps a lot.
I myself am involved
with a band right now,
and, um, we spent about
two and a half hours one night
trying to figure out
on "American Girl"
your lyrics
in the second verse there.
-We had a hard time.
-(laughter)
Well, what you do is
you just don't worry about it,
-and you kind of... (laughs)
-(laughter)
-Y-You put a...
-That's the way we're doing it.
Y-You get a fork full of food
and just sing, and...
-(laughter, applause)
-um, it'll sound the same.
What-what do you want to know?
You want to know the lyrics?
-Uh, I...
-Well, it's-- Yeah.
It's just been--
You know, I've been losing sleep
over it a little bit.
(laughter)
All right, what part
you want to know?
(laughter)
Well, when you start off, "Well,
it was kind of cold that night."
-"She..."
-"She stood alone."
-"On her balcony."
-Oh, okay.
"She could hear
the waves roll by."
No, "She could hear
the cars roll by
out on 441 like waves
crashing on a beach."
By any chance, would 441--
would that be a highway
somewhere in Florida?
Yeah.
Runs right through Florida.
CROWE:
Petty was born
in Gainesville, Florida,
and brought up in
a typical working-class family.
But Gainesville was known
more for alligators
than its music scene,
and Petty left early
to find his success in L.A.
He returned home in 1981 a hero.
MAN:
We're fortunate, in this case,
that not only is, uh, Tom Petty
a Gainesville boy
but also that he is of
good moral character.
-And...
-(laughter)
I'm very happy today
to present him
with the key to the city
of Gainesville.
(cheering, applause)
(cheering)
-MAN: Show us the key, Tom.
-(indistinct chatter)
-All right.
-E flat.
-E flat.
-(laughter)
TOM:
Yeah, it's funny that,
you know, when you're there
and kind of going
to juvenile court
and all the things
that happened to us there,
and you-- and then you come back
and get the key to the city,
you-you have to take it
with a pinch of salt.
But, I mean, I thought
they were very nice to us.
CROWE:
Petty's life changed
when he met Elvis Presley
at the Florida location of
Elvis's movie
Follow That Dream.
The next day, Petty traded
his favorite slingshot
for a stack of Elvis 45s.
He would never be the same.
TOM:
It was just like,
once the music got
into my-my body--
or, like, I have a friend
that says,
"Once the ghost gets in you."
I mean, once the ghost
got in me, it never came out.
I mean, I never could think
of doing anything else.
It wouldn't have mattered
if I had gone to school
or off to be a monk or any--
It wouldn't have mattered.
You know, I would have done
the same thing.
It's just--
there was no control.
There was no way to quit,
no way to walk away from it.
Just to hope for the best
from it,
you know, like,
hope that it takes care of me.
(playing "American Girl")
CROWE:
The Heartbreakers formed in 1975
when Petty ran into
four old friends from Florida--
guitarist Mike Campbell,
drummer Stan Lynch
and bassist Ron Blair--
all at
a Los Angeles solo session
for keyboard player
Benmont Tench.
Within the first few minutes
of playing together,
they knew they had a band.
The Heartbreakers were
soon an L.A. club favorite,
thanks to early songs like
"American Girl."
Well, she was
an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help
thinking that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all,
it was a great big world
With lots of places
to run to
And if she had to die trying
She had one little promise
she was gonna keep
Oh, yeah
All right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl...
TOM:
The inspiration
for "American Girl"
was not Roger McGuinn;
it was Bo Diddley.
(playing "American Girl")
It's the same...
You know, the whole...
And it'd be like...
Yeah, she was
an American girl
Raised on promises.
(playing "Listen to Her Heart")
You think you're gonna
take her away
With your money
and your cocaine
You keep thinking that
her mind is gonna change
But I know
everything is okay
She's gonna listen
to her heart
It's gonna tell her
what to do
She might need
a lot of loving
But she don't need you...
Yeah, we didn't have
any idea what we were doing.
It was like the first album,
first couple albums,
first couple tours,
we didn't have any idea
what we were doing.
We didn't know any better,
which was great.
That was
a real cool time for us.
Plus, there was nothing
but disco happening,
so we knew we were cool,
you know.
There probably was
s-some, you know,
jockeying for position
in the first of two albums,
as-as there always is, you know.
But I think even if it was
called the Heartbreakers,
it would still be Tom,
because he--
it's-it's ultimately his vision
as a singer and-and songwriter.
CROWE:
In their seven years together,
the Heartbreakers have had
only one personnel change.
In 1982, they added
Howie Epstein on bass.
It was great.
Well, I was a fan
of the band's anyway,
so it was just sort of neat
playing with them.
How did the decision
to replace Ron Blair come about?
It's just like somebody
in your family, you know,
that you're not working
with anymore.
(laughs):
So, you know.
But he-he told me
he didn't really want
to go on the road anymore,
that he just couldn't
get on the bus again.
So we're on the road.
We are a team, you know.
It's like we're a family or--
I hate to say family,
but that's what it is.
We're, like, married.
We depend on each other,
and we feed off each other,
you know.
And then it's-- so it's like--
it's almost essential
that we be really close.
Like, last tour, last couple of
tours, we bused instead of flew,
which kept us, like,
in really close quarters,
like 24 hours a day,
which got to be
a bit Boy Scouts after
about three months of it.
(playing "I'm Stupid")
But just because
I eat bricks
And just because
I run in front of cars
Just because
I put food on my head
People think
I'm not smart
But I'm stupid
I've been stupid
since the day I was born
Yeah, I'm a dumbass, baby
I'm stupid, right on
But just because
I go around with Mike
And just because
I don't sleep at night
People think
I'm not bright
I'm stupid
I've been stupid
since the day I was born
Well, I'm a dumbass, baby
I'm stupid
OTHERS:
Right on!
So we're here in the desert.
(device buzzes)
CROWE:
What about the Heartbreakers
on the road now?
-(scoffs)
-(chuckles)
As of about four years ago,
you used to always see
the band characterized
as these road marauding...
you know, bandidos.
They come into your town.
(chuckles)
Stan has a saying:
"total conquest."
CROWE:
Has it changed much
the last few years
or is it still pretty...
"Heartbreakers Beach Party"
out there?
TOM:
Well, we hadn't gone
in, like, a year, but...
it's pretty insane, yeah.
Now, I don't think it'll ever
change too much. Um...
It seems like, um...
it just gets worse year to year.
(laughs)
You know, it's in them,
and it's got to come out.
It's one of
those kind of things.
It's hard, though.
It takes me...
After you do that show,
I mean, going to sleep
is just a laugh.
I mean, like, yeah,
okay, sure, you could...
you could even go get in bed.
What's the difference?
You're so charged up,
you're so revved
that, you know, it takes a lot
to-to knock it down by morning.
-(playing
"Hit the Road Jack/Breakdown")
- It's all right
(crowd cheering,
shouting excitedly)
Old woman, old woman,
don't you treat me this way
'Cause I'll be back
on my feet someday
I guess if you say so
I'll have to pack my bags
- And go
- That's right
Hit the road, Jack
And don't you come back
no more
No more, no more, no more
Hit the road, Jack
And don't you come back
no more
(crowd cheering)
It's all right
(cheering grows louder)
Is it all right?
(crowd cheering)
Is it all right?
(crowd cheering)
Is it all right?!
(crowd cheering)
All right
'Cause you can walk
right out the door, baby
I don't mind
You can walk
all over me, baby
I don't mind, I can stand it,
I don't mind
I can face it, I don't mind,
I can take it
I don't mind, I can
live with it, I don't mind
I can take it, I don't mind,
I can take it, I don't mind
(cheering grows louder)
It's all right!
TOM:
There's a point
in every show, though,
I can feel
where I just feel relaxed
and, like, you know,
we broke through, you know.
Maybe even, like, sex,
but not quite like that.
I mean, but, like, where,
you know, I-I've got it now.
We're really rolling now,
you know.
Nothing's gonna go wrong.
And you hit that
where nothing can go wrong.
CROWE:
Except maybe one night
a few years back in Winterland
when you got pulled
into the audience.
What was going on?
Were you going out
into the audience
to-to play part of the song?
No, I just got
a little too happy.
Can you say,
"I love rock and roll music"?
Can you say,
"It makes me feel good inside"?
(crowd cheering)
Sometimes
Sometimes
Sometime easy...
I lean out over,
and somebody just got me
-right around the legs.
-(hands clap)
You know, in we go.
And, uh, that was,
you know, pretty scary.
They, uh...
It was one of the first times
it really registered to me
that, you know,
the crowd is dangerous.
The crowd... crowd, you know,
out of control, is dangerous.
Because that was dangerous.
You know, I was beat up
pretty good there.
And it-it doesn't seem
on the tape
like it takes very long at all
to get me out,
but, I mean, it was a lifetime.
I don't know.
I think they really thought
that they could just
take a finger home,
you know, take this, that.
I don't know what they thought
to tell you the truth.
I got back up
and finished the show.
-(band playing rock music)
-(crowd cheering)
Now, they're-they're
a great audience, really.
It was a great show.
And I don't hold anything
against the audience 'cause,
I mean, I'm the one that stirred
it all up in the first place.
I just should know better
than to... to get too close.
From very early on,
we-we used to do those tours
that would just go
eight, nine gigs in a row
before there was a day off,
and month after month
and a month.
And then, you-you know,
we learned real early,
hey, you just can't do it.
And now I-I try to keep a...
some kind of moderate watch on
it and still have a good time.
I don't want it to get so safe
that there's no fun left.
(crowd cheering)
(crowd clapping and chanting
rhythmically)
In the wrong f*cking room.
Everything is f*cking wrong.
It's like,
you got to stick with us.
We're in the wrong room.
MAN:
Want to go back up?
MAN 2:
Let's go back up
and get in the right room.
-MAN: Yeah.
-Come on.
MAN 2:
We'll bring it down here
if we have to. sh*t.
Put me in
the wrong f*cking room.
(indistinct chatter)
MAN:
Oh, yeah, this is happening.
Tennis, anyone?
MAN 3:
You're on our court.
You're walking around our court.
-Oh, we're in the wrong room.
-(laughing)
-We're in the wrong room.
-Tommy.
-What?
-Today's court day, right?
-I thought we're going to court.
-The wrong direction.
Yeah.
Oh, well, see,
we just come offstage.
We thought we were going
to the dressing room.
You'll have to forgive us.
MAN 4:
Next door right.
MAN 3:
You don't play tennis courts,
so get the f*ck out of here.
Oh, we'll see you, then.
-MAN 2: Have a good game.
-MAN: Let's go.
Okay.
-I plead insane.
-(laughing)
(band playing upbeat rock music)
CROWE:
In 1979,
the fun stopped
and the legal hassles began.
The Heartbreakers record company
was sold to MCA,
and Petty felt like a pawn
in a huge corporate game.
In his well-publicized battle
to retain creative freedom,
Petty was sued from
three different directions.
His most important album,
Damn the Torpedoes,
was almost never released.
-("Don't Do Me Like That"
playing)
- Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you, baby?
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that,
don't do me like that...
All I'd done really to...
to get into the lawsuit was, um,
become popular enough
that everyone thought
they were gonna make a fortune.
It was really scary.
It was down to the point of,
"We're gonna come get
your tapes.
"We're gonna send a marshal
down to the studio,
and he's gonna
confiscate the tapes."
And we're gonna put
the wrong names
you know, fictitious names
on the tapes.
And there was no way,
I mean, to this day,
with all the records we sold
and everything,
I still wouldn't be
in the black.
There was no way
to-to get ahead.
Nothing. Uh, publishing,
every single thing.
And we'd just gotten, you know,
sophisticated enough
business-wise to realize that.
And I said, you know, "I'll-I'll
light the whole thing on fire.
"I'll burn this tape
before I'm gonna give it to you
-and let you just exploit me."
-("Refugee" playing)
It don't make no difference
to me, baby
Everybody's had to fight
to be free
You see, you don't
have to live like a refugee
Don't have to live
like a refugee
Now, baby, you don't
have to live like a refugee
- Don't have to live
like a refugee
- No...
TOM:
Finally, after, uh, ten months,
the whole mess was resolved,
and it wound up with us going
to a new label called Backstreet
that would, uh,
be distributed by MCA.
-("Even the Losers" playing)
- Baby, even the losers
Get lucky sometimes
Even the losers
Keep a little bit of pride
They get lucky sometimes,
hey...
TOM:
This is great, you know.
From being nearly washed out,
from being bankrupt,
all the way around.
And we'd just done it
on this record,
and the-the fans had done it,
you know.
You have to-- like,
at the risk of sounding corny,
you know, you really have
to thank the fans and be...
I'm still very reverent
about that.
You know, I will stop
and sign the thing because...
it's that important, you know.
I mean, I think
that if you lose that,
if you get where they're
just them, then it's all gone.
I always feel sorry for
those groups that get so big
and shut it all out and get,
you know, too cool to be happy.
CROWE:
After selling three million
copies of Damn the Torpedoes,
the next album would be
more anticipated than ever.
The mood of Hard Promises
changed many times
as the band felt the pressure
of a follow-up.
You know, you have a big record,
and all of a sudden,
everybody expects
a bigger one next time,
you know, and that's
a hard promise to live up to,
'cause half the time, you don't
even know how you did it.
You just went in, it happened.
You made a great record.
And then next time,
you got to go out
and you got to go, "Well, how...
We got to do that,
but we got to do it better."
Instead of just
going for it blind.
So, Hard Promises, we had...
Torpedoes did really well,
you know.
Hard Promises,
we were kind of...
We knew everybody
would-would really be
listening to this one.
So we didn't want to do
the same album again,
you know, so we took
some chances on it.
("A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)"
playing)
She laughed in my face
Told me goodbye
Said, "Don't think about it
"You can go crazy
"Anything can happen
"Anything can end
"Don't try to fight it
Don't try to save me"
She's a woman in love
She's a woman in love
And he's gonna break
her heart to pieces
She don't want to see
She's a woman in love
But it's not me...
CROWE:
With the release of
Hard Promises,
Petty would make
yet another stand,
this one over
higher record prices.
MAN:
You had a, uh, lot of publicity
about a struggle
with your record company
about the list prices
on one of your albums.
Uh, what would be
one of the things
that probably peeve you off most
about the industry
in the U.S. at this time?
It's like, the only times
we butt heads is
when they want to do something
like take advantage of me.
You know, like,
I felt like charging 9.98
was taking advantage of me.
And if you notice,
records are still at 8.98
for the most part, you know,
which, uh, makes me
feel good about that,
-because they didn't
have to do it, you know.
-(applause)
Now I'm out in the woods,
and I'm thinking,
"How am I gonna eat tonight?
Or even get
to that Ted Nugent show?"
-(g*n pops)
-Whoa, there's one down now.
-CROWE: Nice shot.
-I felt good about it.
While we're waiting for Cameron
to get his dart together,
this is the, uh, the first cover
of the album.
-(g*n pops)
-Whoa.
I feel good about that.
TOM:
Okay, Cameron,
-here is all the dirty truth.
-Okay.
TOM:
That's a cover of Cashbox
that I found very strange.
So, did you just put
all this stuff in a box
as you got it
and just stashed it away?
Uh, yeah, me or somebody did it.
CROWE:
Is there a story
behind this picture?
TOM:
He's the only person
I ever asked for an autograph
was James Brown,
Godfather of Soul.
This is the first night
I ever met Campbell.
We got banned from Germany
for a while 'cause of this.
-You had to be there.
-So how old are you here?
TOM:
I don't know, 20, 19.
Well, I would never
really want to sit down
and see this much of me,
you know?
What's in there?
I think that's up in Santa Cruz
a long time ago.
This is the first letter
I ever got back
from a-a record company.
Yeah, that really
pissed me off that cover,
'cause I didn't see that girl
as anything like that.
Oh, "Necesito Saber."
"Necesito Saber."
One of my favorites.
CROWE:
What was
the most bizarre version
of one of your songs
that you've heard?
TOM:
The weirdest thing I ever heard
was a Swedish version
of "I Need to Know."
("Vill ha ett svar"
by Gyllene Tider playing)
(song continues
with lyrics in Swedish)
It is kind of
a cute little record.
Oh, we're just having a party.
You want to see
some of these videotapes?
-CROWE: I do.
-Just-just at random?
All of Hard Promises
is on videotape.
Oh, this is an old movie. Wait.
-(playing "Gator on the Lawn")
- My lawn
Yeah, I run in the kitchen,
looked in the paper
Said, "Oh, God almighty, mama,
there it says a gator
Come on..."
This is us, yeah, doing,
uh, the "Gator on the Lawn."
Every other day,
I got a gator on my lawn.
-(playing "Heartbreakers
Beach Party")
- Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah
(laughing)
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah...
TOM:
Like, here, I-I'm just
showing them this song.
-(playing "Insider")
- I'm an insider
This is the first time
anybody's hearing this.
Yeah, I'm an insider...
But we made this record
that night.
You know, we got...
just got lucky that night.
We got it.
And if we'd been at rehearsal,
we wouldn't have got it,
you know?
With some hard promises
I've crawled through
the briars
I'm an insider.
-Well, why does it have to...
-(indistinct chatter)
Well, we can...
CROWE:
How'd you and Stevie Nicks
get together?
TOM:
She was a fan of the band,
and she just had been
for a long time
and wanted to come
and-and hang out and sing some.
So she was asking me one night
at dinner for a song.
You know,
"Would you write a song?"
She'd asked me a couple times,
but one night,
she got real adamant
about, you know,
"Really want a song."
So I said, "Okay, you know,
I'll write the song."
And, um, I went...
...went home,
and the next afternoon,
I wrote this, um... "Insider."
I'm an insider
I been burned by the fire
But I've had to live
with some hard promises
I've crawled
through the briars
I'm an insider...
TOM:
That's where I got
the whole "hard promises" line.
The whole thing just hit me
in the head all at once.
I'll bet
you're his masterpiece
I'll bet
you're his self-control
Yeah, you'll become
his legacy
His quiet world
of white and gold...
TOM:
She said, "You know what?
"I can't take this from you
"because I know--
I can see how bad you want it.
"And you just keep it
and write me another song,
and we're even."
I said, "Yeah, well,
what am I supposed to do?"
Okay. I-I knew it. I just...
This really helps
to do this little thing.
"And I said," dash, "I-I..."
"I said," dash,
"Yeah, well," dash,
"what am I supposed to..."
-And it works.
-Yeah.
Creative writing, right?
Did you ever take that?
You have to write,
and then you have to-- you go--
you make dashes
and exclamation points,
so you-- when you read it...
I tell you, I just barely
got through school at all.
-It was just, uh... we never...
-(chuckles)
You'll come knocking
on my...
English was about
as deep as it got.
-Right, right.
You'll come knocking on...
-Um...
You'll come knocking
on my front door
Same old story that
you used to use before...
TOM:
We did "Stop Draggin'
My Heart Around."
I think it took us
a-a few hours.
We went down and learned it
and sang it, and...
-the rest is history.
-(Crowe laughs)
Baby, you'll come knocking
on my front door
Same old line
you used to use before
I said, "Yeah, well,
what am I supposed to do?"
I didn't know
what I was getting into
So you've had
a little trouble in town
Now you're keeping
some demon down
And stop draggin' my,
and stop draggin' my
And stop draggin'
my heart around.
TOM:
And it's still a big thrill,
anytime you create
a piece of music, to me.
It's just a real kick.
It's like... It's fun.
It's fun to-- for four people
to play and tape rolls,
and then you can play it back.
I'm still fascinated by that.
(playing "Keeping Me Alive")
But sometimes we ride around
She plays the radio up loud
If I was sad,
well, I'm happy now
And it feels so good to know
I got you where you belong
Here in my heart
- Right by my side...
-(music stops)
Tried to do it
as long as I could.
-What happened?
-The vocal-- this vocal mic
is so (bleep) loud.
-Oh, sorry.
-Blow your head off.
That was happening.
-STAN: Sorry, guys.
-It's okay.
STAN:
One. Turn this thing down.
-TOM: Not in my cue.
-STAN: One.
-Ah!
-TOM: No, no, no!
You're turning it up in my cue.
STAN:
One, one.
TOM:
We want it down. Hey.
That's good right now
in this cue.
Okay, why is it so loud
in my cue now?
TOM:
So I think I like
the studio a little too much,
you know, because
I-I could stay there endlessly
and just make sounds,
make noises.
You know, I wear everyone out.
Nobody wants to stay.
They always want
to go before I do.
-(music resumes)
- I got a job
I work hard
These days,
the money don't go very far
It's hard enough
keeping gas in the car
But sometimes we ride around
She plays the radio up loud
If I was sad,
well, I'm happy now
Yeah, and it feels
so good to know
I got you where you belong
Here in my heart,
right by my side
Honey, you're getting me by
Yeah, you're
keeping me alive
All right
Whoa...
TOM:
Our whole music is
based around influence.
This is, you know... it's
just like a real American group.
It's like, uh,
we just take everything in.
It all feeds in.
You know, I think the key word
to the '80s music
is-is "synthesis."
You know, it's a synthesizer.
Like, a-a...
Not the instrument but just,
like, what the instrument does.
It just combines sounds.
It takes everything in.
And that's-that's all
that's going on in rock, really.
Because I ain't heard
nothing new
since "Whole Lotta Shakin'."
-(playing "Wild Thing")
- Wild thing
You make my heart sing
Yeah, you make
everything groovy
Oh, yeah, wild thing
Oh, yeah
Now you got it
Now you got it
Hey, wild thing
I think you move me
But I wanna know for sure
I said, come on
and, uh, hold me tight
I love you, yeah
Yeah, wild thing
You make my heart sing
Yeah, you make
everything groovy
Oh, wild thing...
CROWE:
What do you think about when
you're playing the drums, Stan?
-You want an honest answer?
-I want an honest answer.
I think about, like,
(bleep) and (bleep).
Wild thing
Hey.
(tempo slows,
band playing flourish)
(song ends)
CROWE:
I wondered about
your particular process
of writing songs.
Do you carry a notebook with you
and jot down ideas
when they come to you?
TOM:
Yeah. The hardest part
of writing a song ever
is... is the title and
what you're gonna write about.
I mean, that's always
the hardest part to me.
Because once I know
what I want to do,
I can do it in-in an hour.
How about "The Waiting"?
How did that start out?
Oh, "The Waiting,"
I had the 12-string guitar,
and I just, uh...
hit that-that little...
I wanted something that-that,
you know, that had a little lick
from the beginning,
and I just hit that, uh...
(playing "The Waiting")
That's all I had, see?
I did that for a week.
(Crowe laughs)
Then finally I'd hit...
The waiting
Is the hardest part
Every day,
you get one more yard
Take it on faith,
take it to the heart
The waiting is
the hardest part.
You know, I'd get to that, and
then I'd go, "Well, now what?"
You know.
And I'd be, like, all week.
You eat dinner, you come back,
sit down, pick up the guitar.
People start banging
on the wall.
"Don't play that anymore."
(chuckles)
And so finally, I'd hit...
Yeah...
(singing mumbled lyrics)
You know, or however it goes.
Baby, don't it feel like
heaven right now?
You know, I-I'd hit that part
and then, you know,
slowly into this part.
And then, you know,
just every day,
I'd just come down like
a puzzle, you know, and say,
"Well, I know that
this will connect to this."
And then more and more, and then
I had to sit down in the...
final stages of the song,
just sitting down and trying
to tie it up lyrically,
where it all...
you know, got across the thing.
And when it did, you know,
I got real excited, you know.
Went to the phone,
called Iovine.
"I did it! I wrote a song!"
The waiting is
the hardest part
Every day,
you see one more card
You take it on faith,
you take it to the heart
The waiting is
the highest part
Yeah, the waiting
Is the hardest
Part.
(song fades)
(device buzzes)
CROWE:
All right, we're ready.
-(indistinct chatter)
-Roll camera.
-Okay.
-In the room.
I wanted to ask you about
Long After Dark.
It seems to be
more of a band album,
a little bit of a harder album.
And, uh, I wonder if that was
the intention going into it.
No.
CROWE:
How does Long After Dark
sound on the radio these days?
-What do you think, How?
-I think it sounds great.
-Howie loves it.
-Howie loves it.
(playing "Change of Heart")
Well, I fought for you
I fought too hard
To do it all again, babe
It's come too far
You never needed me
You only wanted me around
It gets me down
There's been a change
Yeah, there's been
a change of heart
Said there's been a change
You push
just a little too far
There's been a change
You made it
just a little too hard
There's been a change
There's been
a change of heart
Oh, yeah
Oh, boy
Looks like we finally reached
the turning point
Oh, me, oh, my
Looks like it's time for me
to kiss it goodbye
Yeah, I can kiss it goodbye
There's been a change
Yeah, there's been
a change of heart
Said there's been a change
You push
just a little too far
There's been a change
You made it
just a little too hard
There's been a change
There's been
a change of heart
Oh, oh.
(electric guitar solo playing)
(song ends)
-What's next?
-I don't know.
If we ain't in it,
I ain't volunteering.
CROWE:
I definitely wanted
to ask about the concept
of the "You Got Lucky" film.
How did it come about?
Well, the concept
for that film, I, uh...
always pictured that song--
in the production of the song,
not the song itself
but in the actual production,
I wanted it to have
this Ennio Morricone,
kind of Clint Eastwood
Western feel,
where it's sort of eerie
but still daytime.
(wind whistling)
-("You Got Lucky" playing)
- One, two
You better watch
what you say
You better watch
what you do to me
Don't get carried away
Girl, if you can do
better than me, go
Yeah, go
But remember
Good love is hard to find
Good love is
hard to find
You got lucky, babe
You got lucky, babe
When I found you
You put a hand on my cheek
And then you turned
your eyes away
If you don't feel complete
If I don't take you
all of the way
Then go
Yeah, go
But remember
Good love is hard to find
Good love is
hard to find
You got lucky, babe
You got lucky, babe
When I found you
(electric guitar solo playing)
Yeah, go
Just go
But remember
Good love is hard to find
Good love is
hard to find
You got lucky, babe
You got lucky, babe
When I found you.
(song fades)
So when we went to write,
you know, the movie,
I really just wanted
an excuse to go
play around in the desert
and stuff, you know.
But, uh...
So I didn't try to adhere
to the song or anything.
I just thought
we'd go for a-a vibe,
you know, like that kind--
some kind of feel that was fun.
(laughter, chatter)
No more synthesizers
on these f*cking records.
-(laughter)
-That's what I want to hear.
We're going back
to our f*cking roots.
-That's what I want to hear.
-We're gonna be pure,
like back when we made
the first album.
("A One Story Town" playing)
Oh, I'm lost
in a one-story town
Where everything's close
to the ground
Yeah, the same sh*t
goes down
Nothing turns around
It's a one-story town
Yeah, I'm lost
in a one-story town...
Yeah, I don't know, man.
Every tour is pretty crushing.
This one that's coming up
is gonna be
just a piece of cake, though.
(crowd clamoring)
TOM:
Just get 'em out, man.
Just take 'em both out.
(crowd cheering)
Man, it's like, you know, I
don't know if you understand it,
we care about
what we're doing here.
We came to play for you,
not to fight, you know.
(crowd cheering)
(playing
"Straight into Darkness")
We went straight
into darkness
Out over the line
Yeah, straight into darkness
Straight into night...
MAN:
Sorry about that disturbance
down front.
I don't know
who that was, but...
Well, it's just,
you know, just...
Let-let me apologize for
those inconsiderate Americans...
Yeah, well, I mean,
I-I wouldn't...
...that-that make this hard on
all of the other-other Americans
that are trying to at least,
you know, get over.
Yeah, I-I wouldn't hang that
on you guys,
you know, but it's just--
it's real hard to play
and, like, get into
the songs and stuff
with these guys punching it out
down there.
-MAN 2: It really sucks.
-You know?
They'd be better off
doing that outside
or-or on the base or in the w*r
or something, you know?
It's like,
f*ck it at a rock show.
(indistinct chatter)
But, you know, I just,
I just get real worried
that, uh, you know, I see
these little kids down front.
I get real worried
that, you know,
somebody's gonna swing and--
You know, if he wants
to kick this guy's a*s,
fine, you know,
if he wants to knock him down,
but if he's gonna hit the girl
standing next to the guy,
you know, how the f*ck can I...
how can I sing the song,
you know?
-Oh!
-CROWD: Oh!
-Oh!
-Oh!
(playing "Kings Road")
On the old Kings Road
The old Kings Road
Oh!
Whoa
On the old Kings Road
(crowd cheering)
(crowd clapping rhythmically)
(cheering and rhythmic clapping
continues)
(piano solo playing)
(band joins in)
Out on the old Kings Road
The old Kings Road
Whoa!
Oh
Out on the old Kings Road.
(tempo slows,
band playing flourish)
(song ends)
TOM:
Think about it, you know?
I mean, you just live your life.
You don't worry--
you don't change
when you go through the door
at home or out onto the stage.
I mean, my friends
have seen things
go down here that
they'll never see onstage.
(laughs)
So, no, I don't...
I don't ever feel like I'm...
I hate those, uh, rock stars
or whatever that--
I hate any artist
when I always hear,
"Well, there's me
and there's the character.
-There's me, you know?"
-CROWE: Right.
"There's me-- that's usually
my real name-- and him.
Now, him--" You know, it's
the Jerry Lewis syndrome of
the idiot and-and Jerry.
You know, what a load of sh*t.
I mean, it's you, man.
It ain't him and me, you know.
And I don't think-- I could--
I would go nuts doing that.
I can't pretend to be T.P.
and then come home and not be.
No, I'm the same guy.
-(playing "Shout")
- You know you make me wanna
- Shout
- Come on
- Shout, shout
- Come on, now, come on, now
- Shout
- Come on, now
- Shout
- Just a little bit
louder now
- Shout
- A little bit louder now
- Shout
- Little bit louder now
- Shout
- Little bit louder
Whoa, oh, whoa, oh
Whoa, oh,
whoa, oh
Whoa, oh, whoa, oh
Whoa, oh,
whoa, oh
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah
Whoa, oh, whoa, oh
- Whoa, oh, whoa, oh...
-(shouts)
CROWE:
When people get up
in front of a stage,
in front of hundreds
of thousands of people,
they always go,
"This is an amazing sight."
I'm here to ask you,
is it really an amazing sight?
It can be, yeah.
I mean, that night,
it was an amazing sight.
(tempo slows,
band playing flourish)
(crowd cheering)
-(song ends)
-(crowd cheering)
One of the best new songs
that you have
definitely is
"Straight into Darkness."
And a lot of people have been
paying attention to the lyrics,
particularly the last verse
where you say, uh,
"I don't believe
the good times are over,
I don't believe
the thrill is all gone."
I wondered when you wrote that
if you thought
that people might
pick up on that.
There's nothing wrong
with optimism.
It's, uh...
it's still in vogue to...
to have a little, um...
you know, faith in, uh, people
and that sort of thing.
And just, you know,
some people can keep that.
Some people can make the--
a leap of faith,
as they say, or they can't.
That's-that's really
what that was about.
That's really what
that song was about.
But, uh, I'm really glad. Yeah.
People have come up to me,
and they all--
they quote me that line.
And if that inspires them,
if that lifts them up,
then that's really
the highest compliment
that we can be paid,
you know, because, um...
You know, all we can
hope to do is inspire.
(playing
"Straight into Darkness")
(crowd cheering)
There was a little girl,
I used to know her
I still think about her,
time to time
There was a moment
when I, I really loved her
Then one day,
the feeling just died
We went straight
into darkness
Out over the line
Yeah, straight into darkness
Straight into night
(electric guitar solo playing)
(piano solo playing)
(crowd cheering)
(electric guitar solo playing)
Come on.
I don't believe
the good times are over
I don't believe
the thrill is all gone
Real love is
a man's salvation
The weak ones fall,
the strong carry on
Straight into darkness
Out over the line
Yeah, straight into darkness
Straight into night
Whoa
Yeah.
(tempo slows,
band playing flourish)
(crowd cheering)
(song ends)
Oh, it was great. It was great.
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah!
Heartbreakers beach party
- Yeah!
-(song stops)
It's a very special guitar to me
'cause this is the one
that I play at home.
When I write songs--
there's one now--
comes very natural to me.
How about a Spanish flavor?
How about back to the American?
Country blues?
You got it.
Rock and roll.
Spanish.
It's all the same.
Hi. I'm Cameron Crowe.
I've been writing about music
for the last ten years and--
f*ck.
Okay, start all over again.
Now for the first time,
I can take you with me.
And it's my... (laughs)
f*ck.
Now for the first time,
I can take you with me
for a video profile.
To suit the occasion,
we're gonna visit
one of my favorite bands,
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
I looked around a lot.
When we were looking at some
of the footage recently, Adria,
we-we came across
this one setting
that was never in
the original
Heartbreakers Beach Party cut.
And it's Tom and me
here on Mulholland Drive.
One guy was timeless: Tom.
The other guy totally stuck
in the early '80s: me.
-But I'm so happy
to be here with you...
-Aw.
...right now kind of talking
about what that time was.
Yeah, the-the band
was famous at that point
but only for a couple years.
They're still
very much bonded as a group.
They're just
kind of like rascals.
They're just fun,
and they're mischievous,
at the height of
their '80s powers,
but a time when the world
wasn't embracing creative types
or real guitars or, you know,
anything other than synth.
I went into this thinking
Long After Dark was
one of the lesser albums,
and I come out of it thinking
it's one of
the more important albums
because it embraced a darkness.
-He's exactly at that spot.
-Yeah.
Because it's that expl*si*n
of, like, the later '70s,
and now MTV is coming in.
And he-he sees it.
He sees how the road can divide
and become something
less authentic.
And I think in the outtakes and
stuff, you really see that theme
that he's like,
"I'm gonna plant my flag."
Yeah, he's making a huge effort
to promote that record
by making this film
and opening up to you like that.
And-and I don't think
he ever did it again after 1983.
-MAN: Here we go.
-Okay, let's go!
-(footsteps approaching)
-(laughing)
Come on.
(laughter)
I can't do it. Okay.
MAN:
We have, we have speed.
-All right. Roll one.
-We've got it.
I'm Cameron Crowe.
I'm sitting here talking with
Tom Petty in his music room.
-Music room of his house.
-(whistles musically)
What is this room for you?
Kind of a retreat?
-You record demos here?
-TOM: Yeah, all of the above.
I just bang out little demos
and bring them in
to the band and play them,
and then they usually change
the arrangement completely,
and, uh, and we go back
to square one.
Did you write most of the Long
After Dark album in this room?
Yeah, I did, actually.
I-I wrote every track
in this room.
CROWE:
Well, we're sitting here
on the eve of the release
of your single,
-"You Got Lucky."
-Mm.
And I don't know.
Traditionally, how do you feel
at this point?
Like, you finished the album.
It's about to come out.
Do you still feel that
kind of phantom limb thing of,
"It's still there,
I'm still working on it,
I can still change something
if I want"?
Yeah, I mostly just, uh...
I feel nervous, you know,
like I always do
before you put a record out.
You-you live with it so long,
and then when it's finally done,
you don't want
to hear it anymore
because you've heard it
so much, you know?
And now I just, I just want
to hear it on the radio.
("You Got Lucky" playing)
If you don't feel complete
If I don't take you
all of the way
Then go
Yeah, go
Sing it, Howie.
Good love is hard to find
Good love is
hard to find
(singing along):
You got lucky, babe
You got lucky, babe
When I found you...
CROWE:
He wanted to get a limo
and do part of the interview
in a limo heading nowhere
just to spoof
the rock star life.
Yeah, I always, uh,
roll my own cigarettes.
I think you got to ride
in these things while you can,
because, uh, you know,
next year, I might be
-back to that old Cortina.
-(laughs)
You know, so I'm just--
I'm having a big time
while I can.
And so far,
it hasn't affected my music
in the least, you know.
CROWE:
I wanted to, uh, ask you about
the inspiration for
the "You Got Lucky" video.
TOM:
I just got my mind
into an altered state
and, uh, started
throwing things out,
and Lenahan would try
to calm me down.
It probably would have been,
you know, the budget
for Apocalypse Now
if I had gone on,
you know,
what I was trying to do.
You got lucky, babe
When I found you...
CROWE:
You guys hit upon this idea,
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
MIKE: Yeah, that was
Tom's idea, really.
And the first time we did it,
it just sounded so bizarre,
we had to keep it, you know,
'cause it's just like--
the song is so serious, and
this ridiculous guitar comes in.
It kind of adds
some comic relief, I think.
Good love is hard to find...
BENMONT:
First time I met Tom Petty,
he threw me out of
Lipham's Music store for playing
"Pictures of Matchstick Men"
on two grand pianos
simultaneously
for a half hour straight.
I think about, like,
just kind of, like, you know,
how much fun it is
to be in a rock band
and how cool it is
and that it's probably not
gonna be here forever.
You have to savor
that part of it.
MIKE:
Last couple of tours,
we bussed instead of flew.
You got to be a team.
You got to be tuned in.
You got to like each other
to play the kind of music
we want to play.
CROWE:
When and how
did you come up with the name
the Heartbreakers?
(laughter)
-Howie'd probably remember
that best.
-(laughter, chatter)
For a while, we were gonna
call ourselves, uh, Nightro.
We were Petty's Thieves
for about two days.
We were The Pickups, too, for
a little while. Remember that?
-That was a short one.
-Yeah, that'd be a short one.
-Cheaters.
-The Cheaters.
-Cheaters.
-The King Bees for about a day.
-Yeah, the King Bees.
We fell right on
that Heartbreaker thing, though.
Seemed like a good name
at the time.
-Better than Headaches.
-I know.
-And we never got sued
for it, right?
-Yeah.
CROWE:
He talks about family
in some of the footage, too,
which he hadn't before.
And it was such a warm sequence
in the interviews
where he kind of takes us
to the outside
of your house, Fort Petty.
And there's... there's this
kind of, uh, abandoned cart.
There's, uh, a flagpole,
and he talks about flags that
he would, like, run up the pole.
Like, the most personal
I'd ever seen him,
because there was a thought
early on that's, like,
these guys only live
in a band context.
They're all kind of rogue guys
that you'll never know
too much about.
But here he is,
like, at your house,
talking about family,
love, togetherness
and Fort Petty.
Welcome to part two of
"Yammering with Cameron."
Well, let's yammer a little bit
about your, uh, your neighbors.
What do they think
of your flag there?
Depends on which flag
you fly, Cameron.
-Uh...
-(laughs)
Yeah, the state of Florida
hasn't brought
a, uh, vicious response.
And I haven't got
the skull and crossbones up yet,
-so I don't know.
-(laughs)
But I-I like to have a flag up,
you know, just...
-I like flags.
-(laughs)
Um, you live
on the outskirts of L.A.
Yeah.
In fact, a lot of people
don't really realize
that you live where you do.
That's the way we like it.
No. Uh, yeah, that's correct.
They all think we live
in Florida still.
L.A.'s really home.
I mean, I've lived here
eight years, more,
maybe eight and a half years,
a long time.
This is home
more than anywhere now.
Strange but true.
And that house then, of course,
was burned down later
by an arsonist.
Then we went on
the Dylan/Petty tour,
and that created the whole
second era of my dad's life.
-CROWE: Do it again, Phil. Good.
-PHIL: At last.
-(device beeps)
What do you think
of your singing voice?
-Oh.
-A lot of people give you tips
over the years?
Tips on how to sing?
No, they don't,
strangely enough.
It's the same old story.
You just try to make the tune
as believable as you can.
Now, whether you're on-key,
off-key a little bit,
that and that and that,
I don't worry about that.
It's just-- the only time
I don't like my singing is
when it doesn't sound
believable to me.
-(playing "I Need to Know")
-(crowd cheering)
But, yeah, it was hard
starting to be a lead singer.
There's a lot of screaming
and weirdness.
Well, the talk on the street
say you might go solo
A good friend of mine saw
you leaving by your back door
I need to know,
I need to know
If you think...
You got to learn
a little bit about
how to use your voice,
when to sing hard
and when you don't
have to sing hard
and that stuff,
just to make it last.
You know, I just try to keep it
in good enough shape
that it can do the job.
If you're making me wait
If you're leading me on
I need to know...
-CROWE: What about the lyrics?
- I need to know...
It's just always been
hard for me
to sit and seriously talk
about song lyrics.
You know, it's-it's real hard
to tell somebody
about how you wrote a song
or why you did it,
'cause you don't really know.
A lot of times, it just--
one of those things.
If you think
you're gonna leave
Then you better say so,
I need to know
I need to know...
It's almost like
something supernatural,
you know, 'cause it's just--
the antenna goes out,
the signal's received,
and then you lose the signal
and it stops.
(laughs) You know?
-If that makes any sense.
-Sure.
I need to know.
-(song ends)
-(crowd cheering)
They drying out.
They're a little bit damp,
but it'll get dry
with this method here.
MAN:
Any skid marks we gonna see?
Uh, no, now I got them blue.
(stammers)
The look that's right
The Elmo look
That's movies, Elmo.
(goofy voice):
I'm gonna get a Hawaiian shirt
and a tape recorder
and some cameras. (chuckles)
CROWE:
This is, like,
the clich songwriter question,
but do the words come later
or do you write them first?
Sometimes they come
at the same time,
and sometimes they come first,
and sometimes they come later.
You think you're gonna
take her away
With your money
and your cocaine
I remember that...
that line came in, right?
"Your money and your cocaine."
And from there on,
it was real easy.
You know, the song just was...
You know, just-- it was-- yeah.
-(playing "Listen to Her Heart")
- She's gonna listen
to her heart
It's gonna tell her
what to do
She might need
a lot of loving
But she don't need you...
CROWE:
Is it, is it generally
the songs that come quickly
and simply that become
the remembered songs?
I don't know.
I don't think there's any rule.
A lot of them, yeah.
I think those are
generally the best ones
that-that just fly out.
(song ends)
MAN:
I'm confused about this number.
ADRIA:
I love that this film's
gonna see the light of day,
and I love
that we get to remember
those times
when it was being created.
'Cause it was
a really magical time,
um, creatively for that band.
CROWE:
I remember Tom looked at a cut
at Phil Savenick's house.
Phil was kind of
our Lorne Michaels,
who had, like,
done clip packages
for award shows
in Hollywood for Disney.
-So, like, he knew TV.
-Right.
And Phil, who is
that guy to this day...
Heartbreakers Beach Party,
yeah.
Phil was like, well, you know,
"We've got to have some elements
where we're telling the story
"and we're just, like,
talking about
rock star dreams and things."
And you can see
in some of the outtakes,
Tom is like, "Hmm."
PHIL:
This will be the last one
we'll get out here,
and then you can go in-in
the house and talk at length
about when you were little,
what your dreams were,
-and whether now your dreams
have really come true.
-Boy.
Anyway, so he watched a cut
at Phil's house,
and he said, um,
"Why can't the music be
up a little more,
be louder here?"
And Phil was like,
"Well, we don't want
to drown out the-the words."
And-and Tom said,
"Oh, come on, Gramps,
-let the kids have it up loud."
-(laughs)
(static crackles)
(harmonizing)
The boll weevil,
the boll weevil
Is in my grass,
is in my grass
Fly away, boll weevil, shoo.
-CROWE: Are we rolling now?
-MAN: Still rolling.
Hold on. Don't roll.
-Roll one.
-Hey, I'm just getting a drink.
Hold on a second here.
Tom...
(laughing)
-(laughter)
-(hands clapping)
(indistinct chatter)
-PHIL: Okay, can we just--
-(clears throat)
Again, this is
your-your half hour now, too.
-Ask the questions.
-Okay.
-Do the setup yourself.
-All right.
CROWE:
Under the heading of
realizing dreams and so forth,
seems right around the time
of Hard Promises,
there you are in a position
where you've achieved a lot
that you might have
set out to achieve.
And I wonder if you felt
any need to comment
on your success or
on that situation in that album.
Comment on the success
in the album?
Well, I think we did, in a way.
Yeah. I think that, you know...
It's funny, when I was doing it,
I don't remember
consciously doing it.
Now when I look back
on that album,
I see all of that in the album.
I don't know if I'm reading
it in, but I think it's there.
I think we just-- I think
I was a little frightened
by, you know, just everything
that had gone on.
CROWE:
It must be a difficult thing
when you've spent
a lot of years with this band,
kinship and the spirit
of being underdogs.
All of a sudden, there you are,
one of the major bands,
you know, in America,
if not the major American band.
You have to deal with
another set of expectations.
You know, you're no longer
the underdogs.
TOM:
We always, uh,
try to keep ourself
in that frame of mind,
the underdog.
But it is, it is hard
to-to go on, and, you know,
you know that they all want
to see the-the Red Sea part
by the end of the show,
you know,
or by the beginning or whenever.
But you just can't--
I can't anyway--
I can't think about that
too much.
If I think about that, it scares
the hell out of me, you know?
I'm just-- I figure
if I get caught up in that,
I'm of no good to anyone,
you know,
so I just try to find
something else to think about.
But it's there for sure.
Yeah, it's a real thing,
but it's-it's no good
to-to get--
to live your life around it.
Yeah. Also, the cover was
really interesting to me,
because here you are,
looking fairly anonymous
on the cover of that album.
You know, it's just, like,
Tom in a Mexican record store.
TOM:
I think what really sold me
on that cover was, uh,
I thought, "Ah, this is perfect.
This is, this is exactly
the mood of the album."
It was a little anonymous,
and I wanted to do that.
I didn't want to come
after Damn the Torpedoes
with, uh, Torpedoes 2, you know,
which would've been
so simple to do
and such an obvious thing to do
that I thought,
"Well, let's-let's go
the other way and see--
"and use this power...
to try to put something else
on them," you know.
And-and I believe
we were successful.
But it's always been real hard
for the record industry
to understand us anyway.
I mean, I remember
when we were--
we did the first album,
they wanted to change the cover
because I had on a
leather jacket and, uh, b*ll*ts.
They thought
it was gonna offend people.
And-and it's just
gone along that,
"Well, are they this?
Are they that? Are they this?"
You take the group out
on the stage live,
-and-and I know what that is.
-CROWE: Yeah.
TOM:
But beyond that,
I don't know what the group is.
It's a country group,
it's a rock group,
it's all sorts of group--
and I-I don't think
it's fair for us to just go,
"Okay, well,
we're gonna do this."
I think we'd break up
in-in a month.
(device beeps)
CROWE:
One of your best
in many, many ways,
just even as far as
the way I could see it, uh,
touch kids in high school
and stuff
that were listening to it
was "Even the Losers."
-Yeah.
-Was that an easy song to write?
Yeah, it wasn't too complex.
I came in...
Was another one
where I came in, I think,
with different words than, uh,
I wound up with on the record.
But I-I just wrote it from,
uh, you know, from different
experiences that I had.
I remember getting
to the studio and singing.
I'd get to the chorus,
and I didn't know what to sing.
You know, I had, like,
the, you know...
It couldn't have been,
couldn't have been that easy
To forget about me
(vocalizing)
Keep doing that
over and over, you know,
and then finally
it just hit me, you know...
you know,
what the song was about.
And finally just...
Even the losers
And-and I got the hook...
Get lucky sometime
And the whole... and
then I added in the little...
Keep a little bit of pride
They get lucky sometime
And then, you know, then we got
excited, went, "All right."
See, a lot of people wouldn't go
to the session without a song,
which is a pretty strange thing
to do, when you think about it,
is to go to one of
these sessions with no song.
But we just always had this kind
of blind faith that it'll come.
(strumming guitar)
CROWE:
I think the whole
beach party idea was
an outgrowth of this running
conversation I had with Tom
about Elvis Presley
and Elvis Presley movies.
He'd actually met Elvis as a kid
on the set of the movie
Follow That Dream
that was filming near his house.
He talked and talked,
and I heard him say...
CROWE:
And on the way
to the "You Got Lucky" sh**t,
he played "Viva Las Vegas."
But then he started playing
a little-known ballad on guitar,
"His Latest Flame."
And this was the most powerful
outtake of all,
because in this moment, you
could see all that would come.
It wasn't just the band.
There was more
coming from Tom himself.
And soon, the band would grow
on the shoulders of
this more personal style
of songwriting that was coming.
"Kings Highway," "Learning
to Fly," "I Won't Back Down,"
I could feel it all coming,
sitting there,
listening to him play this song.
Though I smiled,
the tears inside were burning
I wished him luck,
and then he said goodbye
He was gone, but still
his words kept returning
What else was there
for me to do but cry?
Would you believe
That yesterday
This girl was in my arms
and swore to me
She'd be mine eternally?
And Marie's the name
of his latest flame
Though I smiled,
the tears inside were burning
And I wished him luck,
and then he said goodbye
He was gone, but still
his words kept returning
What else was there
for me to do but cry?
Would you believe
that yesterday
This girl was in my arms
and swore to me
She'd be mine eternally?
And Marie's the name
of his latest flame
(chuckles) Feels good.
And Marie's the name
of his latest flame
And Marie's the name
Of his latest flame.
-(vocalizes softly)
-(song ends)
CROWE:
He was the first person to, uh,
convince me
that I could be a director.
And that scene happens
in the Winnebago
on their way to
the "You Got Lucky" video sh**t.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
had come out in August,
and this was November
of the same year.
And Tom had had a kind of
a running conversation with me
about how, if you have longish
hair and you look like Spicoli,
people assume that
you're kind of, like, stupid.
And he told me, uh, "I have
a song called 'I'm Stupid,'
which is kind of about that,
and let's film it."
And I said,
"Well, I'm not a director."
And he said, "Pick up that
camera over there and film me.
I'll-I'll perform
right into the camera."
I'm stupid, right on...
CROWE:
So I remember seeing him
through the camera
and getting this
galvanizing feeling of, like,
this is nothing like being
a rock journalist,
which is what I'd been
up until that point.
This is cutting out
the middleman.
This is the guy coming right
at you, giving you his song.
Right.
And when it was over,
we turned the camera off,
and he said, "Congratulations,
you're a director."
I'm stupid
OTHERS:
Right on!
(song ends)
TOM:
So we're here in the desert.
I remember one time
interviewing you, like, in '78,
and I said,
"How would you adjust to, uh,
"playing sports arenas
and selling lots of records
and the pressure
that comes with it?"
At the time, you said, "Easily."
(Tom laughs)
-How did it happen, actually?
-It's... It is...
It-it's easy on some levels.
It-it's usually kind of, uh...
With me, it's always been...
It-it's like a-a recurring
acid trip or something.
It just... it hits you later,
you know?
It...
When it's all happening,
there's not time
to think about it much,
and then...
you can go through that-that
kind of deep depression about,
"Oh, no," you know,
"we made it."
And now it's all, you know,
this pressure and...
And sometimes I wish
it wasn't that way, but...
down deep I know that I do,
you know, that I really dig it,
you know, or I wouldn't do it.
I'd just... I'd be working
at tearing it down
rather than preserving it
if I didn't really dig it,
you know.
"Straight into Darkness."
"Straight into Darkness."
I think, uh...
I arrived at the music first
on that song.
And, um...
Trying to remember.
And it came
really quickly, actually.
Um...
I started it late at night
and, uh, finished at about
7:00 in the morning.
Did you have any feeling
when you wrote the last verse
about, uh, you don't believe
the good times are over,
you don't believe
the thrill is all gone?
Did that... did it feel like
something people might
latch on to and pay a lot
of attention to at the time?
Well, I wasn't thinking
about that at the time.
I'm glad that they have,
because I really believe that.
I think that...
that you have to accept that,
uh, you know,
the good times aren't over.
They're not. I mean...
I'm having
a great time right now.
The thrill's not gone, you know,
and-and when it is...
...then-then what-what have
you got left, you know?
So that's just, uh,
one citizen's viewpoint.
("Heartbreakers Beach Party"
playing)
That's right.
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah!
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah!
Well, we're gonna have
a cookout
We're gonna wear muumuus
We'll have potato salad
A lot of weenies, too
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah!
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah!
MIKE:
The Heartbreakers were
a band that loved each other
for the music, not for the fame.
Let's dig some clams...
(crowd cheering)
STAN:
I got all three wishes,
you know.
I'd like to be a drummer,
I'd like to be
in a great rock and roll band,
and I'd like to have brothers.
All three of those things
happened.
That was what that period
was like personally for me.
Well, we're gonna do
the dogs...
Fantastic memories
and fantastic music.
BENMONT: We was just kind of
a kick-a*s little band.
We were playing
at the top of our game.
It was great.
Heartbreakers beach party
Yeah!
When you play
with the same people
from when you're very young,
you know,
I deferred to all of those guys
as kind of role models.
I miss that band.
CROWE:
Surely you think about
how the Heartbreakers
might be written about
in years to come.
What is it that makes
the music special?
Boy, man, that's a hard one
to answer. Um...
I don't know it specifically.
I know that...
it's just a real good
rock and roll band,
and it's, uh...
I think that's what's special
to us is that that's what we do,
and that's all we've tried
to be over the years.
And I hope that we would be
remembered as that,
you know, as-as a group that...
that was good pretty much
of the time.
You know, the-the greatest thing
would be if just the records
keep playing on the radio,
would be great.
You know, I'd love to-to get old
and still hear these records
on the radio.
Then-then I would feel like
it was all worth it.
(crowd cheering)
("Change of Heart" playing)
Oh!
Well, I fought for you
I fought too hard
To do it all again, babe
It's gone too far
You never needed me
You only wanted me around
It gets me down
There's been a change
Yeah, there's been
a change of heart
Said there's been a change
You push
just a little too far
There's been a change
You made it
just a little too hard
There's been a change
There's been
a change of heart...
CROWE: How does Long After Dark
sound on the radio these days?
-What do you think, How?
-I think it sounds great.
-Howie loves it.
-Howie loves it.
It won't take long
I've stood in your gallery
Seen what's hanging
from the walls
You were the moon and sun
You're just a loaded g*n now
It gets me down
There's been a change
Yeah, there's been
a change of heart
Said there's been a change
You push
just a little too far
- There's been a change...
-(song fades)
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Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party (2024)
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