The Florida-born rock and roll songwriter and performer Tom Petty is one of the greats when it comes to American music. Throughout his career, Petty worked and collaborated with many big-name artists, from Jeff Lynne to Bob Dylan and George Harrison. However, some of Petty’s best-known and iconic songs were written solo, the result of his penning a tune with his guitar. Below are a handful of those examples.
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1. “American Girl“
Written by Tom Petty
Recorded on the 4th of July and released on the 1976 self-titled album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, this song describes a woman who knows something better is on the horizon and will not stop until she reaches it. Petty wrote “American Girl” in his apartment while living in California, and it has become one of his signature offerings. On it, he sings,
Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinkin’ 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
Yeah, and if she had to die tryin’
She had one little promise
She was gonna keep
2. “Breakdown“
Written by Tom Petty
Also released on the 1976 self-titled album from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, this track was the debut single from the LP. (It was also covered a few years later by music and fashion icon Grace Jones.) On the track, Petty sings about a tumultuous relationship between two people who don’t seem to know whether to love or leave the other. On the grooved-out song, Petty sings,
It’s alright if you love me
It’s alright if you don’t
I’m not afraid of you running away, honey
I get the feeling you won’t
You see, there is no sense in pretending
Your eyes give you away
Something inside you is feeling like I do
We’ve said all there is to say
3. “Don’t Do Me Like That“
Written by Tom Petty
Released in 1979 on the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album, Damn the Torpedoes, this song hit No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is about someone wanting to be treated better by their lover. Delivered with Petty’s signature style, the artist sings about avoiding the letdown of a breakup and not getting cheated on by their counterpart. On the rock offering, Petty sings,
Listen, honey, can you see?
Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye
Giving someone else a try
And you know you better watch your step
Or you’re gonna get hurt yourself
Someone’s gonna tell you lies
Cut you down to size
4. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance“
Written by Tom Petty
Everyone’s favorite stoner rock song, this track was first released on Petty’s 1993 Greatest Hits album. While Petty has never openly said the song is about cannabis—Mary Jane is a common synonym for marijuana—it’s obvious there is at least a slight connection. But Petty sidesteps any direct reference as the subject of the song is “an Indiana girl” on an “Indiana night.” Sings Petty on the classic track,
She grew up in an Indiana town
Had a good lookin’ mama who never was around
But she grew up tall and she grew up right
With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night
Well, she moved down here at the age of eighteen
She blew the boys away, it was more than they’d seen
I was introduced and we both started groovin’
She said, “I dig you, baby, but I got to keep movin’ on, keep movin’ on”
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin’ in and I’m tired of this town again
5. “You Don’t Know How It Feels“
Written by Tom Petty
Released on the 1994 album, Wildflowers, this song is one of Petty’s most vulnerable. It marks him creating a bit of a line in the sand, saying, for as much as you’ve heard me and know my work, to be me is something altogether different. The song is also famous for the lyric: But let me get to the point, let’s roll another joint… In the song, Petty sings:
People come, people go
Some grow young, some grow cold
I woke up in between
A memory and a dream
So let’s get to the point, let’s roll another joint
And let’s head on down the road, there’s somewhere I gotta go
You don’t know how it feels
You don’t know how it feels to be me
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
