Tom Petty never hid his fandom for The Byrds and their lead singer Roger McGuinn. He occasionally paid such heartfelt homage to the sound of McGuinn and company. In fact, some critics thought of Petty and The Heartbreakers as Byrds’ clones in the early days of the band.
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To help repay that debt, Petty helped McGuinn write a song and then duetted with him on it. That song, “King Of The Hill”, turned into a highlight of McGuinn’s excellent 1991 solo album Back From Rio.
Fit for a “King”
Roger McGuinn went the entirety of the 80s without releasing an album. That’s kind of hard to fathom, considering that he’s an absolute titan in rock history. Although he often toured, he took a 14-year recording hiatus between Thunderbyrd in 1977 and Back From Rio, his 1991 comeback.
Back From Rio arrived not long after The Byrds, the band McGuinn fronted through the 60s and early 70s, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A box set of their work also raised McGuinn’s exposure level. For the comeback album, he was joined by many rock luminaries, including Elvis Costello, David Crosby (himself a former Byrd), and Tom Petty (along with several Heartbreakers).
There’s a scene in the career-spanning Petty documentary Running Down A Dream where Petty is seen chastising one of McGuinn’s record company reps during the sessions for Back From Rio. Petty didn’t think the material they were presenting McGuinn to record was up to the caliber of his musical legacy. And he pulled no punches in saying so.
Petty rose to the occasion by co-writing “King Of The Hill”. Although there’s no indication of who wrote what, the biting nature of the words suggests that Petty likely handled most of the lyrics in the song, with McGuinn’s influence felt in the music.
Exploring the Lyrics of “King Of The Hill”
Neither Petty nor McGuinn grew up in Los Angeles. But both had spent enough time there post-fame to understand the decadent desolation of the upper class. “King Of The Hill” begins with the protagonist of the song tooling through an empty freeway in the morning, clinging to material goods to fill up the emptiness: “The jewels of your mind to hold back the fear.”
In the second verse, Petty, taking over from McGuinn’s lead in the opening section, makes note of this guy’s wealth, based on the length of the driveway and the obeisance of the servants. But the narrator can see the malaise hanging over his head: “How many years will you crawl through this castle?” he asks. “So satisfied, and still wanting more.”
The final verse, with the two men harmonizing, takes us through the party and the morning after. Instead of enjoying the bash, the protagonist is preoccupied in the “room down the hall.” “It’s sunrise again, the driveway is empty,” the narrator announces. “The crystal is cracked, there’s blood on the wall.”
Ingeniously, all this takes place in a kind of flashback, with the refrain painting the picture of the cold aftermath of the festivities. “And when Monday comes around, there’s a high lonesome sound,” the narrator warns. “And a white, blinding light makes it all seem so right/And you feel like the king of the hill.”
Based on the evidence of the verses, that’s not a crown that anyone would willingly occupy. With “King Of The Hill”, Tom Petty gave back to his musical idol, delivering perhaps the finest song of Roger McGuinn’s solo career in the process.
Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
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