Remember When Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Covered Lucinda Williams’ Biggest Hit in 1996?

In 1989, Lucinda Williams released “Changed The Locks”. The song is part of her eponymous third studio album.

“Changed The Locks” is Williams’ first and only big hit at rock radio. Written by Williams, the song is about determination to leave someone behind. “I Changed The Locks” begins with, “I changed the lock on my front door so you can’t see me anymore / And you can’t come inside my house, and you can’t lie down on my couch / I changed the lock on my front door.“

Seven years after Williams released “ Changed The Locks”, the song was covered by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. But Petty’s version didn’t appear on one of their many studio albums. Instead, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ take on “Changed The Locks” is part of the soundtrack to the 1996 movie, She’s The One, starring Jennifer Aniston, Edward Burns, and Cameron Diaz.

The film was a moderate success. The song did give Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers a Top 20 hit. But Petty’s fingerprints are all over the soundtrack to She’s The One. In fact, Petty wrote all but three of the 15 songs on the record by himself. Their version of Williams’ hit is on the soundtrack, as is a song called “Asshole”, which was written by Beck Hansen. Another track, “Climb That Hill”, was written by Petty, along with The Heartbreakers’ own Mike Campbell.

The Story Behind “Changed The Locks” by Lucinda Williams

Williams later reveals that, after writing “Changed The Locks”, the song became the standard for anything else she wrote. Surprisingly, Petty also somewhat inspired this song.

“It’s one of those songs that’s really just stood the test of time,” Williams tells AV Club. “For a long time I used to think, ‘I need to write another song like ‘Changed The Locks’,’ because it’s just such a good rock song, like something Tom Petty would write. I don’t know how I managed to come up with that kind of song when I did, but it’s just one of those that kind of grew into that.

“I write everything by myself on acoustic guitar,” she adds. “So a lot of them really take shape once I get in the studio with the band and everything.”

“Changed The Locks” became part of Williams’ live shows after she wrote it. In 2024, Williams toured with The Dirty Knob, a band fronted by Campbell. Interestingly, Williams also opened for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in 2017 at the Hollywood Bowl, for one of the band’s final shows.

Photo by Tim Hall/Redferns