You’ve heard the praise: “Timeless.”  “Amazing.”  “Sublime.”  “Awesome.”  “Deeply personal.”  “Kick-ass.”  “Unbeatable.”  “Legendary.”  How about, “American Institution?”  Yeah, that fits.

For over 30 years, Tom Petty has been defining and redefining rock and roll; a rare feat for a musician of any genre and time period.  He not only highlights and typifies the greatest aspects of the rock and roll art form, he also heightens, expands, and invigorates the form.  You may say that American Girl, Refugee, and Runnin’ Down a Dream are fantastic rock songs, classics in a sense that they define what great rock music is through their hard hooks, sharp melodies, and exhilarating demeanor.  Then what about Don’t Come Around Here No More, Free Fallin’, and Into the Great Wide Open?  They’re different.  They’re not ordinary.  Free Fallin’ redefined what rock and roll could be just as Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay redefined soul.  By staying true to himself and his music, Petty has been able to become more than simply a rock star.  He has defined innumerable American qualities along the way – resilience, sorrow, fortitude, heartbreak, confidence, pain, compassion, resolve, and love.  He has helped carry rock and roll from its apex in the 1970s to its current form in the 2010s, and he has done so while recording music that is better than 99.9% of his contemporaries.  He is simply the last great working rock and roll star.  He is an American Institution.

Petty has had hits on every album he has ever released (solo and w/The Heartbreakers), yet not one album has reached #1 on the Billboard Top 200.  His closest were his third album, Damn the Torpedoes, and his most-recent album, Mojo; both opened at #2.  [Amazingly, he has also never had a #1 song – Free Fallin’ was his closest, at #7.]  Since his first album was released in 1976, hundreds of performers have had their albums either debut or peak at #1 on the Billboard Top 200.  During 2010 alone, Susan Boyle, Kesha, Drake, and Justin Bieber have all had #1 albums.  Has the world gone mad?  Has God given up on popular music?  No, it’s nothing that drastic; though the world is irrefutably mad.  There’s actually a very simple explanation for why Petty has never reached #1.  He’s not trendy or flashy, nor is he a fad or one-hit wonder.  Tom Petty is durable, dependable, and workman-like.  He cranks out music in the ancient tradition – solid, talented musicians working together to produce good music for fans of music.  He’s not about marketing or reality television; he’s not MTV, and he’s not tabloid fodder.  He doesn’t stir up controversy to sell albums, and he doesn’t insult his fans by acting disgraceful offstage.  In fact, his only public rant was against the record companies, over the rising costs of albums and cds during the 1990s.  He’s a man standing up for the fans and not the money.  He appeals to all ages because he has the two most important of musical qualities – he loves music and he’s damn good.  At a concert, he can play 40 songs over 3 hours and a majority of Americans will be able to sing along to each and every song.  His music is ingrained in the consciousness of this land.  You may wonder how I can call him an American Institution when not one of his albums or songs has reached #1 on the popular charts.  It’s because though America has unfortunately always been about flash and spectacle on the surface, there has always been a deep core of understanding and beauty below the surface; the beating heart of America.  Petty’s music flows through that heart, speaking for the past, present, and future.  He’s timeless.

He is a man of the people, born in 1950 in the farming/college town of Gainesville, FL, but he is also a deeply personal and eloquent poet.  There are truths dusted throughout his song lyrics, truths only a man in touch with humanity can possibly reveal.  He understands social classes, love and loss, and the complexities of the human condition.  Yet he shares these truths through pure simplicity, highlighted by his distinct hangdog drawl and a Southern twang.  He never over-writes and rarely forces a word or turn-of-phrase.  He never speaks down to people; never condescends.  He writes about the virtues and qualities that exist at the core of Americana.  His songs express compassion toward the lonely, the lost, the wayward souls, as he reaches out with hope; check out Wake Up Time, Even the Losers, and Learning to Fly.  He bleeds genuine heartbreak, and what young American boy or girl hasn’t suffered the depths of heartbreak in their life that Tom writes about in Insider, Don’t Do Me Like That, and Square One.  He’s a rebel.  In songs like I Won’t Back Down, Room At The Top, and Rebels.  When Tom sings that he “won’t back down” or that he “ain’t coming down” you believe him.  He embodies the life of the rebel.  He embodies so much of what we love in this country, and he does it respectfully and without complaint.  He is the eternal hero, the man that bends but never breaks.

He is highly respectful of those who came before him and he is beloved by his contemporaries.  It speaks highly of the man that in an industry such as the entertainment/music industry he is genuinely revered.

Here are a few of the more recent quotes from his contemporaries:

Billy Joe Armstrong, of Green Day (introducing an award to Tom Petty) – “So if you’re going to come up and thank God, thank God for Tom Petty.”

Eddie Vedder, of Pearl Jam – “The first time you hear a Tom Petty song it sounds like a classic song.”

Dave Grohl, of The Foo Fighters – “I’ve always considered them [The Heartbreakers] a band that has to be.  They’re an institution.  They just have to be.”

Jackson Browne – “It’s [Petty’s music] the essence of rock and roll, which is freedom and rebellion … about speaking the truth.”

Johnny Depp – “It [the music] defies any kind of category.  It’s just Tom Petty.”

That’s really all there is to say.  He’s just Tom Petty.  He’s an institution unto himself.  We should all be thankful that he’s on this Earth writing music.  I, for one, thank him.

Here are choice lyrics – some poetic, some beautiful, some kick-ass –  from one song on each of the 16 albums related to Mr. Petty (not including albums by The Traveling Wilburys, as those were collaborative efforts between Petty, Dylan, Harrison, Orbison, and Lynne.)  These lyrics are the man.

“Well, she was an American girl, raised on promises.” (American Girl, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1977)

“She’s gonna listen to her heart.  It’s gonna tell her what to do.  She might need a lot of lovin’, but she don’t need you.” (Listen To Her Heart, You’re Gonna Get It!, 1978)

“And when she’s dreamin’, sometimes she sings in French, but in the morning, she don’t remember it.” (Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid), Damn the Torpedoes, 1979)

“She’s a woman in love and he’s gonna break her heart to pieces.”(A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me), Hard Promises, 1981)

“You were the moon and sun.  You’re just a loaded gun now.” (Change of Heart, Long After Dark, 1982)

“There’s a dream I keep having where my mama comes to me and kneels down over by the window and says a prayer for me.” (Southern Accents, Southern Accents, 1985)

“Yeah pretty little baby, you’re a weapon with eyes.” (Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), 1985)

“You can make a big impression or go through life unseen.  You might wind up restricted and over seventeen.  It’s so hard to be careful, so easy to be led.  Somewhere beyond the pavement, you’ll find the living dead.” (Zombie Zoo, Full Moon Fever, 1989)

“We wanna hold our heads up, but we gotta stay down.  I don’t wanna end up in a room all alone.  Don’t wanna end up someone that I don’t even know.” (King’s Highway, Into the Great Wide Open, 1991)

“Well, if he gets lucky, a boy finds a girl to help him to shoulder the pain in this world, and if you follow your feelings and you follow your dreams you might find the forest there in the trees.” (Wake Up Time, Wildflowers, 1994)

“I dreamed you, I saw your face.  Caught my lifeline when drifting through space.  I saw an angel, I saw my fate.  I can only thank god it was not too late.” (Angel Dream #4, She’s the One (Film Soundtrack), 1996)

“I wish I could feel you tonight, little one, you’re so far away.  I wanna reach out and touch your heart, yeah like they do in those things on TV.  I love you, please love me.  I’m not so bad and I love you so.” (Room At The Top, Echo, 1999)

“And I rode shotgun all that night.  She drove, and never made a sound.  I asked if there was anything wrong.  She said, “Nothin’ worth talkin’ ’bout.”. … Every now and then she’d laugh out loud for no reason.  I pretended not to hear.” (Blue Sunday, The Last DJ, 2002)

“Create myself down south.  Impress all the women.  Pretend I’m Samuel Clemens.  Wear seersucker and white linens.” (Down South, Highway Companion, 2006)

“Sun going down on a canyon wall.  I got a soul that ain’t never been blessed.  Yeah, and I’m a shadow at the back of the hall.  Yeah, I got a sin I ain’t never confessed.” (Scare Easy, Mudcrutch, 2008)

And, it’s pretty evident he is not slowing down or losing his touch:

“And I’m thinking ’bout mama, and about the kids, and the way we lived, and the things we did.  How she never had a chance, never caught a break, and how we pay for our big mistakes.” (Something Good Coming, Mojo, 2010)

“She was hell on her mama, impossible to please.  She wore out her daddy; got the best of me. … If she marries into money, she’s still gonna miss me.  And that’s good enough.  Gonna have to be good enough.” (Good Enough, Mojo, 2010)

“I don’t speak of out lastin’ those who are gone, or the things I’ve done.  I care not to remember, or the desperate measures that might have been wrong.” (Running Man’s Bible, Mojo, 2010)

And, this final one has to be one of the most beautiful compositions ever written:

“You’ve got a dangerous background
And everything you’ve dreamed of
Yeah you’re the Dark Angel
It don’t show when you break up
And I’m the one who oughta know
I’m the one left in the dust
Yeah I’m the broken-hearted fool
Who was never quite enough

I’m an insider, I’ve been burned by the fire
And I’ve had to live with some hard promises
I’ve crawled through the briars
I’m an insider

It’s a circle of deception
It’s a hall of strangers
It’s a cage without a key
You can feel the danger
And I’m the one who oughta know
I’m the one you couldn’t trust
Yeah I’m the lonely silent one
I’m the one left in the dust

I’m an insider, I’ve been burned by the fire
And I’ve had to live with some hard promises
I’ve crawled through the briars
I’m an insider

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
And I’m the one who ought to know
I’m the one you left to rust
Not one of your twisted friends
I’m the one you couldn’t love

I’m an insider, I’ve been burned by the fire
And I’ve had to live with some hard promises
I’ve crawled through the briars
I’m an insider”
– (Insider, Hard Promises, 1981) –

Published on August 1st, 2010 at 6:45 pm in thoughts and musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.