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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Southern Accents

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Southern Accents Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Southern Accents
Released: 1985

Southern Accents Lyrics

There's a southern accent, where I come from
The young 'uns call it country
The Yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talkin'
But everything is done, with a southern accent
Where I come from

Now that drunk tank in Atlanta's
Just a motel room to me
Think I might go work Orlando
If them orange groves don't freeze
I got my own way of workin'
But everything is run, with a southern accent
Where I come from

For just a minute there I was dreaming
For just a minute it was all so real
For just a minute she was standing there, with me

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
I got my own way of prayin'
But everyone's begun
With a southern accent
Where I come from

I got my own way of livin'
But everything gets done
With a southern accent
Where I come from

Writer/s: PETTY, TOM
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Southern Accents

Petty: "That may be my favorite among my songs - just in terms of a piece of pure writing. I remember writing it very vividly. It was in the middle of the night and I was playing it on the piano at home in Encino. I was just singing into my cassette recorder and suddenly these words came out. I was at the point in my career where I was very much trying to find some new ground. I thought I had used up what I had started with and I wanted a new direction. We had lived in California for about 10 years at that point and I started thinking about growing up in northern Florida, which is a lot different from Miami Beach. It's close to Georgia and I came from a real Southern family, and I wanted to address that world. Once I came up with this song, I decided to write an entire album about the theme."

Charles Kelley covered this for his debut solo album, The Driver, which was produced by Paul Worley. The Lady Antebellum member first performed the song with Trisha Yearwood back in 2013 at the Petty Fest in Nashville. "I'd always loved that song, and I always thought it would make a good country song, but I never thought about it necessarily as something Lady Antebellum would do," Kelley told Rolling Stone Country.

Kelley is joined by Stevie Nicks on his version. "It's really funny, when we first started the record, one of the things Paul and I talked about was trying not to maybe have a female harmony singer," he said. "[But Nicks] is the biggest Tom Petty fan. Paul kind of goes through the channels, and somehow it comes back that she wants to sing on it, so I was like, 'Of course. It's Stevie Nicks. Yes. She's going to sing on it.' So I already broke my rule of no females on the record."

Kelley told Radio.com that every time he hears the song, it reminds him of how his father grew up. "He was one of those guys that really did walk five miles to school, and had to work on the farm after school, and did things like that," he said. "So I always kind of picture him in my mind when I'm singing that song."

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Jammin' Me

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Jammin' Me Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)
Released: 1987

Jammin' Me Lyrics

You got me in a corner
You got me against the wall
I got nowhere to go
I got nowhere to fall

Take back your insurance
Baby nothin's guaranteed
Take back your acid rain
Baby let your T.V. bleed

You're Jammin' Me, you're jammin' me,
Quit jammin' me
Baby you can keep me painted in a corner
You can look away, but it's not over

Take back your angry slander
Take back your pension plan
Take back your ups and downs of your life
In raisin-land

Take back Vanessa Redgrave
Take back Joe Piscopo
Take back Eddie Murphy
Give 'em all some place to go

You're jammin' me, you're jammin' me
Quit jammin' me
Baby you can keep me painted in a corner
You can walk away but it's not over

Take back your Iranian torture
And the apple in young Steve's eye
Yeah take back your losing streak
Check your front wheel drive

Take back Pasadena
Take back El Salvador
Take back that country club
They're tr yin' to build outside my door

Writer/s: PETTY, TOM / DYLAN, BOB / CAMPBELL, MICHAEL W.
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BOB DYLAN MUSIC CO
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Jammin' Me

Mike Campbell, guitarist for The Heartbreakers, wrote the music for this and gave Petty the demo. Tom held it for a while and didn't do anything with it until one day when he was working with Bob Dylan. They came up with some lyrics by picking words out of a newspaper and off the television. Tom pulled out Mike's demo, and they inserted those words over the track.

Many of Petty's songs start as demos written by Campbell. Mike also wrote the tracks for Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer" and "The Heart Of The Matter," and helped Petty produce this album. (Check out our interview with Mike Campbell.)

In 1986, the band toured with Bob Dylan in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, which led to Dylan's contribution on this song. In 1988, Petty and Dylan played together in The Traveling Wilburys, a band whose other members were Jeff Lynne, George Harrison and Roy Orbison.

In the lyrics, Petty mentions various places and events that were in the news and getting constant media exposure. Actors Vanessa Redgrave, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy also show up.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Here Comes My Girl

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Here Comes My Girl Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Damn The Torpedoes
Released: 1979

Here Comes My Girl Lyrics

You know sometimes, I don't know why
But this old town just seems so hopeless
I ain't really sure, but it seems I remember the good times
Were just a little bit more in focus

But when she puts her arms around me
I can somehow rise above it
Yeah, man when I got that little girl standin' right by my side
You know, I can tell the whole wide world to shove it, hey

Here Comes My Girl
Here comes my girl
Yeah, and she looks so right, she is all I need tonight

Every now and then I down to the end of the day
And I have to stop and ask myself why I've done it
It just seems so useless to have to work so hard
And nothin' ever really seems to come from it

But then she looks me in the eye and says
We're gonna last forever
And man, you know I can't begin to doubt it
No, 'cause it just feels so good and so free and so right
I know we ain't never goin' to change our minds about it hey

Here comes my girl
Here comes my girl
Yeah, and she looks so right, she is all I need tonight (watch her walk)

Every time it seems like there ain't nothin' left no more
I find myself having to reach out and grab hold of something
Yeah, I just catch myself wondering, waiting, worrying
About some silly little things that don't add up to nothin'

But then she looks me in the eye and says
We're gonna last forever
And man, you know I can't begin to doubt it
No, 'cause it just feels so good and so free and so right
I know we ain't never gonna' to change our minds about it, hey

Here comes my girl
Here comes my girl
Yeah, and she looks so right, she is all I need tonight

Writer/s: PETTY, TOM / CAMPBELL, MICHAEL W.
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Here Comes My Girl

This was written the same week as "Refugee." Both songs started as demos written by Heartbreakers guitar player Mike Campbell on a 4-track recorder in his house.

In our interview with Mike Campbell, he explained: "'Here Comes My Girl' was interesting because we had the chorus and Tom wasn't sure how to do the verse, he kept trying to sing it different ways and he finally came across sort of half-talking it, and that's when the song seemed to come to life."

This was the first album the band released on a major label. Their first two albums came out on a small label called Shelter Records, which was acquired by MCA. After some legal maneuvering where Petty filed for bankruptcy and the label sued the band, MCA set up a label called Backstreet Records, which was dedicated to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This didn't end the tension between Petty and MCA. Petty held back the tapes for their next album, Hard Promises, when MCA tried to raise the price from $8.98 to $9.98. Petty won that battle and the album came out at the lower price.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Greatest Hits
Released: 1993

Mary Jane's Last Dance Lyrics

She grew up in an Indiana town
Had a good lookin' momma 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

Well I don't know what I've been told
You never slow down, you never grow old
I'm tired of screwing up, I'm tired of goin' down
I'm tired of myself, I'm tired of this town
Oh my my, oh hell yes
Honey put on that party dress
Buy me a drink, sing me a song,
Take me as I come 'cause I can't stay long

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

There's pigeons down in Market Square
She's standin' in her underwear
Lookin' down from a hotel room
Nightfall will be comin' soon
Oh my my, oh hell yes
You've got to put on that party dress
It was too cold to cry when I woke up alone
I hit the last number, I walked to the road

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

Writer/s: PETTY, TOM
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mary Jane's Last Dance

Mike Campbell is The Heartbreakers' guitarist. He told us how this came together: "That song took on a few shapes. It was written in my garage. I didn't write it, but we were jamming in the garage and Tom was playing one of my guitars. It was called 'Indiana Girl,' the first chorus was 'Hey, Indiana Girl, go out and find the world.' We liked the song and Rick Rubin suggested we cut it. It had actually been around for a while, just the basic riff and that chorus. We cut the song and Tom was singing the chorus, and he decided he just couldn't get behind singing about 'Hey, Indiana Girl,' so we went back and about a week later he came in and said 'I've got a better idea,' so he changed the chorus to 'Last dance with Mary Jane.' In the verse there is still the thing about an Indiana girl on an Indiana night, just when it gets to the chorus he had the presence of mind to give it a deeper meaning."

Petty has not said what this is about, but there are two common interpretations. It could be about Petty's divorce from his wife Jane, which happened a year before this was recorded. Another possibility is that it is about marijuana, as "Mary Jane" is slang for pot and the lyrics refer to killing the pain, which the drug is known for. Campbell offered this explanation: "My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it's a drug reference, and if that's what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song."

Petty made some strange videos, and this was no exception. Tom played a mortician who takes home a corpse played by Kim Basinger. When he gets her home, he puts her in a wedding dress and dances with her. Then he puts her in a pickup truck and throws her into the ocean, and she opens her eyes as she sinks. It won Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Basinger was not the first choice for the video. Petty wanted Sharon Stone, but she didn't answer his request.

Petty played the guitar solo at the end after Campbell persuaded him to do it. Mike is known as an outstanding guitarist, but he thought Tom had a good sound going, so he told him to play a fuzzy sort of guitar solo. Says Mike, "He actually played a nice little bit at the end of that."

Campbell: "An interesting thing about that record, the same day we did the last overdubs, that guitar and a few little bits, we did a rough mix here at my house, just did it by hand. Then we went to 3 or 4 different studios over the next couple of weeks and tried to do a proper mix, and we could never beat that rough mix, so that was the mix we put out. It's an interesting track, it's very inaccurate, it's kind of greasy and loose. That day we just gelled and every time we mixed it we could clean up the sound and make it more posh, but it just didn't have the juice that one mix had." (Read more in our interview with Mike Campbell.)

In 2006, The Red Hot Chili Peppers released "Dani California," which sounded very similar to this and was also produced by Rick Rubin. Petty showed no interest in suing the band, as they felt it was not malicious. The first eight bars of both songs sound similar, but the chords are different. In this song, the chords are "Am, G, D, Am" and in "Dani California," the chords are "Am, G, Dm, Am." Both of these chord progressions are very common in rock music. (thanks, Bert - Pueblo, NM)

Petty told Mojo magazine January 2010 that Mary Jane is the same character as the female in "American Girl," "with a few hard knocks."

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - American Dream Plan B

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - American Dream Plan B Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Hypnotic Eye
Released: 2014

American Dream Plan B Lyrics

American Dream Plan B

This song about a guy who perseveres in fighting for his chance was released as the first single off Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Hypnotic Eye album. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Petty admitted the song was a tough sell, as after playing it for the rest of the band their initial reaction was silence. "I said, 'Listen, I think we have something here, but we're going to have to get excited about it,'" he said.

Eventually, Petty added laughing, the Heartbreakers admitted they loved the song, but he had to drag the affirmation out of them.

The song is laden with fuzz and distortion. Guitarist Mike Campbell told Uncut magazine: "It was Tom's idea to have fuzz bass on that song. He wanted it real spare and just to have this really ugly fuzz bass going on, which we've never really done. That was the inspiration for the whole approach to that."

Petty sings here of the vanishing American dream:

Well, my mama so sad
Daddy's just mad
'Cause I ain't gonna have the chance he had
My success is anybody's guess
But like a fool, I'm bettin' on happiness

"It's strange," Petty told The Sun. "The economy crashed because, aside from some very crooked people, you had Americans believing they could live way beyond what they could afford through loans."

"That wouldn't have happened decades back, so it's part of my thinking," he added. "The guy in this song has decided to dream big, because there's nothing left for him to do. He has nothing."

Hypnotic Eye debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. It was Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' first chart-topper and it arrived atop the summit 37 years after they first appeared on the tally in September 1977 with their self-titled debut album.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - U Get Me High

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - U Get Me High Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Hypnotic Eye
Released: 2014

U Get Me High Lyrics

U Get Me High

Heartbreakers guitarist and Hypnotic Eye co-producer Mike Campbell told Uncut magazine about the song's Byrds-style jangle: "That was a leftover from the Wildflowers era that Tom found a demo for and brought in. It dates back quite a way, so maybe that's why it got some of that jangle in it," he said. "I thought it sounded more like AC/DC! But yeah, Tom and I play guitar a certain way and from 'American Girl' onward, we found a harmonic, drone-y sound, sometimes with open strings – I guess you'd call it a jangle."

"We love Roger McGuinn, among many other guitar players," Campbell added, "so I love that sound, and it's tended to creep in throughout our career."

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Playing Dumb

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Playing Dumb Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Hypnotic Eye
Released: 2014

Playing Dumb Lyrics

Playing Dumb

Tom Petty takes aim here at the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic church and the controversial financial settlements they eventually made. "If I was in a club, and I found out that there had been generations of people abusing children, and then that club was covering that up, I would quit the club," he told Billboard magazine. "And I wouldn't give them any more money."

"I just felt that I was being asked to play dumb," Petty added, describing how the song emerged. "That, 'OK, well, they paid some money, so it's all over.' I don't trust that."

In case you're wondering about Petty's own religious background, he was raised as an unconvinced Southern Baptist.

The song was included as a bonus track on the vinyl release of Hypnotic Eye.

Other songs that reference child abuse within the Catholic church include:

"Devil In A Midnight Mass" by Billy Talent.

"Religion" by Public Image Ltd.

"Take Off Your Shoes" by Sinead O'Connor.

"Dear Father" by Black Sabbath.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Red River

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Red River Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Hypnotic Eye
Released: 2014

Red River Lyrics

Red River

This song finds Petty questioning blind faith as he sings of a woman who is into speaking in tongues and also possesses both a rosary and a rabbit's foot. "I'm a big fan of the things Jesus had to say," he told USA Today. "I'm not religious at all and I never heard him say I had to be. But I do hear him saying God is within you."

"('Red River') is not quite that deep," Petty added. "I was having fun with the idea of this girl trying to find whatever it is she's looking for, and she's not sure what that is."

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Shadow People

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Shadow People Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Hypnotic Eye
Released: 2014

Shadow People Lyrics

Shadow People

This song is about the everyday folks all around us who have lost their humanity. Petty explained to Billboard magazine: "It's about what's missing — why is the 'human' missing from humanity? I think the level of caring about other people is disappearing."

Petty sings here about the fear and hate that triggers gun violence without taking political sides.

Well, I ain't on the left and I ain't on the right
I ain't even sure I got a dog in this fight

The singer explained to USA Today: "I'm not extremely political. I just look at what makes sense to me. I would think we'd be in the streets demanding that our children be safe in schools. I see friendships end over politics. I've never seen such anger. That's not how it's supposed to work. In a two-party system, ideas are argued and you compromise. You're not supposed to stop the process."

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Don't Do Me Like That

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Don't Do Me Like That Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Damn The Torpedoes
Released: 1979

Don't Do Me Like That Lyrics

I was talking with a friend of mine
Said a woman had hurt his pride
Told him that she loved him so
And turned around and let him go
Then he said, you better watch your step
Or your gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies
Cut you down to size

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
Someday I might need you baby
Don't do me like that

Listen honey, can you see?
Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye
Givin' 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

Don 't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't, don't, don't, don't

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I need you baby?
Don't do me like that

'Cause somewhere deep down inside
Someone is saying, Love doesn't last that long
I got this feelin' inside night and day
And now I can't take it no more

Listen honey, can you see?
Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye
Givin' 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

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't, don't, don't, don't

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
I just might need you honey
Don't do me like that

Wait
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Baby, baby, baby
Don't, don't, don't

No
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Baby, baby, baby

Oh, oh, oh

Writer/s: PETTY, TOM
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Don't Do Me Like That Song Chart

Petty wrote this after his first group Mudcrutch moved from Florida to Los Angeles in 1974. Not one of the group's more meaningful songs, Creem magazine called it a "throwaway romp."

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Breakdown

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Breakdown Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Released: 1977

Breakdown Lyrics

It's alright if you love me
It's alright if you don't
I'm not afraid of you runnin' away honey
I've got this feeling you won't

There is no sense in pretending
Your eyes give you away
Something inside you is feeling like I do
We said all there is to say

Baby, Breakdown, go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, honey take me through the night
Breakdown now I standin' here can't you see
Breakdown, it's all right
It's all right
It's all right

Breakdown, go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown, honey take me through the night
Breakdown now I standin' here can't you see
Breakdown, it's all right
It's all right
It's all right

Writer/s: PETTY, TOM
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Breakdown Song Chart

When the band first recorded this song, it was 7 minutes long, with an extended guitar solo at the end.

At first, the distinctive guitar lick, courtesy of Heartbreaker Mike Campbell, was only used at the end of the song. A singer named Dwight Twilley came by the studio when Petty was playing it back and suggested they use it throughout the song. Petty liked the idea, and called the band back to the studio in the middle of the night to re-record it. Twilley, who had a hit in 1975 with "I'm On Fire," was signed to the same label as Petty, and was on the same career path for a while. Petty sang on some of Twilley's songs, including his 1984 hit "Girls."

This was Petty's first single. When it was first released in January 1977 it went nowhere, but after months of touring, it was re-released in October and made it to #40 in the US.

This was featured in the 1978 movie FM. About a radio station in California, the movie was the basis for the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati. This was also included on the soundtrack.