This girl achieves a hollow victory when she makes her escape, but it’s a victory nonetheless. And yet, Petty, as always, has admiration for characters that find themselves at a rough point and yet refuse to give in to their situations. There is little to suggest any kind of happy ending will take place here. The situations in which the heroine finds herself are wholly unromantic, from shenanigans in Vegas to hitched rides with strangers. The open spaces suggested by the first song’s ringing guitars are replaced by the minor keys and crunching riffs of “Swingin’.” When this girl says that she’s free, the music suggests otherwise. I’ve always thought of this song as a companion piece to “American Girl.” Not so much a sequel, but a re-imagining of the story almost 25 years after it was first told. I hear a vibrant, slightly-daft, never-dull, whirlwind of a single that reinvigorated a career. At least when I hear it, I don’t picture Petty in a goofy hat. Petty has stated in interviews that he regrets the video somewhat because he feels like no one can hear “Don’t Come Around Here No More” now without imagining Alice In Wonderland. It’s as if Petty included that section to remind everyone that the Heartbreakers were still very much a force, and, thanks to the contrast of all the weirdness before, that section rocks righteously indeed. TP also fully invests himself in the role he’s playing here in a performance that’s reminiscent of some of Mick Jagger’s memorable cads from the Stones’ catalog.
Female backing vocalists were brought in to give some counterpoint to Petty’s rejoinders, and Stewart allegedly ran into the control room with his pants down in an effort to get one (Stephanie Spruill) to hit that high note that kicks off the harder-rocking section at the song’s end. Stewart also sent the track to a bass player (Dean Garcia) whose work was completely unusable save for the quirky little bit that kicks the song into gear. For example, there’s the sampled drum pattern that repeats throughout the song, which, combined with that mystical sitar that seems to endlessly feedback onto itself for a wash of head-spinning sound, creates the oddest rhythm bed you’ve ever heard.īut that wasn’t all of the insanity running rampant with this song. Moreover, the memorable video brought the band to a younger group of fans and helped ensure that their popularity wouldn’t be waning anytime soon.ĭave Stewart was Petty’s simpatico collaborator on this madcap tour de force, and his spirit of experimentation inspired Petty to make some very un-Petty-like choices. “Don’t Come Around Here No More” was proof to any skeptics that doubted that the Heartbreakers could do anything besides straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll. He channeled that frustration into the fountain of creativity that led to this one-of-a-kind single. Tom Petty was a little frustrated at the stagnancy that he felt had crept into the band’s sound on their fourth album, 1983’s Get Lucky. Song 10: “Don’t Come Around Here No More” This list is not meant just for debate fodder, but also as a celebration of one of rock 'n’roll’s singular artists. With Tom Petty having blown through the Woodlands this weekend, here's the Top 10 to tide you over. Ranking these songs was not a matter of bad versus good more like good versus great versus holy-crap-that’s-an–amazing song. While you all may not agree with my rankings, it’s hard to argue with the consistency Tom Petty’s songwriting and recording output. This mighty undertaking - ranking the Top 100 songs of Tom Petty's career in the Ultimate Countdown - has been a true joy for me because it has given me the excuse to really dive into this amazing catalog of music.
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