Six Pack Playlist — Tom Petty

We put together our top six Petty songs, six days after his passing.

It’s only been a week since the world lost Tom Petty. Only one week, and it already feels quieter.

There are certain people who are put on earth, and given a voice that’s just a little louder than the rest of ours — they’re the ones who feel more deeply, and look a little wider than themselves. They help us to understand, analyze and reassess, have faith when hope is lost, appreciate our people more. They help us to be better.

Rob Harvilla wrote a piece for The Ringer following Petty’s passing, where he said “Even as a very casual fan, or a total agnostic — as an American, or as any human anywhere with the slightest interest in the theoretical greatness of America — you likely know roughly 25 Tom Petty songs more or less by heart. Know by heart is a very different notion from have them memorized.”

Petty was an interesting case. He was never the popular choice in the class of musicians that he came up with. As Lou put it, he was a master at filling in the musical gaps, while making a space that was all his own. He snuck up on you.

Petty put his whole heart out there. Whether it was his work as a solo artist, with the Heartbreakers, or the Traveling Wilbury’s, fans young and old have his songs engrained in their raising. Now, we all know Petty by heart.

Here is the Side Streets Six Pack — Tom Petty Edition.

Breakdown

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)

Believe it or not, this was Petty’s first single off his debut album. The drums and bass line kick off set the tone for this sparse, driving blues rocker. It may arguably contain the most perfectly Petty lyric: “it’s alright if you love me / it’s alright if you don’t.”

Walls (Circus)

She’s The One Soundtrack (1996)

Half of the draw to this song is the video. It’s classically Petty — strange, colorful, uninhibited, while still being laid back and thoughtful. If you look closely, you might recognize a young Jennifer Aniston, and a young Leslie Mann dancing through all that fabric.

The other half of the draw, though, is in the song itself. The lyrics point to the juxtaposition that Petty embodied — talented, successful, full of life, and simultaneously humbled, blue collar, and a little sad. It’s a beautiful melody, rounded out by backing vocals from Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac (which is a whole other story, but probably explains even more why I’m partial to this track).

You Wreck Me

Wildflowers (1994)

This electrified chord progression shocks you into coherence in the middle of a predominantly mellow Wildflowers album. The record was, as his New York Times obituary put it, “ the harbinger of his divorce from Ms. (Jane) Benyo in 1996. Living alone, he fell into heroin addiction, which he overcame through rehab before his marriage to Dana York in 2001.” His dark reality belies the otherwise bouncing melody.

Runnin’ Down A Dream

Full Moon Fever (1989)

When we talk about The Greats, what we’re really talking about are the voices that we want as the soundtrack to our days. I’m here to tell you: there is no road trip complete without Runnin’ Down a Dream. You listen to this song, and you can feel the steering wheel under your palm, your best friend in the passengers seat, and see the open road before you. Like you, Petty didn’t necessarily know what was coming. What that next thing was going to be. All he knew was that “there’s something good waitin’ down this road” and he was “pickin’ up whatever’s mine.”

This song is what life on a good day feels like: endless possibility.

Southern Accents

Southern Accents (1985)

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

No ballad of Petty’s leans in to his Gainesville roots more than this title track. A melancholy waltz that lingers like dissipating tobacco smoke. Recently, his former collaborator Stevie Nicks and Lady Antebellum frontman Charles Kelley recorded a worthy duet.

Time to Move On

Wildflowers (1994)

Broken skyline, which way to love land
Which way to something better
Which way to forgiveness
Which way do I go

It’s time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It’s time to move on, it’s time to get going

The world he left behind is a crazy place. As Harvilla said in his piece, Petty was the straight man America needed when he was here, and was more than happy to just play his part and let greatness happen around him. Little did he know his own impact. That was just who he was, though, I think. I like to believe that in his final hours, Petty sang this song himself, understanding full well that he had done his part, and it was time to move on.