Weekend Song – Tom Petty

A lot of tunes ask me: “Cliff, I’ve been sitting here on the bench for a year and a half now. What’s it’s going to take for me to be the Weekend Song. Come on, put me in the game.”

Well, I’d like to, I really would. There are bunch of things, and it’s all about that word Quality, which Robert Pirsig and many before have nearly stacked it trying to define. It can be many things, but I think the overall attribute is something to do with Value.

No?

Impact, then.

What?

OK, it could be something you might not have heard that I think you’ll like and I want to share. It could be a classic, or it could just be really cool.

But sometimes, sometimes, it’s just about a vibe. I get that from a bunch of things, like you probably know. Sometimes it’s just one thing in a song. Mandolin, accordion, close harmonies, a drum sound, Hammond organ, Rickenbacker guitar, fretless bass, lyrics that either knock me off my seat or keep me rooted to it. Those kind of reach value qualities.

But this week we’re just saying what the hell. Tom Petty is one of those rock warhorses that is overrated but does his thing, and you can’t ask more of someone than that.

He’s also one of my comedy rhetorical answers, along with “Does William Hurt?” “Is Al Green?” and “Does Ian Rush?”. Sometimes I do a little “Is Otis Reading?” but that can go either way. “Does Kirsty Wark?” Yeah, that works.

This borrows a lot from Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen, with the bar-room sound and the organ, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s also got a great bridge which I defy you to sing without filling in a missing The Beatles “Wooooooooo!”

1m38s in – Check it out: “…and I never can take it no more. … Wooooooooooo!”

That will stay with you now for the rest of your life, and every time you hear this song, you can think of me. You’re welcome. I’m like the Derren Brown of earworms.

Oh it’s you again, is it?

So 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.

Listen – Don’t Do Me Like That