Song 601: This week the playlist comes around to Breakdown by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, written by Tom Petty, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. On Friday evening, December 2, 1977, shortly before digging through the final chilly Chicago winter that I endured while planning to head towards the West Coast moderate climate when the warmer temperatures returned, I joined the crowd at the Riviera Theater showing up to see Elvis Costello perform. I knew nothing about the other act, but after witnessing a very impressive set, they definitely sparked my interest. When I spent the next decade residing in the East Bay, I had the privilege of savoring 2 more TP&HB appearances, and I also expanded my LP collection with a bunch of their 33s, including their premier disc which featured this gem and a number of other sparklers. When Tom left the land of the living a few years ago, I mourned his departure, as did a cluster of my musician friends. Recently on Twitter, someone representing his music asked the question about the first Petty song people had heard, and so far, I haven't found the Riviera Theater 12/2/77 set list, but this swinger did cross my ears that night, and it has many times since, because that first LP got lots of turntable spins, and the mp3 version climbed onto my players at some point a while back. As Tom tells us all here, there is no sense in pretending when your eyes give you away, so if something inside you is feeling like I do, then I've said all there is to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment