Massive Concerns, Petty Comforts
Hello, Dames Nationals!
This is us, attempting to function as normal in the midst of roiling, oppressive dread. I CANNOT SAY WE RECOMMEND IT. Because in addition to this trauma:
There’s also the issue of just… not being at all sure what it’s even reasonable to fear because so much of this situation is completely unprecedented. We have never before, in our lifetime, had grounds to fear violence related to an election, and we certainly do now. So honestly, every moment we’re spending that isn’t this:
Or this:
Feels like an incredible achievement. One thing that’s helping to keep our thumbs up today is Ariana Grande’s frothy, sensual new album Positions. I mean, she has an entire song called “34 + 35” that’s one long (nice) joke about the Internet’s favorite number. This is the kind of content we need now more than ever.
Come Tuesday, we will at least have a better idea about which parts of our dread are founded in fact and which parts we can let rest. Enjoy a little time with one of our favorite emblems of non-toxic masculinity and:
Revisiting Tom Petty, American Treasure
My pick for the most romantic first line of a song, ever
Dame Sophie wrote an appreciation of Tom Petty the week he died three years ago, and now that a comprehensive, lavish box set of his landmark album Wildflowers has been released, we thought we’d revisit his work and legacy. Spoiler: he remains Dame Sophie’s favorite American songwriter of the last half-century.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were everywhere when I was at my most sonically impressionable, ca. 1982-1990, and I’ve always been so happy -- in literally a triumphant, fist-pumping way -- to crank their songs as loud as I can stand it in my car every time I hear them on the radio, even now. I joined exactly two official band fan clubs in that time: U2 and The Heartbreakers. Petty wrote across four decades, gave us at least a baker’s dozen of Truly Perfect Songs, and grew more beloved of fans and respected by his peers with each passing year. He survived an abusive childhood, growing up to write songs about love and gentleness and steadfastness and generosity of spirit. His memory is truly a blessing. I wish he were still alive, because 66 is way too damn young, but in his absence, here’s a link round-up for everyone who loved him, and for those who don’t know know yet that they love him.
So the first thing you need to know about Tom Petty is that he wrote perfect first lines to songs. Off the top of my head: “Baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now?” “Well, she was an American Girl, raised on promises” “You think you’re gonna take her away with your money and your cocaine” “You know, sometimes, I don’t know why, but this whole town just seems so hopeless” “Honey, don’t walk out, I’m too drunk to follow” “Baby, you come knockin’ on my front door, same old line you used to use before” - there’s a zillion of them, all lines Raymond Carver would have given his eye teeth to write.
I’m convinced that there are great songwriters who just do their own thing, to hell with what anyone else thinks. There are also great songwriters who do a bit of wool-gathering and integrate musical trends that interest them into their own thing. As future Friend of the Newsletter Chris Molanphy convincingly argues, Tom Petty was one of the latter, and his consistent application of this skill helped ensure his career longevity. Even his digressions into what Pitchfork is calling Heartland Synth Rock have proven influential on younger acts like The War on Drugs and Kurt Vile. Molanphy delved even deeper into this convincing argument in one of his best-ever episodes of Hit Parade, tracking the parallel careers of Petty and Prince, who admired each other but only played together once, at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony of 2002, when they honored George Harrison with an all-star jam session.
You know how they tell you never to meet your idols? Well, Tom Petty met his idols and made them his besties, and that’s how we have -- and this is one of the strongest compliments I can bestow -- two perfect Dad Rock records in the form of Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 & Volume 3. The week he passed away, Cherished Damespal Karen referred to Tom as the Baby Spice of the Traveling Wilburys and that is really true. Look at that little blondie hanging with his big brothers! Precious! The full constellation of records from this band of brothers era includes George Harrison’s Cloud Nine, Jeff Lynne’s Armchair Theatre, the two Wilburys records, Roy Orbison’s swan song, Mystery Girl, Tom’s first solo album Full Moon Fever and his return to the Heartbreakers, Into The Great Wide Open. Lynne’s production puts a golden hour shimmer on them all, so they’re connected by both friendship and a delicious sonic plushness. Please feel free to come yell with me about these iconic recordings on Twitter at any time, I was a very cool teen who owned them all on cassette.
Round out your Petty appreciation dive with this updated link round-up:
His daughter Adria -- who has been a tireless and thoughtful steward of his musical legacy -- had a wide-ranging conversation with Wildflowers producer Rick Rubin for his podcast Broken Record. They get into where Wildflowers fits into Petty’s musical legacy, his personal life, and what a stark turning point it was in his career and friendships with everyone in his life. Their conversation shines a light on Petty’s character as a person who took his responsibilities to others so seriously that he shoved down his personal priorities for years, eventually using the process of writing and recording Wildflowers as a bridge to the next, happier phase of his career and life. Rubin’s conversation with Heartbreakers keyboardist/pianist/organist Benmont Tench is also very much worth a listen.
Runnin Down a Dream is Peter Bogdanovich’s loving, four-hour (!) documentary about the Heartbreakers. It is quite good and will make you wish once again for a feature-length documentary about Stevie Nicks. I rewatched it about a week ago as part of my Election 2020 survival strategy (rewatch, reread, relisten) and can confirm that it holds up, particularly for the way that it highlights what a principled, steadfast person he was. No, he would not release early masterpiece Damn The Torpedoes until he regained control of his publishing rights from his record company. No, he would not allow the same record company to jack up the price of his subsequent album (the underappreciated mid-career gem, Hard Promises, which opens with the chiming optimism of “The Waiting” and then twists the knife of heartbreak with “Insider”, another peerless duet with Stevie Nicks). When the wildly catchy anthem of defiance “I Won’t Back Down” came out, everyone who knew him thought “yeah, he is and always has been that guy, no lies detected!” He’s also the guy who just very casually recorded that instant classic with two Beatles, nbd nbd nbd.
His direct, unambiguous repudiation of having used the Confederate flag on his 1985 tour for Southern Accents (including the steps he took to make sure the flag was removed from the official video of the tour)
The story ofhis final interview with the LA Times -- recorded just a week or so before his death -- is all the more crushing for the optimism and energy it captures
This rebroadcast of his 2006 interview on Fresh Air is lovely & sardonic & reflective & my god I miss him so much it hurts, still.
This feels horribly pointed.
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