#Lyrics i won t back down tom petty tv
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE") In 2017, one week after the mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas, singer Jason Aldean, who was onstage when the assault started, opened "Saturday Night Live" with these words. I won't.īLOCK: And others have turned to the song as a way to bind the country together in dark times.
T PETTY: (Singing) Yeah, I will stand my ground and I won't back down. Nobody told him what to do.īLOCK: And so it was fitting that in 2001, just days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Petty chose "I Won't Back Down" to play at the televised benefit concert for victims and families. He stood up to the man at the record company. Hey, baby, there ain't no easy way out.ĬAMPBELL: A lot of people ask me, what was Tom really like? And that's him. T PETTY: (Singing) And I won't back down. It lifts - it's an old musical trick to lift things up, and it works. Listen for what happens as verse turns to chorus and the mood of the chords switches from minor to major key.ĬAMPBELL: You can stand me up at the gates of hell - it's all kind of spooky and minor and then (vocalizing) I won't back down goes up to the major relative chords. So thank you, George Harrison, wherever you are up there with Tommy.īLOCK: As for what makes the song an anthem, Mike Campbell says it's not just the lyrics. And George was like, that's terrible, you know?ĬAMPBELL: (Laughter) Yeah, George didn't mince words.ĭ PETTY: Right? And thank God because there ain't no easy way out is a much better line. Tom had something like, I'm standing at the edge of the world or something. And Dana Petty says it was Harrison who came up with this line.ĭ PETTY: There ain't no easy way out. I think I suggested at one point pushing me around, and Tom looked at me like, I was just going to say that (laughter).īLOCK: George Harrison stopped by that day and played guitar on the track. MIKE CAMPBELL: It's like, well, I won't back down - you know, OK, well, what can we do with that? You know, stand my ground. Coming up with the lyrics, Campbell says, that was pretty straightforward. And I won't back down.īLOCK: "I Won't Back Down" was released in 1989 on Petty's solo album "Full Moon Fever." As his lifelong bandmate guitarist Mike Campbell tells it, the song came together super-fast in just a few hours. I got just one life in a world that keeps on pushing me around, but I'll stand my ground. T PETTY: (Singing) Well, I know what's right. You bastard, you didn't get me, you know? I survived. T PETTY: Because I felt really elated that they didn't get me, you know? Like, I kind of just - that was the thought that was going through my head as well. And in the Fresh Air interview, he said that horrific experience probably did filter into the song. His family survived, but he lost everything.
It was her favorite song, and they played it, and she came out of a coma, which blew his mind.īLOCK: Petty recorded "I Won't Back Down" a few years after an arsonist burned down his house. He heard so many stories, says his widow Dana Petty.ĭANA PETTY: He told me that he heard or read somewhere that it brought a girl out of a coma. People would come up to him on the street or in restaurants all the time and tell him how this song gave them the strength to carry on. There's not a lot of metaphor or any - you know, anywhere to go.īLOCK: But, he said, of all his many hit songs, this one ended up having the most direct impact. You know, I thought, well, there isn't really anything to hide behind here (laughter) you know? It's very bold and very blunt. T PETTY: I thought that it was maybe just too direct. Here he is speaking on WHYY's Fresh Air in 2006. And Tom Petty worried about that at first, worried the song was too simple. MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE: The lyrics that speak to resilience, empowerment and hope are as simple as they come.
#Lyrics i won t back down tom petty series
Here's NPR's Melissa Block with the latest in our series American Anthem about the songs that inspire and unite us. And for many, it's a deeply personal anthem of resolve. You could stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down.ĬHANG: "I Won't Back Down" by the late Tom Petty has served as an anthem of defiance for striking workers, an anthem of grit for political candidates. TOM PETTY: (Singing) Well, I won't back down. (SOUNDBITE OF TOM PETTY SONG, "I WON'T BACK DOWN")ĬHANG: This slide guitar riff sets up a song whose power comes from its simplicity. There are songs that grab you from the very first note.
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