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Non-American Girl Tom Petty Song


jeff42

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We have been asked to "play tom petty" a few times recently and when we chime back with american girl we actually got groans from the people requesting... strange huh?

So, If you were to cover a Tom petty song that was NOT american girl what one would you do? 

 

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"Runnin' Down A  Dream" was always a huge crowd pleaser/dance floor filler for us.  Worked as well or better than AG.  We often used it as an encore number back in the old 5-piece days.

Personally, I'd like to do another one of his earlier hits: "Don't Do Me Like That" or "I Need To Know" or something like that, because that's the stuff of his I personally like best.  But it's the late 80s/early 90s stuff that seems to have the highest recognition factor with younger audiences.

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jeff42 wrote:

 

We have been asked to "play tom petty" a few times recently and when we chime back with american girl we actually got groans from the people requesting... strange huh?

 

So, If you were to cover a Tom petty song that was NOT american girl what one would you do? 

 

 

 

We play a ton of Petty stuff. AG is certainly not at the top of the list as far as songs they want to hear by TP. Here are some we do at least occasionally if not regularly.

MARY JANE'S LAST DANCE

OUT IN THE COLD

BREAK DOWN

YOU WRECK ME

RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM

SWINGIN'

FREE GIRL NOW

FREE FALLIN'

WON'T BACK DOWN

AMERICAN GIRL

 

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Man, Tom Petty is awesome. But playing his songs in a situation with a high energy party band presents a problem. American Girl is the only one that has the vibe to sustain itself in that situation.

 

On the rare occassion that a group of people wants more Tom Petty stuff.. we have pulled out Mary Jane's Last Dance (but it's SOOOO slow), and Free Fallin, which can occassionally work with a sing along crowd.

 

I would think if we HAD to add another Tom Petty song that we'd be doing on a regular basis, it would be The Waiting. Still has some energy, and people tend to know that song.

 

In out acoustic set, there's a little more wiggle room, and we've had good responses from the four above songs, Runnin Down A Dream, Refugee, and You Wreck Me. Typically, when I've done them, we get decent responses from Won't Back Down, Don't Come Around Here No More, Breakdown, and Learning to Fly. I've played Yer So Bad, Here Comes My Girl, and Into the Great Wide Open to crickets though.

 

TL:dr.... if you gotta add one more.. do The Waiting.

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In the 30+ years I've been doing this - I can't ever recall having fielded a request for Tom Petty stuff that didn't come from another musician.  Personally, I find most of his material to be way to "dirge-y" for my tastes - especially the super tired stuff like Mary Jane and Breakdown.  I can't think of another artist who generates as much "filler" material as TP does.

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SpaceNorman wrote:

 

 

In the 30+ years I've been doing this - I can't ever recall having fielded a request for Tom Petty stuff that didn't come from another musician.  Personally, I find most of his material to be way to "dirge-y" for my tastes - especially the super tired stuff like Mary Jane and Breakdown.  I can't think of another artist who generates as much "filler" material as TP does.

 

that's certainly an opinion. But not one that makes much sense to me. His stuff wouldn't be so popular if it was all filler.

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SpaceNorman wrote:

 

 

In the 30+ years I've been doing this - I can't ever recall having fielded a request for Tom Petty stuff that didn't come from another musician.  Personally, I find most of his material to be way to "dirge-y" for my tastes - especially the super tired stuff like Mary Jane and Breakdown.  I can't think of another artist who generates as much "filler" material as TP does.

 

Petty stuff was pretty solid with the younger crowds out here until about  7-8 years ago, but has largely faded since then.  Similar to how you used to never be able to go wrong with anything off the Steve Miller Greatest Hits album and then, seemingly overnight, all those songs stopped working so well.  Now, with the exception of AG (which has become one of 'those' songs) his stuff goes over best with the snowboarder/pot-smoking kids who just sort of want to float around the dance floor.  If you don't wanna play Petty, give 'em Marley and it will work just as well.

 

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I'm just finally sitting down to learn "American Girl" because it gets requested all the time when I'm asked to "bring my guitar" to the bonfire/poolside/etc.  There's a guy who plays it solo in the area who whistles the guitar lines, so the tune doesn't feel tired to me.  If I wanted to do another Petty song, "Refugee" or "Here Comes My Girl" should go over.  It's true that a lot of his stuff simmers a bit, and maybe doesn't have the energy you'd need to keep people dancing.

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Chicken Monkey wrote:

I'm just finally sitting down to learn "American Girl" because it gets requested all the time when I'm asked to "bring my guitar" to the bonfire/poolside/etc.  There's a guy who plays it solo in the area who whistles the guitar lines, so the tune doesn't feel tired to me.  If I wanted to do another Petty song, "Refugee" or "Here Comes My Girl" should go over.  It's true that a lot of his stuff simmers a bit, and maybe doesn't have the energy you'd need to keep people dancing.

but we all aren't solely dance bands. :)

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We just debuted two "new" Tom Petty songs (new for us to play) this weekend. I used to play "Here Comes My Girl" a few years ago with a previous band and it would always go over well. I brought that one back out to do with my current band and added "Even The Losers." Both songs worked for us. Petty is one of the few artists I can sort of emulate well vocally so that helps I'm sure. Another possible idea would be "You Wreck Me," which will be another one we're going to do in the future. All three were hits, but not necessarily beaten to death like other songs.

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I don't really see Tom Petty and HB stuff going over well with a party band type of setlist.  Like blackbird was saying, their stuff seems out of place.  Now, if you are playing an acoustic setlist or a setlist that is classic rock heavy then there is tons of his stuff you could pick out.

I have played MJLD, Refugee, and Breakdown with bands and every now and then Mary Jane would get a good response, but the other two never really got much of a response.  The songs are part of the group of 40-50 songs every bar band knows... "well, we got to have some Tom Petty".  

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SpaceNorman wrote:

 

 

In the 30+ years I've been doing this - I can't ever recall having fielded a request for Tom Petty stuff that didn't come from another musician.  Personally, I find most of his material to be way to "dirge-y" for my tastes - especially the super tired stuff like Mary Jane and Breakdown.  I can't think of another artist who generates as much "filler" material as TP does.

 

Yeah. I think of him as a slightly better vocal quality version of Bob Dylan. But if I'm going to do his stuff it seems that Runnin' Down a Dream and You Wreck Me are nice, snappy songs that people can get into. Musically they are pretty darned easy, too.

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