Tom Petty Analysis

Tom Petty was born in 1950 in Gainesville Florida to Kitty and Earl Petty. Petty began to find refuge in music because of his rough relationship he had with his physically and verbally abusive father. He idolized playing the guitar and singers such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles. In high school, Petty began playing in his first band, the Epics, in which he played the bass (Biography.com Editors, 2017). In 1970, Petty began to see that the Epics were not serious enough about the music they were playing and he wanted to expand further than the rest of the band did (Rotondo, 2014). At age 17, he then began playing in a band named Mudcrutch, which was influenced by British Invasion, a band that came from the United Kingdom that followed The

There is a myth that Petty became inspired to write this song about this girl who attended the college in his town, University of Florida, who had consumed hallucinogens and decided she could fly, leading her to jump 13 floors and she landed face down on the concrete causing her death. This girl was considered to be an “All-American” beauty and Petty became captivated by the story which led him to write the song “American Girl” (Song Facts, n.d.). “American Girl” is a strophic song in which he sings of this girl mentioned above. He says that she is “raised on promises” and that she thought that there was more to this life than what she was receiving. Petty recollects on the night she presumably jumped off the balcony by singing, “it was kind of cold that night. She stood alone on her balcony.” The lyrics suggest that as she was standing there alone, she thought of the man that had achingly broken her heart. Given the background of this song, this is when she most likely took the leap off the building while she was reaching for something that was “still so far out of reach.” This song includes the main voice of Tom Petty, a guitar, drums, bass guitar, and background vocals. This song includes a fast tempo in which makes the story seem almost compelling to the listener. This tune, although the horrible background story, is a fun and interesting song to hear because of the intriguing upbeat