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walk along a row of houses , and if it ’ s very quiet and the conditions are right , I can stop in front of a house , and the stories of that house will leak out , and I can kind of feel them . It ’ s a very tentative thing . It ’ s not like a telephone call where this happens , and that happens — I can just sort of feel emanations from things . For sure , because that ’ s how I write songs . I guess I ’ ve got a thin skin , but if you ’ ve got a thin skin , of course , you can ’ t turn it off when you don ’ t want it . So if somebody says , “ Your album is rubbish ,” that really hurts me . I ’ ve got that thin skin that lets things in , but it lets everything in . But if you want to have thick skin , I don ’ t think you ’ re going to be a very good songwriter because you ’ ve got to pick on the very minutest of details . You ’ ve got to really be able to perceive minute and imperceptible things .
IE : After all the close calls I ’ m sure you had in your drug years — ditto here , full disclosure — do you ever feel , well , chosen to be here still , doing what you ’ re supposed to be doing ? SK : I have felt that something has been looking out for me . And my brother used to say to me , “ Man , you ’ ve got the luck of the devil .” But sooner or later , that can ’ t go on . Sooner or later , that has to run out . I fell asleep once at the wheel with my children in the back , and I was driving in Maryland , on the Northeast coast of America . I fell asleep at the wheel , one foggy , sleepy morning , and I ran off the road . And if I ’ d
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run off the road five seconds before or five seconds after , we all would have been killed , because there was a huge ditch , we would have gone down into the ditch , the car would have overturned . But I ran off in this one place where there was a little side road that you could have run off , and then the car was brought to a halt by hitting all these tiny trees that thankfully slowed the car down . So I woke up with everyone in the car , screaming . But if it had been a fraction of a minute before that , we all would have died . So what were the chances of THAT happening ? And yeah , I was a junkie for ten years , and I never OD ’ ed , and I never died . So just all my life , I have felt a hand … I really believe in a guardian angel . I really believe in that . I believe in all these things . I believe in angels , I believe in gods , I believe in spirits , I believe in devils , everything . And I really have felt lucky , like something has been looking out for me all my life . And one day , I was in New York , and I was all hot and bothered about something , and I took a step into the traffic , and a hand restrained me . And a moment later , a huge bus zoomed by , right where I would have stepped . And I turned around , but nobody was there . And nobody was there . But yet a hand had restrained me , and I felt like that has happened to me time and time again .
And obviously , one day , that hand won ’ t restrain me , and I ’ ll walk into the bus the way it ’ s meant to be . But I do feel like there ’ s something out there looking after some of us until it ’ s time for us to go .
TOM PETTY
Continued from page 20 song double album , this reissue includes a second platter with 10 additional tracks from the 1994 sessions . Petty named these songs All the Rest .
The Deluxe Edition includes a new David Frickeessay hardback book describing the essence of Wildflowers . It was “ me singing about me ,” Fricke writes , quoting Petty . “ I ’ m not easy to know ,” admits Petty in the opening line of “ Something Could Happen ” as All the Rest begins . The book also contains lyrics for every song and insightful track-by-track notes from the band and production team .
Make no mistake , the revealing songs from All the Rest are not throwaways . These are must-haves for any Petty devotee . It ’ s hard to believe that most of them sat in the vault for so long .
Folk-rock waltz “ Confusion Wheel ” works beautifully as a prescient hymn for 2020 , with Petty taking his familiar position as leader and rallier of underdogs , determined to beat the odds and find a way through turmoil . The song is worn but hopeful . “ One of these nights / it ’ ll all wash away , and we ’ ll wake up singing a brand-new song ,” sings Petty . “ Leave Virginia Alone ” was recorded in 1995 by Rod Stewart , becoming a minor hit from his A Spanner in the Works album . The song comfortably suits Petty ’ s own amiable voice , warning against tangling with a rule-breaking femme fatale who ’ s “ hotter than Georgia asphalt .” “ Somewhere Under Heaven ” is the portrait of another generation ’ s American girl , the wide-eyed pride of her southern father . The psychedelic pop arrangement features some of the electronic production infusing Southern Accents while still showcasing majestic Campbell riffs that mix the Byrds ’ 12-string jangle with the arena-sized grandeur of The Who ’ s “ I Can See for Miles ” and the sparkle of The Alarm ’ s “ Rain in The Summertime .”
The set ’ s most arresting song is among the simplest . The tumbling acoustic guitar fable “ Harry Green ” is a sweet but haunted memory of a high school classmate – a kind , all-American middle-class kid who couldn ’ t live with his secrets .
The muscular “ Climb That Hill ” was one of four Wildflowers outtakes to appear on 1996 ’ s Songs and Music from She ’ s the One . The alternate take from All the Rest begins with a different drumbeat and heavier sense of drama and has a different outro solo from Campbell . All the Rest also includes “ Climb That Hill Blues ,” a solo acoustic performance sharing roots with “ Don ’ t Fade on Me .” Its simmering , isolated intensity carries an alternate power to the heavy-riffing electric version . “ California ” omits the final verse ’ s countermelody heard on She ’ s the One .“ I hope you never fall in love with somebody like you ,” sings Petty during “ Hope You Never ,” a song that borrows the midtempo groove of “ Into the Great Wide Open .” A new mix of Beach Boys homage “ Hung Up and Overdue ” brings honored guest Carl Wilson ’ s vocal forward and boasts drumming by Ringo Starr . A note to completists : Refer to 2018 ’ s An American Treasure for the rollicking “ Lonesome Dave ,” an additional track from the sessions that Petty did not intend for All the Rest .
The Deluxe package augments Wildflowers & All the Rest with two additional collections that give historical context and insight into the album ’ s development . The Home Recordings set was cited by Campbell as a personal favorite earlier this year while promoting the forthcoming Wreckless Abandon album from his group , the Dirty Knobs . It ’ s no wonder since these demos would have been the first versions heard by the Heartbreakers . In Home Recordings , Petty provides sturdy skeletons for the songs and plays all instruments himself . Atop everything else , the set demonstrates how Petty ’ s sense of rhythm drove the Heartbreakers ’ feel . Certain songs like “ California ” might even be most effective in Petty ’ s spare demos . Tench ’ s liner notes admit that Petty ’ s demos “ were really special and sometimes surpassed what we did when we recut them .” The embryonic version of “ You Don ’ t Know How it Feels ” features a verse that became the cornerstone lyric of “ Crawling Back to You ” ( which Petty originally played as a shuffle ).
Three Home Recordings tracks are not present on either Wildflowers or All the Rest . The acoustic ballad “ There Goes Angela ( Dream Away )” offers Petty ’ s blessing from the road while separated from a loved one . “ If ever someone should break your will , have a dream on me ,” he sings , between breaths of lonely folk harmonica . Tench writes that he doesn ’ t think he ’ d ever heard the song before in the liner notes . “ If I had , I would ’ ve begged [ Tom ] to record it ,” says the keyboardist . Lyrics from the chiming and beatific “ A Feeling of Peace ” ultimately found their way to It ’ s Good to Be King . “ There ’ s a Break in the Rain ( Have Love Will Travel )” is a familiar style of fond Petty blessings akin to Southern Accents ’ “ The Best of Everything .” The song shares its chorus lyric with “ Have Love , Will Travel ” from The Last DJ but is more fragile than that version ’ s gritty Bob Dylan-styled swing . Fourteen Wildflowers Live tracks complete the Deluxe picture , presenting 11 of the album ’ s songs and the unbeatable Heartbreakers in their true element – on stage before ecstatic crowds from 1995 to 2017 . A 40th anniversary tour performance of “ Crawling Back to You ” expands to allow sparkling piano passages by Tench and soulful solo excursions by Campbell , atop the reliable rhythm section of founding Heartbreakers bassist Ron Blair and Ferrone . This set includes two more unreleased Wildflowers ¬ -era tracks , the comically illicit “ Girl on LSD ” and riff-rocker “ Drivin ’ Down to Georgia .” The latter recalls the caffeine-fueled energy of “ Running Down a Dream .” Also present is the winsome “ Walls ( Circus ),” another song from the fertile Wildflowers era that
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