Earworm

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I have written two posts already on what I consider to be ‘perfect’ albums, but one of my favourite rock and roll bands, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, did not manage to feature on either of them. Admittedly, that is because I think they fell just shy of having such a perfect album. Having said that, I think their fourth album, Hard Promises is about as near as you can get to swimming in that ocean without being waist deep in the water.

To introduce a lovely human element of cognitive dissonance, I would go as far as to say that Hard Promises may not be a perfect album, yet it may still be one of the greatest rock and roll records of all time – perhaps even surpassing the quality of some of those included on my lists from Perfect Track Record and 5 Perfect Albums Two.

How does that work? What I am suggesting is that Hard Promises has one or two songs that may not hit the mark, making it not a perfect album. On the other hand, I would argue that the song-writing and musicality of the songs that do shine puts Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers amongst rock and roll royalty. Let us dig into this 1981 classic to find out why I think it is a superb listen.

Hard Promises by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Hard Promises features ten tracks of some of the greatest song-writing that the band ever put together. From tracks such as The Waiting and Letting You Go that were praised for their depth of lyrics to the musicality and fun of songs like Nightwatchman, Hard Promises has been heralded as a success by fans and critics alike.

Let us take a look at a break-down of the album’s track list.

Track List

Background on the Album

Hard Promises was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ fourth studio album. The album was recorded at Sound City in Los Angeles and released in 1981. Hard Promises was co-produced by Petty himself and Jimmy Iovine, who had already collaborated on their third release, Damn the Torpedoes. The relationship between the two became somewhat strained during the album’s production as the lead singer was adamant to keep creative control over The Heartbreakers’ sound.

One of the key battlegrounds in the production of the album was the price at which MCA Records wanted to charge music lovers. The industry standard at the time was $8.98 for an album, but the label wanted to class Hard Promises as a ‘superstar’ release and hike the cost an extra dollar to $9.98. Petty outright refused the idea and even threatened to withhold the album if MCA would not relent. This garnered a lot of attention from the public and the media and eventually forced the label to give into Petty’ demands. It was a huge move from the rock and roll legend, and it cemented his reputation for respecting his fan base.

Tom Petty and co. were also huge fans of John Lennon and had hoped to have him collaborate on Hard Promises. Lennon was scheduled to join them in the studio, but as is well-documented, The Beatle was tragically murdered in December of the year before, so he was unable to contribute to Hard Promises. As a tribute to the late singer and guitarist, the run-out groove on the vinyl release of the album included the message ‘We love you J.L.’

My Favourite Songs

I believe that Hard Promises contains some of the most outstanding music from one of my all-time favourite rock and roll bands. Here are some of my favourite tracks from the album:

1. The Waiting
2. A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)
3. Nightwatchman
4. Letting You Go
5. A Thing about You

The Waiting

The waiting is the hardest part.
Every day you see one more card.
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart.
The waiting is the hardest part.

I can thank Matt Groening for helping me to discover this song. There is an episode of The Simpsons titled The Cartridge Family, wherein The Waiting plays in the background as Homer sits in a camping chair on his front lawn whilst waiting five days after buying a gun for it to turn up. The song immediately appealed to me, and I remember I had to rewind the episode a few times to try to capture it on Shazam.

The Waiting is one heck of an album-opener, bustling with sweet guitar licks, Petty’s immeasurable lyrical intelligence, and the band’s tight playing. The song draws inspiration from early rock and roll bands like The Byrds, which is most notable from Mike Campbell’s use of a Rickenbacker 12-string to deliver his jangly guitar sound.

Then there is the chorus! Once you hear it, it gets stuck in your head. It perfectly captures the full range of human emotion: love, longing, ambition, perseverance, and more. Plus, you get all of this wrapped not in fusty, pretentious layers but in the every-day language of the common man. It is simply written, but it is beautifully written!

A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)

She’s a woman in love
And he’s gonna break her heart to pieces.
She don’t wanna see.
She’s a woman in love, but it’s not me.

Following on from The Waiting is track two on Hard Promises: A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me). The song was co-written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, and is a wonderful example of the singer’s powerful lyric-building and the guitarist’s delicate fretwork. There is even the jangly bridge which always seems to remind me of Shiny Happy People from R.E.M.

The song was considered by Billboard to be the ‘most dramatic track’ on Hard Promises, with Petty’s desperate vocals driving home the story of his persona’s unrequited lover in a crumbling relationship not with him.

Jim Lenehan, who had previously worked with The Heartbreakers with setting up their lighting before shows, directed the accompanying music video. It was striking in style for its film noir-esque tropes, with the band spotlighted as silhouettes in shadowy scenes.

Nightwatchman

I’m the nightwatchman.
I make the rounds.
I’m the nightwatchman.
I gotta keep my nose to the ground.

The first two tracks on Hard Promises may be emotionally heavy hits filled with feelings of longing and desperation, but Nightwatchman turns the page on these with a more upbeat portrayal of Tom Petty’s security guard.

As Petty’s career grew, so too did his need to beef up security measures. He was initially reluctant to accept having security posted at his house, calling it ‘kind of disgusting and amusing at the same time’ in Paul Zollo’s Conversations with Tom Petty. He described that after a short while, however, he ended up befriending his security detail:

‘I was always up all night. So I would wind up going out there and talking with him a lot. Really, he was the only other person awake in the house.’

This unlikely friendship led Petty to write Nightwatchman about his new compatriot, a song which made waves with fans as the B-side to the single release of The Waiting.

The song itself is empowered by the funky muted guitar intro, the rocking drum beat, and Petty’s cool vocal lines. Whether you are a night owl or a regular day Joe, sticking this song in your headphones will make you feel like the cat’s pyjamas.

Letting You Go

Woah, woah,
I’m having trouble letting you go.

I admit that I realise this is a third song out of four that seems to relate to a lack of success in love. Maybe the band should have gone with Tom Petty and the Heartbroken than The Heartbreakers, right?

Joking apart, Letting You Go is another shining example of Petty’s lyrical wit. The song describes the tumult of understanding the need to move on whilst something inside you still clings to the past. All of this is brought to life with the singer’s restrained vocal that helps the message ring true. The contrast between the tone of the vocal and the accompanying instrumental parts, however, is stark yet somehow complimentary, showcasing the band’s talent for creating accessible rock songs.

I also believe Letting You Go contains one of the best bridges, with reflective lyrics that seem to portray a journey familiar to all:

It’s off in the distance somewhere up the road
There’s some easy answer for the tears you’ve cried
And it makes me unhappy, makes me feel different
Do you get scared when you close your eyes?

I may have unhappy personal memories of times when I listened to Letting You Go and it feeling most poignant, but I can say without a doubt that the band helped get me through those hard times, and I can now smile and be grateful that I am in a much happier place in life.

A Thing about You

Honey, let me tell you I gotta a thing about you.
Baby, let me tell you I gotta thing about you.
Don’t matter what you say,
Don’t matter where you do,
I gotta thing about you.
I gotta thing about you.

A Thing about You is night and day compared to Letting You Go, providing a high-energy ray of sunshine about ‘lovers’ that ‘whisper in their anxious ears/Words of love that disappear’. The lyrics are as impassioned as Petty’s vocals, and the musicality of the whole song is infectious. The real flair of this piece lies in Benmont Tench’s jaunty piano lines interwoven with Mike Campbell’s soaring guitar.

Live performances of A Thing about You were also a treat for fans. Although the song did not feature as heavily in later tours, the song was practically a staple for the band in the early eighties. With all of the love, positivity, and energy offered by this three-and-a-half-minute raw diamond, it is no surprise that fans of Tom Petty still cherish A Thing about You today.

The song also holds a special place in my heart because I stumbled across it when I first moved to Malta. I had Hard Promises on shuffle and happened upon A Thing about You when daydreaming on a walk about the girl at work I fancied. Almost four years later, she is still putting up with me as her boyfriend, so I always smile when this song comes on, remembering and laughing about how shy and nervous I was with her in the early stages.

Final Thoughts

I absolutely adore Hard Promises, and I would go as far as to say that it is my favourite of all of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ albums – even above Damn the Torpedoes. There are so many brilliant songs on the album, which tackle the deepest human emotions with simplicity, subtlety, and sing-along-ability.

The album itself, at least for me, may not be perfect, with tracks like Insider and The Criminal Kind not quite living up to other smash hits on the record. Nonetheless, I think Hard Promises deserves all the plaudits it gets, and I would love to hear your thoughts if you have other favourite songs.

Do you agree with me that Hard Promises takes the top spot or are there other Petty and co. albums that you think make them a worthier winner? The band has a delectable discography, but I can think of no finer album. Let me know your thoughts below.

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