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Song of the Day #1,195: ‘Refugee’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

1979’s Damn the Torpedoes was Tom Petty’s first bona fide classic (but not his last).

Its nine songs show Petty at the top of his game — from the spoken-word verses of the pleading, Byrds-like ‘Here Comes My Girl’ to the Eagles-esque (but better!) balladry of ‘Lousiana Rain.’ The album doesn’t contain a weak moment and it’s hard to pick a favorite.

I love the blistering kiss-off ‘What Are You Doing In My Life?’ as much as the anthemic ‘Even the Losers,’ the jaunty ‘Don’t Do Me Like the That‘ as much as the rave-up ‘Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid).’ This is a greatest hits record masquerading as a studio album.

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Song of the Day #1,194: ‘Listen to Her Heart’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Day Two in the Tom Petty retrospective brings us to the 1978 album You’re Gonna Get It.

By all accounts, this album was a continuation of the band’s debut, adding little to the mix but effectively carrying the torch of harmonic garage rock that Petty and the Heartbreakers had introduced a couple of years earlier.

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Song of the Day #1,193: ‘Breakdown’ – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I’m not a big enough fan of Tom Petty. I own seven of his solo and Heartbreakers albums, plus two he recorded with other bands, but somehow that doesn’t feel like enough.

He has released eight albums that I don’t own. I’m familiar with his early work mostly through the hits, and no doubt those records contain lots of material just as worthy as the radio staples I love.

I wouldn’t dream of owning a handful of Elvis Costello albums and just the “hits” from the rest (in whatever sense Costello has actually had hits). I’m not equating Tom Petty with Elvis Costello, but they aren’t so far apart that the analogy is baseless.

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The small screen reigns supreme

Four years ago I wrote a blog post titled ‘The Best Frakkin’ Show On TV‘ in which I singled out my five favorite shows at the time.

In the top spot was Friday Night Lights, the first season of which was practically a religious experience. The rest of its run didn’t consistently reach the heights of those first two dozen episodes but it remained the best show on TV until it bowed out — with typical grace and emotional power — earlier this year.

Three of the other shows I featured (Battlestar Galactica, Lost and Entourage) have also gone off the air since I wrote that post, and the remaining show (The Office) lost its main character.

So it’s time, I think, for an update.

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Song of the Day #1,192: ‘Fakin’ It’ – Simon & Garfunkel

While Side One of Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends is thematically consistent, Side Two is more of a grab bag.

Three of the five tracks were written for Mike Nichols’ film The Graduate — with ‘Mrs. Robinson’ famously appearing in the movie while ‘Punky’s Dilemma’ and ‘Hazy Shade of Winter’ didn’t make the cut. ‘Hazy Shade of Winter’ found success on its own, charting higher than any Bookends song other than ‘Mrs. Robinson.’

The album’s final song, ‘At the Zoo,’ is a tribute to the Central Park Zoo that portrays the animals in amusingly human terms (“giraffes are insincere… zebras are reactionaries… pigeons plot in secrecy”).

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