American Girl (Tom Petty song)

"American Girl" is the second single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. The single did not chart in the U.S., but in the UK it peaked at #40 the week ending August 27, 1977. The song was ranked 76th on the list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" by Rolling Stone.[1]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Music  ==Music[ edit] == "American Girl" uses standard rock instrumentation of electric guitars (Petty and Campbell), electric bass (Blair), drums(Lynch), and keyboards (Tench). The tempo is fast and "urgent",[2]  and is built on a repeated jangling guitar riff based on a "Bo Diddley beat".[3]
 * 1.1 Lyrics and rumors
 * 2 Single track listings
 * 3 Charts
 * 4 Use in media
 * 5 Cover versions
 * 6 All appearances
 * 7 Personnel
 * 8 See also
 * 9 References

As described in Rolling Stone, "The supercharged riff set the template for decades of Petty hits, but it was also a homage to the Byrds: Petty and Mike Campbell's twin guitars mirrored Roger McGuinn's 12-string, infusing the folk-rock sounds of the 1960s with New Wave energy."[1] ===Lyrics and rumors[ edit] === Due to lyrics mentioning cars rolling by "out on 441" and a desperate girl on a balcony, the song was rumored to have been written about a girl who committed suicide by jumping from the Beaty Towers residence hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where Tom Petty grew up. (U.S Route 441 runs along the university campus right beside Beaty Towers.)

Beaty Towers residence hall on the University of Floridacampus<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Carl Van Ness, the University of Florida's official historian, says that a student may have committed suicide by jumping from one of the Beaty Towers between 1967, when the facility opened, and the early 1970s, when Tom Petty left Gainesville for California.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[4]  However, the residence hall does not have balconies.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">When asked directly about the story in the book Conversations With Tom Petty, Petty responded: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">''Urban legend. It's become a huge urban myth down in Florida. That's just not at all true. The song has nothing to do with that. But that story really gets around... They've really got the whole story. I've even seen magazine articles about that story. 'Is it true or isn't it true?' They could have just called me and found out it wasn't true''.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-snopes.com_5-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In the same interview, Petty says that he wrote the song while living in California: <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">''I don't remember exactly. I was living in an apartment where I was right by the freeway. And the cars would go by. In Encino, near Leon Russell's house. And I remember thinking that that sounded like the ocean to me. That was my ocean. My Malibu. Where I heard the waves crash, but it was just the cars going by. I think that must have inspired the lyric.''<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-snopes.com_5-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5] <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The lyric "raised on promises" appears to have come from a line of dialogue in Francis Ford Coppola's 1963 film, "Dementia 13." Referring to another woman, the character Louise states, "Especially an American Girl. You can tell she was raised on promises." ==Single track listings<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == Shelter 62007 (US) Shelter WIP6377 (UK) Shelter WIP6403 (UK) ==Charts<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Use in media<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The song has been featured in several Hollywood films, most notably FM (1978), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Chasing Liberty (2004). Its use in The Silence of the Lambs made the list of Top 11 Uses of Classic Rock in Cinema at UGO.
 * "American Girl" b/w "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)"
 * "American Girl" b/w "The Wild One, Forever"
 * "American Girl" b/w "Luna" (Live) *
 * taken from The Official Live Bootleg

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">It was featured in the TV series Scrubs, in a scene of an episode titled "My Own American Girl", which was first aired on October 2, 2003. It was also featured in The Sopranos, in season 6 episode "Join the Club".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The song was featured on the NBC comedy, Parks and Recreation, at the end of Season 3's "Harvest Festival" episode.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">It is a playable song in the video game "Guitar Hero 5".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Fun Lovin' Criminals sampled the song for their 1998 song "Big Night Out", from the album 100% Colombian.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">According to Tom Petty, The Strokes have admitted to taking the riff for their 2001 single, "Last Nite", from this song. In a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Petty said "The Strokes took 'American Girl', and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, 'OK, good for you.' It doesn't bother me."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]  The Strokes played as an opening act for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for several dates of their 2006 tour.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The song was frequently played during Hillary Clinton rallies or town hall meetings during the 2008 Democratic Primaries.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Michele Bachmann used "American Girl" to kick off her 2011 Presidential campaign in Iowa, prompting Petty to demand that she not use his song.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9] ==Cover versions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Roger McGuinn of The Byrds (a major influence on Petty's music), released his own version of "American Girl" a few months after the original. The similarity between Petty's record and The Byrds' musical style was so strong that when his manager first played "American Girl" for him, McGuinn asked "When did I write that song?"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">"American Girl" has also been covered by the following artists: Dan Hubbard, Cindy Alexander, Angel City Outcasts, Gin Blossoms, Melora Creager, Cruiserweight,Dance Hall Crashers, Def Leppard, Val Emmich, Everclear, The Gaslight Anthem, Goo Goo Dolls, Humble Gods, Ill Repute, Jack's Mannequin, Fun, Matchbox 20, Of Montreal, Pearl Jam, Rasputina, Saints of the Underground, Six Going On Seven, Smith Westerns, Sugarland, Sum 41, Taking Back Sunday, Taylor Swift (who released the song as a single), The Hush Sound, Tokyo Police Club, Matthew Sweet and Twin Shadow. ==All appearances<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
 * Pack up the Plantation: Live!
 * Greatest Hits
 * Playback
 * Anthology: Through the Years
 * The Silence of the Lambs
 * Runnin' Down a Dream
 * The Live Anthology
 * Mojo Tour 2010 (Live Version)
 * Tom Petty - rhythm guitar (played in unison with Campbell), lead vocals
 * Mike Campbell - lead guitar, rhythm guitar (played in unison with Petty)
 * Benmont Tench - piano, Hammond organ
 * Ron Blair - bass guitar
 * Stan Lynch - drums
 * Phil Seymour - all backing vocals