Song of the Day 1/22: Tom Petty, “I Won’t Back Down”

Ron DeSantis said he’d never back down, but he didn’t say he wouldn’t back away, so that’s just what he’s done. He left the presidential race with a quote he attributed to Winston Churchill. In the best MAGA tradition, it’s fake.

Tom Petty wrote this in response to an arsonist burning down his house while he and his family were in it. They escaped, but the house was destroyed. Adhering to time-honored record-company tradition, the first set of executives who listened to the Jeff Lynne-produced album rejected it, claiming it contained no hits. Six months later, those guys had been fired, and the new team released the album. Three of its singles became Top 20 hits, starting with this one, which reached No. 12.

The album was recorded and released in 1989, almost simultaneously with the first album by the supergroup Traveling Wilburys, which included Petty and Lynne. As a result, George Harrison plays acoustic guitar on the track. Though Ringo Starr appears in the video – Ringo lightens the mood wherever he goes – he doesn’t play on the song.

“I Won’t Back Down” became a cornerstone of Petty’s career. Though the only Heartbreaker to appear on the track is lead guitarist Mike Campbell, it was featured in almost all their concerts, often in an acoustic version. I like this one best, with Benmont Tench’s organ in place of Campbell’s guitar solo.

The song has been covered frequently, most famously by Johnny Cash on one of his albums with Rick Rubin. It’s also been used by numerous political campaigns. The Republican ones have always been told to knock it off. True to form, they backed down.