Tom Petty talks about Stevie

[trackaghost]

Originally Posted by dissention

Try to find the cassette of Pack Up the Plantation, Live!, though, because the CD cuts songs out.

I have the double vinyl that I bought back in the 1980s

[dissention]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

I have the double vinyl that I bought back in the 1980s

Lucky you. I have the casstte and the crappy CD, but not the vinyl. I suppose I should try to find it one of these days.

[catinthedark]

Originally Posted by dissention

Lucky you. I have the casstte and the crappy CD, but not the vinyl. I suppose I should try to find it one of these days.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WD1V

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WD1V

And there's many more... mostly in eBay stores...

[BombaySapphire3]

I always have loved 'Insider' from PUTPL surely one of her most chilling non FM moments ever ,but the duet with her and Henley on 'Hotel California' is running a close second right now.I wonder if that comment where Tom likens her to 'the odd sister that eveyone loves but no one really talks about' that he once made about La Nicks made the new book.

[blinker12]

Hey all,
By popular demand , I transcribed a few more sections of the book where Stevie comes up at any length and added them to my original post so they're all in one place. Also a discussion of Lindsey. This pretty much covers everything that's said about either.
I love that Tom and Stevie used to hang out at home, drinking and singing. How sweet.
I didn't realize the amount of love for "Insider" around here! I adore it, too; one of my favorites.

[amber]

Originally Posted by blinker12

Hey all,
By popular demand , I transcribed a few more sections of the book where Stevie comes up at any length and added them to my original post so they're all in one place. Also a discussion of Lindsey. This pretty much covers everything that's said about either.
I love that Tom and Stevie used to hang out at home, drinking and singing. How sweet.
I didn't realize the amount of love for "Insider" around here! I adore it, too; one of my favorites.

Thank you!!!
That's song's a frickin masterpiece, I tell you what. It's my self control. It will become my legacy. My quiet world of white and....
ooops.
Thanks again.

[David]

Originally Posted by amber

I heard one doesn't exist, no one's ever heard that there was one.

I think the Petty fans have some of that stuff. The "Insider" & "Needles & Pins" on the Pack Up The Plantation album were recorded at the Forum in Los Angeles in September 1981. Stevie was a guest at about ten different Tom Petty concerts in 1981, & I think she sang "Insider" at several of them because it was part of his tour set since it was on the album that year. I think there's footage of some of those shows -- Irvine Meadows, the Forum, the Cow Palace, the Meadowlands, St. Petersburg, etc.

It would be great to see it surface. I think Stevie fans can "make" it surface -- they now have enough super-rare studio stuff with Tom & the Heartbreakers, thanks to the reel-to-reels. We need to have a summit meeting between the Stevie Nicks fans & the Heartbreaker fans.

[AliP]

Originally Posted by David

I think the Petty fans have some of that stuff. The "Insider" & "Needles & Pins" on the Pack Up The Plantation album were recorded at the Forum in Los Angeles in September 1981. Stevie was a guest at about ten different Tom Petty concerts in 1981, & I think she sang "Insider" at several of them because it was part of his tour set since it was on the album that year. I think there's footage of some of those shows -- Irvine Meadows, the Forum, the Cow Palace, the Meadowlands, St. Petersburg, etc.

It would be great to see it surface. I think Stevie fans can "make" it surface -- they now have enough super-rare studio stuff with Tom & the Heartbreakers, thanks to the reel-to-reels. We need to have a summit meeting between the Stevie Nicks fans & the Heartbreaker fans.

Are you talking about audio recordings of these shows?? Cause I have a bootleg CD with all Stevie's performances with Tom on his 1981 tour. She sings Insider, Stop Draggin' and Woman in Love ( a few times).

As far as bootleg video of Stevie and Tom from his 1981 tour - I've never seen anything, and I'm always looking for Tom stuff.

[Kelly]

I love Insider and always have. It is just gorgeous and Stevie's harmonies.....oh my god. Incredible.
It is interesting to read that Tom wrote the song FOR Stevie because I have long wondered if she wasn't the Dark Angel in the song. As for who's "masterpiece" she is........hmm..... The lyrics are amazing.

[lagringader&r]

Originally Posted by blinker12

There's a new book coming out in November called "Conversations with Tom Petty," by Paul Zollo. I got an early copy at work.
Stevie comes up a few times, and I thought I'd transcribe the sections where she's discussed at any length. I never knew Tom made an attempt at producing her first record!
There's a small photo included of Tom and Stevie, from what appears to be the "Insider" video...

Q: A lot of people thought you crafted SDMHA to be a hit single for the two of you.
A: The song wasn't crafted for Stevie. If you hear the original on the boxed set, all they did was take that track and overdub Stevie onto it.

Q: Which is surprising because it seems like she is singing the melody but she is really singing harmony and you are singing the melody, right?
A: Yes, on the choruses I am. They put her in singing the verses. But in the choruses I'm really singing the melody and she is singing harmony.
Stevie came to me around '78. And she was this absolutely stoned-gone huge fan. And it was her mission in life that I should write her a song. And we were a little wary of Stevie. We didn't quite know whether to like Stevie or not, because we kind of saw this big corporate rock band, Fleetwood Mac, which was wrong, they were actually artistic people. But in those days, nobody trusted that sort of thing and we just kept thinking, 'What does she want from us?' And then, of course, she turned into one of my great, great friends forever. But Stevie was really adamant about me writing her a song.
And so I think that around late '78, she approached me about producing her first solo record. Now Stevie, there's a Cecil B. DeMille movie. This is a person that's larger than life in a hundred ways. And I loved her voice. I thought she sang great. And I said okay and I went down to the session to produce a record for her. I went down and I did one track and it was a completely different world from anything I had seen. Dealing with girls was a whole different thing and Stevie was in a whole different place than we were.

Q: Emotionally?
A: [Laughs] Every kind of way. She was very sweet and we liked her. But she had just a whole different kind of work ethic than we had, and there were a lot of people, a lot of hangers-on. The whole Elvis kind of theme of a big entourage. We'd never been a very big fan of that. And so after a track I went, 'Look, I can't do this. I don't have the time. I'm too busy and I don't think that I'm going to be a big help to you. But I know a guy who might be good for you named Jimmy Iovine.' And so, as time went by, and we hung out a bit, we got to know her more and more, she would come over to my house and just hang out and play records or whatever. And we'd sing a bit. We used to sit around and play the guitar and sing.

Q: Harmony?
A: Yeah, just anything.

Q: She's a great harmony singer.
A: She's incredible. We could make a pretty good sound, singing with the acoustic guitar. And so finally I wrote her this song called "Insider" and I brought it down and Jimmy just flipped over the song. He thought it was incredible. Really great, and I really liked it. I was really proud of it.

Q: Had you ever written a song for someone else?
A: No.

Q: Did you write it with her voice in mind?
A: Yeah. And I loved it. I thought it was one of my best songs to that point and I cut it there, just me and my guitar. And then Stevie sang it with me. And then we put the band on after. And by the time the track was coming to fruition with the band and everything, I was getting a little depressed about giving away this song. [Laughs]

Q: I understand you felt your single "A Woman in Love" would have done better if not for the duet for Stevie.
A: I'm sure of it. 'Cause they came out roughly the same time, and Stevie's record was huge. And so it was an awkward position for us because it was billed as Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and a lot of the radio programmers didn't want to have two TP&H songs around the same period. Especially while one was getting this extreme amount of airplay. So it was a little awkward for us.

----
More about "Insider":

Q: "Insider" is a cool title. Was that one you had before writing the song?
A: No. It came as I was writing, if I remember correctly. It just came out of the verse. I wrote that on my own at home. I remember spending a good day on it. And I was just knocked out with it when I got done. And Iovine was really knocked out with it. Extremely excited about it.

Q: Did you tell him it was for Stevie Nicks?
A: Yeah. He asked for a song. He was going to produce [Stevie's album, Bella Donna]. He wanted one desperately. I remember bringing it to him, and he said, 'God, when I asked for a song, I didn't expect this!' And I was really attached to it. And it really hurt me when I did the track and the vocals. And I said, [softly] 'Stevie, I can't give you this.' And she said, 'Well, I can relate to that. I completely understand. I'll take something else.'

Q: Was there any thought of making "Insider" a single?
A: No, they always wanted something more upbeat for singles. Very rarely did they put out a ballad for a single. I don't think ever. "Free Fallin'" was the first time, I think, that I ever had a ballad out for a single. And even then it was the third single from the album.

----
"The Apartment Song" (from the Playback box set)

Q: The boxed set has a wonderful home demo of "The Apartment Song" with Stevie Nicks singing the harmonies.
A: [Stevie and I] used to do that from time to time, just sit around and sing. And sometimes run a tape recorder, and we'd play it back, have some drinks. She used to visit me quite often. Come over, and we'd always wind up singing. So I love to sing with Stevie.

Q: You recorded that song for Full Moon Fever. Was there the thought of bringing Stevie in to sing on it?
A: No. I think at that point, I wanted it to be solo. I had never really pictured it being a duet. But Stevie was there, and I showed her the song I'd written. And she liked it, and sang along on it. Probably only got recorded once.

----
"Don't Come Around Here No More"

Tom: I met [Dave Stewart] in the Eighties. When music really turned to ****. People were trying to do something, but it was all these fakey keyboard sounds. A lot of prancing and posing. So Jimmy Iovine was looking for songs for Stevie Nicks. And he came to me. I said, 'I don't really have anything left over. I don't have anything I can give away.'
And he said, 'Well, you know I'm frustrated, I'm trying to find writers. Who do you think would be a good writer?' And Dave had just come out with that "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," which I thought was a really good song. And then I heard one or two more that I thought were really good. I said, 'You should try this guy Dave Stewart. He's in England. I don't know him, but he seems consistent as a writer. He seems really good.' So the next thing I know, not many weeks later the phone rings, and it's Dave Stewart. And he says, 'Hey, I'm here, and Jimmy told me I got the gig from you. I've come over to write some stuff for Stevie and other people. And why don't you come down? Let's get together. I'd like to see you.'
[They wrote "Don't Come" in the studio, and they spent a month producing it.]

Q: I like the stops in it, where you sing the word, "Stop!"
A: That was [Dave's] idea. To go, 'Stop!' And we used girls, which was kind of an accident. Because when we started it, we were working at Sunset Sound, and Stevie had booked the time. And the girls that sing with her had turned up for the session, but Stevie had cancelled the session. So the girls were still there. Dave said, 'Let's get them out here and see what they can do.' And then they did that great bit. [Sings "Ah ah ah ooh ooh."] And then there's a girl named Stephanie who we brought in to sing that really high, wailing thing at the end.

(Note: I'm assuming Stephanie is NOT Stevie. Also, there's no mention of the song being offered to Stevie.)

----
Only mention of Lindsey, discussing "Walls":

Q: You have one version of it called "Walls (Circus)" with amazing vocal harmonies by Lindsey Buckingham.
A: He's amazing. He was kind enough to come down and sing that.

Q: Was it your idea to call him?
A: Yeah, yeah. I'm a big fan of Lindsey's. And I called him and was really knocked out that he came down and helped me with that. [Having two versions of the song] was Ed Burns' idea. He wanted one version of "Walls" to start the movie, and another arrangement to end the movie. So I did two different arrangements of it. And Lindsey's just amazing on that track.

Q: Did he come up with those harmonies?
A: Yeah, it was all him. He came down and did it all in one session. I kind of just sat back and watched him go. Just going, 'Yep--that's what I would've done!' [Laughs]

Q: It's cool you've worked with both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey.
A: Yeah. I worked with [Lindsey] again on The Last DJ. He sang on "The Man Who Loves Women."

----
I don't see a single mention of "I Will Run to You," unfortunately; I love that song. He also doesn't mention Stevie's involvement in the Australia tour with Dylan, nor her live performances on "Pack Up the Plantation." So that's pretty much all, folks!

You rock! Thanks for transcribing all of that. Even though those are all the Stevie mentions, I might still get this book. Petty is fascinating.

[blinker12]

As for what the track is that Tom tried to produce for Stevie, I'm thinking maybe "Sanctuary." There are reels of that dating from 1980, and they feature a lot of banter between Tom and Stevie about how the song is written. (Tom's rather critical at points, lol.) It just sounds like Tom is "at the helm" on those sessions.

[David]

Originally Posted by blinker12

As for what the track is that Tom tried to produce for Stevie, I'm thinking maybe "Sanctuary." There are reels of that dating from 1980, and they feature a lot of banter between Tom and Stevie about how the song is written. (Tom's rather critical at points, lol.) It just sounds like Tom is "at the helm" on those sessions.

Sanctuary's a possibility, as are The Dealer, Baby Doll, Starshine, Gypsy & Outside the Rain, all of which were Heartbreaker sessions (maybe in more ways than one).

[David]

Originally Posted by AliP

Are you talking about audio recordings of these shows?

Audio or video -- both would be great.

Cause I have a bootleg CD with all Stevie's performances with Tom on his 1981 tour. She sings Insider, Stop Draggin' and Woman in Love ( a few times).

Except for the Pack Up The Plantation songs from L.A., all I have on tape of Stevie & Tom in 1981 is the Irvine Meadows show from September, audience-recorded, with Insider & Stop Dragging My Heart Around. She also did Stop Dragging in L.A., but they didn't include it on the Plantation album.

As far as bootleg video of Stevie and Tom from his 1981 tour - I've never seen anything, and I'm always looking for Tom stuff.

Summit!! We have crystal-clear studio material of the Heartbreakers playing weird things like "I'll Be There" & "Keep Me Hanging On" & all sorts of bizarre stuff that the Tom Petty fans would probably kill for.

[PenguinHead]

Has anyone seen the Insider video? It looks like it was filmed at the same time as the video for Stop Draggin' My Heart Around. Same set. Same clothes. I like the understated approach they took.

[golden braid]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Has anyone seen the Insider video? It looks like it was filmed at the same time as the video for Stop Draggin' My Heart Around. Same set. Same clothes. I like the understated approach they took.

Both videos were filmed at the same time. I think Stevie looks so pretty in the Insider video. I love her hair. It has a little braid in it or something. It looks cute.