Lyrically, we get this short story, in typical Tom fashion where he’s just giving us the outlines and parts of a narrative. We start out standing by the highway in boots and silver spurs. And we end on the interstate across the Georgia line, which is maybe a teeny nod back to Tweeter and the Monkey Man. In fact, here’s an idea, maybe the protagonist of this song is actually Jan! I can imagine her heading south after the fiasco in Jersey, but it sounds like she found trouble again in Nevada and headed back east! It’s an incredible lyric to come up with on the spot, as I say and it’s obviously gone on to be a lesser known single that is adored by Pettyheads. It’s a song that lends itself well to themes of not going down without a fight while at the same time depicting a somewhat desperate character who is going down anyway! Fabulous writing. Or in this case, ad-libbing!

Song: https://youtu.be/ew6Cg6pUApE

Official Video: https://youtu.be/I4vJM4L2D2U

Links mentioned:

Red Hot Chili Peppers – A Face In The Crowd (Live) : https://youtu.be/qD37E7rtxbs

Sammy Davis Jr drums : https://youtu.be/i3FqyPeUaDE

Refugee (album version) : https://youtu.be/YbWDV72oQlo?t=50

Refugee (live version, 2012) : https://youtu.be/2sW4msX2q_E?t=114

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All music, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.

A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, “Conversations with Tom Petty”, this podcast wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book “Petty, the Biography”.

Producer: Kevin Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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