Among the many other reasons it’s so special, the Tom Petty catalog is notable for its consistency. There just aren’t any clunkers in that bunch, which is saying something considering the guy was responsible for a total of 16 albums, both as leader of the Heartbreakers and a solo act.
He also proved remarkably consistent in coming up with thrilling leadoff tracks for those records. Here are the five that we think are the best out of an incredibly impressive bunch.
5. “Saving Grace” from Highway Companion (2006)
Petty worked with his good friend Jeff Lynne for the first time in 15 years on Highway Companion, and the pair picked up right where they left off from the Traveling Wilburys/Full Moon Fever days. This track separates a bit from the Full Moon Fever stuff in that it rocks quite righteously. That big old riff that forms the main groove owes a debt to ZZ Top, and who knew Petty would sound so at home in such an atypical setting. It helps that his lyrics are full of quotable single lines and add up to nothing less than a treatise on the resilience of the human spirit.
4. “Walls (Circus)” from Songs and Music from “She’s the One” (1996)
This one might seem like an odd choice, especially because Petty himself was somewhat ambivalent about this project. After all, it wasn’t quite a typical album, in that it was somewhat beholden to the film where the songs were featured. But how can you deny the magic of this brilliant opening track? We chose this one over the other version of the song included on the record (“Walls (No. 3)”) because it has a bigger sound and features the brilliant backing vocal effects provided by Lindsey Buckingham. The song itself is a beauty, a simple yet affecting tale of a relationship stretched to its breaking point.
3. “Learning to Fly” from Into the Great Wide Open (1991)
Jeff Lynne got along famously with Tom Petty. But his introduction to working with the Heartbreakers didn’t go quite as smoothly. The band flinched a bit at Lynne’s preference for building a track via overdubs, as they were used to hashing out the music by performing together. Nonetheless, the Into the Great Wide Open album came out just fine, even if it sounded a little different from other Heartbreakers’ records. It featured this shimmeringly pretty opening track, a mid-tempo number featuring Petty on top of his game in terms of both his evocative lyrics and piercing vocals.
2. “Refugee” from Damn the Torpedoes (1980)
Petty and the Heartbreakers managed that third-album masterpiece so many other rock greats also achieved. Damn the Torpedoes owed a debt to a natural progression in Petty’s songwriting. But a few other factors helped a great deal, and they’re worth mentioning because both come into play in a big way on “Refugee.” First, there was Mike Campbell coming into his own as a composer, as his brooding music gives Petty an ideal sandbox for his lyrics. Then, there were the exacting standards of producer Jimmy Iovine, which helped deliver a track that just exploded through speakers.
1. “Free Fallin’” from Full Moon Fever (1989)
It’s not that uncommon to find Petty fans debating the merits of his work with Jeff Lynne compared to the rest of the catalog. What’s most important about his collaborations with Lynne isn’t so much the sound, but rather how it seemed to invigorate his songwriting. In the case of “Free Fallin’,” he was actually trying to make Lynne laugh with the lyrics when he first started singing them. But Lynne heard the merit in them, and it eventually led Petty to come up with one of his most telling character sketches about someone who knows he’s self-destructing and seems to lean into it anyway.
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