Runnin Down A Dream American Girl Tom Petty

Runnin' Down A Dream Album: Full Moon Fever (1989)
American Girl Album: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (1977)
by Tom Petty and The HeartbreakersShow more

In Runnin' Down A Dream Tom Petty sings about driving into the great wide open, with nothing but glorious possibility in his path.

Petty started running down his dream of being a rocker in 1961 when he met Elvis Presley. Petty, 11 years old, came to the Ocala, Florida, set where Elvis was working on the film Follow That Dream - a title Tom took to heart. In a brief encounter, Petty saw how Elvis captivated onlookers and made the girls go crazy. Petty became fascinated with Elvis and set out to follow his path.

The animated video was inspired by a comic strip called Little Nemo In Slumberland by Winsor McKay. Each strip told the story of one of Nemo's dreams, and at the end, he always woke up.

Full Moon Fever was listed as a Tom Petty solo album even though members of The Heartbreakers played on it. Petty had another band at this time as well: the Traveling Wilburys, which included Jeff Lynne, who co-produced the album and played many of the instruments.
Heartbreakers' guitarist Mike Campbell wrote this with Petty and Jeff Lynne. The three of them worked on the album at Campbell's house.

Petty and Campbell were very impressed with Lynne's production techniques, and learned a lot from the experience. Campbell gave an example of Lynne's style: "We'd put the mics up on the drums, and he'd walk out and take the microphone over the drum and he'd turn it away from the drum facing the corner, and he'd go 'OK, record it like that.' Sure enough, 99% of the time he'd be right. We'd go, 'Yes sir, Mr. Lynne.' We learned so much from him about arrangements and countermelodies and all kinds of stuff."

The line, "Me and Del were singin,' little 'Runaway'" is a reference to the 1961 Del Shannon hit "Runaway." Shannon is credited on the album for "barnyard noises," which can be heard just after this song ends on the album. Under the animal noises, Petty says, "Hello CD listeners. We have come to the point in this album where those listening on cassettes or records will have to stand - up or sit down - and turn over the record or tape. In fairness to those listeners, we will now take a few seconds before we begin Side 2. Thank you, and here is Side 2."

Those noises were made by Shannon and Jeff Lynne; Petty used them as an interlude to mark the middle of the album, because you don't have to flip over a CD. This section was included only on CD versions of Full Moon Fever, but survived the transition when the album was released digitally.

In 2007, the documentary Runnin' Down A Dream was released. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, the film chronicles the career of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers played Runnin' Down A Dream at the halftime show of the Super Bowl in 2008. Rather than the usual medley of hits, the band played four full songs, the others being "American Girl," "I Won't Back Down" and "Free Fallin'."
The song is used in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, where it shows up on the radio station K-DST. In 2023, another Full Moon Fever track, "Love Is A Long Road," soundtracked the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI.

A track from the first Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, "American Girl" was never a hit, but it became one of their most popular songs. Part of its lasting appeal is its intrigue, as it is the subject of an urban myth that reads as follows:

The University of Florida is located in Petty's hometown of Gainesville, Florida. A dorm at the school, Beatty Towers, provided the backdrop to a popular urban legend at UF as well as the story behind "American Girl". The story was that there was this virginal, All-American, debutante sort of girl, blonde locks and all, who decided to take hallucinogens for the first time while in her room at Beatty Towers. This being the 1960's and the age of limitless possibilities, it was pretty common to do something like that, especially in a college setting. Apparently, the girl thought she could fly, so she exited through the window and arrived face first on the concrete below. Some modern minstrels like to add that she jumped from the 13th floor, but this is probably part of campus lore. This incident was a big deal in Gainesville, which was still a picturesque Southern college town. It represented the end of innocence experienced by baby-boomers during the 1970's. Using it as inspiration, Tom Petty wove a captivating and poignant song based on this story for his first album and the rest is history. Expanding on the concept of innocence lost, this song speaks volumes and resonates even today. Beatty Towers are by State Road 441, which is mentioned in the second verse.

Tom Petty said of American Girl: "I wrote that in a little apartment I had in Encino. It was right next to the freeway and the cars sometimes sounded like waves from the ocean, which is why there's the line about the waves crashing on the beach. The words just came tumbling out very quickly - and it was the start of writing about people who are longing for something else in life, something better than they have."

Mike Campbell has been The Heartbreakers' guitarist since they formed the band. Here's what he told us about this song: "We used to have people come up to us and tell us they thought it was about suicide because of the one line about 'if she had to die,' but what they didn't get was, the whole line is 'if she had to die trying.' Some people take it literally and out of context. To me it's just a really beautiful love song. It does have some Florida imagery."

In our interview with Mike Campbell, he said: "We cut that track on the 4th of July. I don't know if that had anything to do with Tom writing it about an American girl."

Roger McGuinn recorded this on his 1977 album Thunderbyrd. McGuinn was a member of The Byrds and a big influence on Petty. He once joked that this number was a Byrds song he'd forgotten. Petty told Mojo magazine January 2010: "'American Girl' doesn't really sound like The Byrds; it evokes The Byrds. People are usually influenced by more than one thing, so your music becomes a mixture. There's nothing really new, but always new ways to combine things. We tried to play as good as whoever we admired but never could."

Even though Petty and his band were from the US, this caught on in England long before it got any attention in America. As a result, Petty started his first big tour in the UK, where this was a bigger hit.

This was featured in the 1991 movie Silence Of The Lambs. It was used in a scene where a female character is listening to it in a car before she meets Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who abducts her.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers opened their Live Aid set in Philadelphia with "American Girl." At one point in the song, Petty gives a little smile and flips off someone in the crowd. The concert was broadcast live to an audience of millions, so this was certainly one of the most-seen one-finger salutes in history.

The Goo Goo Dolls played this at the 2001 "Concert For New York," a benefit show organized by Paul McCartney. Classic rockers like The Who and David Bowie were big hits among the crowd of police officers and firefighters, and they responded very well when The Goo Goo Dolls played this.

Petty gave his reaction to the performance: "I was watching the 9/11 concert in New York and the Goo Goo Dolls played 'American Girl.' I could see the crowd cheering in this really patriotic context. But it was just a story when I wrote it. In my mind, the girl was looking for the strength to move on, and she found it. It's one of my favorites."

Petty credits their producer, Denny Cordell, with helping him understand the importance of crafting a story in the lyrics to American Girl. Petty says Cordell told him, "When you put a little truth in a song, it elevates things."

In the Bob Dylan tradition, Petty doesn't have a typical singing voice, but as heard in American Girl, he writes compelling lyrics that he delivers with conviction.

This song opens the 2004 movie Chasing Liberty. Other films to use the song include Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and That's My Boy (2012). Among the TV series that have used it:

Scrubs ("My Own American Girl," 2003)
Cold Case ("Bad Night," 2005)
The Sopranos ("Join the Club," 2006)
Parks and Recreation ("Harvest Festival," 2011)
The Goldbergs ("Shopping," 2013)

Petty and the Heartbreakers played American Girl to open their set at the halftime show of the Super Bowl in 2008.
This was featured in an episode of the TV show Scrubs called "My American Girl."

Petty told Mojo that the girl in this song was not based anyone in particular. "She was a composite, a character who yearned for more than had life had dealt her."

Hillary Clinton used American Girl at her campaign rallies when she was running against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. The choice was based solely on the title, as they lyric about desperate longing wasn't the message she was trying to get across.

American Girl was the last song that Tom Petty ever performed. His final gig was at the legendary Hollywood Bowl on September 25, 2017 and the rock veteran closed his set with "American Girl." Petty died a week later at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital on October 2, 2017 following a cardiac arrest.

The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas admitted to ripping off this song on their 2001 hit "Last Nite." "Good for you," Petty replied, admiring his audacity in admitting it. "It doesn't bother me."

In Francis Ford Coppola's directorial debut film, Dementia 13 (1963), protagonist Louise Haloran (played by Luana Anders) remarks, "Especially an American girl... you can tell she's been raised on promises." Petty never publicly confessed to getting the line from that film, but it would be a mighty strange coincidence if it was by chance.