• Room at the Top

  • Apr 2 2025
  • Length: 22 mins
  • Podcast
  • Summary

  • I, along with I’m sure many of you Pettyheads, consider this one of Tom’s finest works. It’s an absolute masterpiece in songwriting, lyrical precision, and arrangement. As Tom tells Paul Zollo, “It was a great example of The Heartbreakers at work. On my own I would have never arrived at that arrangement of the song. But they really took it somewhere that I would have never got to by myself.” The mixture of light and shade the contrast of hope and despondency, of cynicism and vulnerability make this track a powerhouse of pure emotion. It’s one of those where every single note is placed to perfection, every musical decision supports the construction and delivery of the song and the sum of its incredible parts gels into this perfect five minutes of music that moves me as much today as it did the first time I listened to it!


    If you want to listen to the song before you listen to the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/nQFCF9KESic


    And make sure you check out Richard Hearn's brilliant website Paragraph Planet here: https://www.paragraphplanet.com


    Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.


    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetompettyproject

    Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tompettyproject.bsky.social

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetompettyproject

    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetompettyproject

    Threads: https://www.threads.net/@thetompettyproject


    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

    Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-tom-petty-project.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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