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Although Campbell had three cowriting credits on the first two band albums – “Rockin’ Around (With You),” “Hurt” and “Baby’s a Rock ‘n’ Roller” – Petty told Zollo that Campbell “really blossomed” with “Refugee” and “Here Comes My Girl.”
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15, their second-best showing ever on the Billboard Hot 100.
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11, 1980, as the second single from Damn the Torpedoes, “Refugee” peaked at No. Campbell told Koppelman she said, “Just watch that one run, boys. But while they were mixing the song, the receptionist at the studio heard it during playback. The process was so overwhelming that they really had no idea if “Refugee” was any good. “I got that was a bit hard to work with, but that’s it. “I don’t give a fuck if you’re an asshole,” he told Zanes. “I just couldn’t take the pressure anymore, but then I came back, and when we regrouped we were actually able to get it down on tape.”Īlthough Iovine and Lynch didn’t get along personally, the producer swore their relationship had nothing to do with the stressful sessions. “I remember being so frustrated with it one day that – I think this is the only time I ever did this – I just left the studio and went out of town for two days,” he told Songfacts. At some point, Campbell walked out on the sessions. Wilson and Phil Seymour of the Dwight Twilley Band proved fruitless. But he was brought back when attempts to record the song with Procol Harum‘s B.J. Of particular concern were the drums on “Refugee.” Warren Zanes’ biography Petty notes that 70 takes were recorded, which led to Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch being fired during the sessions. Watch Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ ‘Refugee’ VideoĪfter the garage-rock approach of the first two Heartbreakers albums, Iovine’s method through the band for a loop. We got those two songs, we got an album.’ And he was right.” Then they hired Jimmy Iovine, who was on the rise after engineering Bruce Springsteen‘s Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town, and producing Patti Smith‘s Easter. Iovine listened to “Refugee” and “Here Comes My Girl” on the tape and, Campbell recalled, “‘I don’t care what else you do. The band’s manager, Elliot Roberts, heard the demo and thought it was on the right track. I don’t think he saw it the same way as me, where the chorus would go. “I remember writing really quickly to his tape,” Petty recalled in Paul Zollo’s Conversations With Tom Petty.
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He put that and a few other new songs on a cassette and gave it to Petty, who recognized it as something special. Realizing it was “more than just an exercise,” Campbell added a bridge and built a demo using a DrumDrops track, rhythm and lead guitar and bass. Then he added two more chords – D major followed by a B major – that led back into the main progression. So he put one of the DrumDrops beats on one track, created a progression around three chords – F-sharp minor, E major and A major – and used it as a bed over which he’d play lead. Inspired by a new Gibson Les Paul gold top and Albert King’s 1966 Stax classic “Oh, Pretty Woman,” Campbell wanted to practice soloing in the key of F-sharp minor. Vieira put out several volumes under that title in the late ’70s – that contained song-length tracks of various rhythms (rock, disco, Latin, etc.). Campbell had an album called DrumDrops – he couldn’t recall the drummer’s name, but Joey D. As guitarist Mike Campbell explained on Brian Koppelman’s podcast The Moment, his wife had recently bought him a TEAC four-track tape recorder that he began experimenting with. The song had come together quickly and almost by accident. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers knew they had a hit on their hands with “Refugee.” But the process of getting it down on tape caused friction with the producer – and one group member was fired and the song’s cowriter left town for two days before it was all over.