Breakdown (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song)

"Breakdown" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. It became a Top 40 hit in the United States and Canada.

Played live, Petty sometimes incorporated "Breakdown" with Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack". A live recording of this variation appears on The Live Anthology.

Background

"Breakdown" was a song written and recorded for the band's debut album. Initially, the song had lead guitarist Mike Campbell with a distinct guitar lick being played only near the end of the song. While playing it back one night, Tom Petty and Dwight Twilley, a friend of Phil Seymour, were in the studio, and Twilley enjoyed it. He suggested that the lick should be used throughout the song, and Petty obliged. At 2 AM, he gathered the Heartbreakers to join him in re-recording the song. Their final take was seven to eight minutes long, but it was pared down to 2 minutes and 39 seconds on the album. Guests on the song's recording include guitarist Jeff Jourard, a common collaborator with the band in their early days, and Phil Seymour, who sings backing vocals.

Reception

Record World called it a "slow, sultry rocker, dominated by guitar, with Petty's distinctive vocal again standing out."

Track listing

• 7" Single (US, 1976)

A. "Breakdown" – 2:39

B. "The Wild One, Forever" – 3:01

• 7" Single (US, 1977)

A. "Breakdown" – 2:39

B. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" – 3:54

• 7" Single (Germany, 1977)

A. "Breakdown" – 2:42

B. "Luna" – 3:59

• 7" Single (Spain, 1978)

A. "Breakdown" – 2:42

B. "Strangered in the Night" – 3:32

Chart performance

Album appearances

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)
• FM (1978)
• Pack Up the Plantation: Live! (1985)
• Greatest Hits (1993)
• Playback (1995)
• Anthology: Through the Years (2000)
• Mojo Tour 2010 (2010)

Grace Jones version

Jamaican singer Grace Jones recorded a reggae-inflected version of the song on her 1980 album Warm Leatherette. Petty wrote a third verse of the song specifically for Jones to record; "It's OK if you must go / I'll understand if you don't / You say goodbye right now / I'll still survive somehow / Why should we let this drag on?" The song was edited from its full, 5:30 album version to a 3-minute-long track on single release. It was released as a US-only single in July 1980 but did not chart.

Track listing

• 7" single

A. "Breakdown" – 3:00

B. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:24

• 12" single

A. "Breakdown" – 5:30

B1. "Breakdown" (edit) – 3:10

B2. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:24

• 7" promotional single

A. "Breakdown" (stereo edit) – 3:00

B. "Breakdown" (mono edit) – 3:00

References