Tom Petty - Greatest Hits Album Lyrics

Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise
She was gonna keep

Oh yeah, alright
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach

Oh yeah, alright
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl

Ooh
Uh-huh-huh
Uh-huh-huh
Oh yeah

It's alright if you love me,
It's alright if you don't
I'm not afraid of you runnin' away honey,
I've got this feeling you won't

Say there ain't no use in pretending,
Your eyes give you away
Something inside you is feeling like I do,
We said all there is to say

Breakdown,
go ahead and give it to me
Breakdown,
take me through the night
Breakdown,
go ahead give it to me,
Breakdown,
it's alright,
It's alright,
it's alright

(Tom Petty)

You think you're gonna take her away
With your money and your cocaine
Keep thinkin' that her mind is gonna change
But I know everything is okay

(Chorus)
She's gonna listen to her heart
It's gonna tell her what to do
Well, she might need a lot of lovin'
But she don't need you

You want me to think that I'm being used
You want her to think it's over
Can't you see it don't matter what you do
Buddy you don't even know her

(Chorus)

And you just can't creep up behind her
And you can't understand that she's my girl
She's my girl

(Chorus)

(Tom Petty)

Well talk on the street
Says you might go solo
A good friend of mine
saw you leavin' by your back door

(Chorus)
I need to know, I need to know
If you think you're gotta leave
Then you better say so
I need to know, I need to know
Cause I don't know how long I can hold on
If you're making me wait, if you're leadin' me on
I need to know

Who would've thought that
You'd fall for his line
All of a sudden
It's me on the outside

(Chorus)

(Chorus)

I need to know
I need to know
Baby, I need to know

(Tom Petty and Mike Campbell)

We got somethin', we both know it, we don't talk too much about it
Ain't no real big secret, all the same, somehow we get around it
Listen, it don't really matter to me baby
You believe what you want to believe, you see

You don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)

Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you want to lay there, revel in your abandon
Horny, it don't make no difference to me baby
Everybody has to fight to be free, you see

(Chorus)
You don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
No baby you don't have to live like a refugee
(Dont have to live like a refugee)

Baby we ain't the first
I'm sure a lot of other lovers been burned
Right now it seems real to you, but it's
One of those things you gotta feel to be true

Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some
Who knows maybe you were kidnapped tied up,
Taken away and held for ransom
Horny, it don't make no difference to me baby
Baby, everybody has to fight to be free, you see

(Chorus)

(Tom Petty)

I was talking with a friend of mine, said a woman had hurt his pride
Told him that she loved him so and turned around and let him go
Then he said, "You better watch your step,
Or your gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size"

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't do me like that

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Someday I might need you baby
Don't do me like that

Listen honey, can you see? Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye givin' someone else a try
And you know you better watch your step
Or you're gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size

Don't do me like that
Dont' do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't, don't, don't, don't

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I need you baby?
Don't do me like that

'Cause somewhere deep down inside
Someone is saying, "Love doesn't last that long"
I got this feelin' inside night and day
And now I can't take it no more

Listen honey, can you see? Baby, you would bury me
If you were in the public eye givin' someone else a try
And you know you better watch your step
Or you're gonna get hurt yourself
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
What if I love you baby?
Don't, don't, don't, don't

Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
I just might need you honey
Don't do me like that

Wait!
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Baby, baby, baby,
Don't, don't, don't

No!
Don't do me like that
Don't do me like that
Baby, baby, baby...

Oh, oh, oh

(Tom Petty)

Well it was nearly summer, we sat on your roof
Yeah we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon
And I showed you stars you never could see
Babe, it couldn't have been that easy to forget about me

Baby time meant nothin' anything seemed real
Yeah you could kiss like fire and you made me feel
Like every word you said was meant to be
Babe, it couldn't have been that easy to forget about me

(Chorus)
Baby even the losers
Get lucky sometimes
Even the losers
Keep a little bit of pride
They get lucky sometimes

(Bridge)
Two cars parked on the overpass
Rocks hit the water like broken glass
Should have known right then it was too good to last
It's such a drag when you live in the past

(Chorus)

(Chorus)

(Tom Petty and Mike Campbell)

You know, sometimes, I don't know why,
But this old town just seems so hopeless
I ain't really sure, but it seems I remember the good times
Were just a little bit more in focus

But when she puts her arms around me,
I can, somehow, rise above it
Yeah man, when I got that little girl standing right by my side,
You know, I can tell the whole wide world, and shout it,

(Chorus)
Hey, here comes my girl, here comes my girl,
Yeah, she looks so right, she's all I need tonight

Every now and then, I get down to the end of a day,
I'll have to stop, ask myself, "What've I done?"
It just seems so useless to have to work so hard,
And nothin' ever really seem to come from it

And then she looks me in the eye, says, "We gonna last forever,"
And man, you know I can't begin to doubt it
No, because this feels so good and so free and so right,
I know we ain't never goin' change our minds about it

(Chorus)

Yeah, everytime it seems like there ain't nothin' left no more,
I find myself havin' to reach out and grab hold of somethin'
Yeah, I just catch myself wanderin', waitin', worryin'
About some silly little things that don't add up to nothin'

And then she looks me in the eye, says, "We gonna last forever,"
And man, you know I can't begin to doubt it
No, because this feels so good and so free and so right,
I know we ain't never goin' change our minds about it

(Chorus)

(Tom Petty)

Oh baby don't it feel like heaven right now
Don't it feel like something from a dream
Yeah I've never known nothing quite like this
Don't it feel like tonight might never be again
We know better than to try and pretend
Baby no one could'a ever told me 'bout this
I said yeah yeah

(Chorus)
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Well yeah i might have chased a couple women around
All it ever got me was down
Then there were those that made me feel good
But never as good as I'm feeling right now
Baby you're the only one that's ever known how
To make me wanna live like I wanna live now
I said yeah yeah

(Chorus)
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part

Oh don't let it kill you baby, don't let it get to you
Don't let it kill you baby, don't let it get to you
I'll be your bleedin' heart, I'll be your cryin' fool
Don't let this go too far
Don't let it get to you

(Tom Petty and Mike Campbell)

You better watch what you say
You better watch what you do to me
Don't get carried away
Girl, if you can do better than me, go
Yeah go but remember

Good love is hard to find
Good love is hard to find
You got lucky babe
Yeah, you got lucky babe
When I found you-

You put a hand on my cheek
And then you turn your eyes away
If you don't feel complete
If I don't take you all of the way, go

Yeah go, but remember good love
Is hard to find
You got lucky babe
Yeah you got lucky
When I found you

(Tom Petty and David A. Stewart)

Don't come around here no more
Don't come around here no more
Whatever you're looking for
Hey! don't come around here no more

I've given up, I've given up
I've given up on waiting any longer
I've given up, on this love stronger

I don't feel you any more
you darken my door
Whatever you're looking for
Hey! don't come around here no more

I've given up, I've given up
I've given up, you tangle my emotions
I've given up, honey please admit it is over

(Chorus)

Stop walking down my street
Who do you expect to met?
Whatever you're looking for
Hey! don't come around here no more

(Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne)

Well I won't back down, no I won't back down
You could stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won't back down

[Chorus:]
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won't back down

Well I know what's right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground and I won't back down

Hey baby there ain't no easy way out
Hey I will stand my ground
And I won't back down
No, I won't back down

It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' little Runaway
I was flyin'

Chorus
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

I felt so good like anything was possible
I hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days the rain was un-stoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine

(Repeat Chorus)

I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waitin' down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine

(Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne)

She's a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She's a good girl, crazy 'bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too

It's a long day livin' in Reseda
There's a freeway runnin' through the yard
And I'm a bad boy, 'cause I don't even miss her
I'm a bad boy for breakin' her heart

[Chorus:]
And I'm free, I'm free fallin'

All the vampires walkin' through the valley
Move west down Ventura Blvd.
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows
All the good girls are home with broken hearts

[Chorus]

I wanna glide down over Mulholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
I wanna free fall out into nothin'
Gonna leave this world for awhile

[Chorus]

(Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne)

Well I started out down a dirty road
Started out all alone
And the sun went down as I crossed the hill
And the town lit up, the world got still

(Chorus)
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down is the hardest thing

Well the good ol' days may not return
And the rocks might melt and the sea may burn

(Chorus)

Well some say life will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out for God knows where
I guess I'll know when I get there

I'm learning to fly, around the clouds
But what goes up must come down

(Chorus)

(Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne)

Eddie waited til he finished high school
He went to Hollywood, got a tattoo
He met a girl out there with a tattoo too
The future was wide open

They moved into a place they both could afford
He found a night club he could work at the door
She had a guitar and she taught him some chords
The sky was the limit

(Chorus)
Into the great wide open
Under them skies of blue
Out in the great wide open
A rebel without a clue

The papers said Ed always played from the heart
He got an agent and a roadie named Bart
They made a record and it went in the chart
The sky was the limit

His leather jacket had chains that would jingle
They both met movie stars, partied and mingled
Their A&R man said, "I don't hear a single."
The future was wide open

(Chorus)

She grew up in an Indiana town
Had a good lookin' momma who never was around
But she grew up tall and she grew up right
With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night
Well she moved down here at the age of 18
She blew the boys away, it was more than they'd se en
I was introduced and we both started groovin'
She said, "I dig you baby but I got to keep movin'"
...on, keep movin' on

Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm
Tired of this town again

Well I don't know what I've been told
You never slow down, you never grow old
I'm tired of screwing up, I'm tired of goin' down
I'm tire of myself, I'm tired of this town
Oh my my, oh hell yes
Honey put on that party dress
Buy me a drink, sing me a song,
Take me as I come 'cause I can't stay long

Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm
Tired of this town again

There's pidgeons down in Market Square
She's standin' in her underwear
Lookin' down from a hotel room
Nightfall will be comin' soon
Oh my my, oh hell yes
You've got to put on that party dress
It was too cold to cry when I woke up al one
I hit the last number, I walked to the road

Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm
Tired of this town again

Call out the instigator
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here

And you know it's right
And you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now

Run through the fields and houses
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here

And you know it's right
And you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now

Call out the instigator
Because there's something in the air
We've got to get together sooner or later
Because the revolution's here

And you know it's right
And you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now