Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - The Waiting
The Hardest Part
Whenever I get lonely and I find myself missing my influences and mentors, which is often, I turn on the radio. Make no mistake: the old and dead musicians mentored me before I even arrived in this world. Come searching for me in the wee small hours of the morning. You’ll find me desperately seeking something with the right combination of poetry and music at the right volume. In those moments I need something that’s part fiery gospel, part American heartland, and perhaps a little overwrought, delivered without the irony that’s become a staple of modern rock music. Enter Tom Petty.
He wrote the deep, life-tested, Capital T Truth for 40 years and he did it his way, with a characteristic smirk, and a bone-deep sense of rebellious spirit – the kind of brass balls you need to name a record Damn the Torpedoes. There was always honesty and Truth in his lyrics. Always. I learned about principles from Tom and Joe Strummer, and now they’re both gone… but they’re not actually gone. Let me explain. There’s a brief interview in which Petty described what happened to him when Roy Orbison died. The first person to call him was George Harrison, and he said “Aren’t you glad it wasn’t you?”
Petty said, ”yeah.”
George said, “It’s ok man, he’s still here, just listen. He’s here.”
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 feel right now
Baby, you're the only one that's ever known how
To make me wanna live like I wanna live now-Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Waiting
Ain’t that the fucking Truth? Tom was hardwired for honesty. Perhaps that was the cost of admission to be a Traveling Wilbury alongside Dylan, Orbison, Harrison, and Lynne. Tom had a way, a divine way, in which he could handle the Truth without making it feel corny or heavy-handed when you listened to him explain it. His lyrics could survive the long, dark, tea times of the soul. I know firsthand. Tom was there along with me on a number of hard drives into the American night - the kind where I didn’t care which direction I was headed, but I pointed the hood of my car into the night and put the pedal down.
100% pure Detroit heavy metal traveling southbound down the Californian coast Tom Petty was battle-tested. His lyrics? Bulletproof. His stance solidified. It doesn’t hurt if the equally battle-tested Heartbreakers are standing the watch with you. It’s a hell of a road to take to get to that point – you have to play every roadhouse and shithole on the American landscape, every dive, and every state fair before you hone the chops and skills required to rock the Garden or the Coliseum.
And so, because the FM radio still crackles, still lights up car interiors the nation over, tune in and you’re bound to hear him and the Heartbreakers eventually. That North Florida twang. Those driving riffs (Thank you deeply, Mike Campbell – that’s Heartbreaker Number One). That Capital T truth. Tom’s still there because the Truth always will be. The waiting is and will always be the hardest part. As children we couldn’t wait to be older, and what a tragic thought that was. Look at what that brought us. Now we have anxiety, bills, and back pain. Life in the military was a metric fuck ton of “hurry up and wait.” Walt Whitman would inform us “All truths wait in all things.” I bet Tom would love that one.
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
Yeah, yeah (Yeah, yeah)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
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
Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Waiting
I nod my head to your writing like I’m sitting in a pew: “Preach!”
Two asides —
1. I was fortunate to see Tom a week before he died at the Greek in Berkeley. All those songs. All that power on the stage was with him right up until that cliff.
2. When my son gets impatient (he’s 3 so that’s multiple times per day) I’ve begun to teach him a way to vocalize it, name it, in order to store it properly. He gets antsy and I ask, “What does Tom Petty say?” His high-pitched reply, “waiting is the hardest part”
Thanks for this, and I love this song. His voice was heard all through my childhood, many fond memories with his music.