Credit: Far Out / YouTube Still
Sun 10 May 2026 19:20, UK
Tom Petty was never one to shy away from his opinion about his music. Even though he made some of the most note-perfect heartland rock in the 1970s, Petty was always upfront when he thought that something didn’t work, even if it was at the expense of one of his greatest hits.
Now and again, though, Petty would have that one song that captured a sentiment better than anything else in his catalogue.
When working on his third album Damn the Torpedoes, Petty knew he was on the verge of something big. Working with Bruce Springsteen’s producer, Jimmy Iovine, on the record, the album began to take shape around songs like ‘Refugee’, which would become one of the biggest hits of his career. Although the band had to play the track countless times to get it right for the performance, Petty found something special when working on one of Mike Campbell’s demos.
Being Petty’s partner in crime, Campbell would put different riff tapes together to see what would strike Petty’s ear. While some of his songs would be hits for other artists, like Don Henley’s ‘Boys of Summer’, Petty thought he was onto something when he heard the basic track for ‘Here Comes My Girl’.
Featuring the signature jangle heard on many of The Byrds’ best tracks, Petty initially had trouble thinking of what to do for the verses. While he had tried writing different melodic parts, Petty thought it would be better to adopt a soulful narration to his delivery, telling Classic Albums, “[The riff] of the song existed, but I couldn’t think of a melody. So instead, I began to take on a character and kind of talk my way through it.”
Credit: Far Out / Tom Petty
When the final version reached Iovine’s ears, he was blown away, recalling, “He played me ‘Refugee’ and ‘Here Comes My Girl’, and I said, ‘You don’t need any more songs’. I’ve never said that since. Anyone who plays me two songs like that, I’m going to hit it off with, short of Charles Manson.”
Even though Petty had a fantastic selection of tracks, the recording wouldn’t be a walk in the park, coupled with a lawsuit from his record company that was looking to seize the copyright to every one of his songs. While Petty would be in the courtrooms by day, he would descend upon the studio every night to make sure that none of the tapes were taken from the studios.
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When some of the band’s musical friends came around, though, Petty remembered that ‘Here Comes My Girl’ was the model track on which he based the entire record. He explained, “Whenever one of our friends would come by, we’d spin ‘Here Comes My Girl’, and they’d say, ‘Okay, you’re onto something good’. It’s one of my favourites that we ever did.”
The single would become one of many to reach the charts, with ‘Refugee’, ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’, and the deep cut ‘Even the Losers’ getting the most airtime whenever they came across the dial. While Petty may have gone through a lot of red tape to paint his masterpiece, he was happy to have something as strong as ‘Here Comes My Girl’ as a part of his musical legacy.
Part of what made the song resonate so deeply was its emotional contrast. While Damn the Torpedoes contained moments of frustration and defiance fuelled by Petty’s legal battles, ‘Here Comes My Girl’ felt warm, hopeful and deeply human.
The half-spoken verses gave the impression of someone exhausted by life’s pressures suddenly finding relief in another person’s presence, which only strengthened the sincerity behind Petty’s performance. It was understated, but that restraint became one of the song’s greatest strengths.
The track also demonstrated how instinctive Petty’s songwriting chemistry with Mike Campbell had already become by the late 1970s. Campbell’s jangling guitar framework gave Petty the freedom to experiment vocally in a way he rarely had before, resulting in one of the most distinctive recordings in the Heartbreakers’ catalogue.
Decades later, ‘Here Comes My Girl’ remains one of the clearest examples of Petty balancing vulnerability with classic rock swagger, helping to cement Damn the Torpedoes as the breakthrough album that elevated him into rock royalty.
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