"Jammin' Me" is a song by
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer S ...
, co-written by
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...
, and
Mike Campbell. The
heartland rock
Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment.
The ge ...
tune first appeared on the band's 1987 album ''
Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)
''Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)'' (styled on the cover with quotation marks) is the seventh studio album by the American band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on 27 April 1987. It features the most songwriting collaborations between Petty a ...
'', and was later included on Petty's 'best of' albums ''
Playback'' and ''
Anthology: Through the Years''.
Background and lyrics
In a November 2003 interview with ''Songfacts'', guitarist
Mike Campbell explained the song's origins:
On the True Confessions tour between Petty and
Dylan (who both later became members of the
Traveling Wilburys
The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album ...
), they collaborated on this track which became the opening song on the album.
The song is about a man "overwhelmed by the volume of disconnected 'news' generated in the disinformation age"
containing a "laundry list"
of 1980s celebrities such as
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
,
Joe Piscopo
Joseph Charles John Piscopo ( ; born June 17, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His f ...
, and
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...
, and "the apple in young Steve's eye" referring to
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
at
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
, among others.
It follows in line with an ongoing theme throughout the album of people "who are reeling from media assaults and shattered relationships", but have a strong desire to survive in order to make sense of the world.
Some lyrics came from Dylan and Petty picking words out of a newspaper and off the television.
Petty later commented that "the verse about Eddie Murphy, that was all Bob
ylan Which embarrassed me a little bit because I remember seeing Eddie Murphy on TV really pissed off about it. I had nothing against Eddie Murphy or Vanessa Redgrave. What
ylanwas talking about was media overload and being slammed with so many things at once. And times were changing; there weren't four television channels anymore."
Release and reception
"Jammin' Me" was released as the first single from ''Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)'' in 1987, reaching No. 1 in the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Album Rock Tracks chart, as well as No. 18 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
It became Petty's third single to hit No. 1 on the Album Rock (later known as Mainstream Rock) chart and stayed there for four weeks; previous songs to top this chart were "
The Waiting" in 1981 and "
You Got Lucky
"You Got Lucky" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' album '' Long After Dark''. The song peaked at #20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #1 on the '' Billboard'' Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the end ...
" in 1982.
[ Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 490.] Critics were generally favorable towards the single with
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
comparing it to the
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
song "
Start Me Up", saying "the fabulous groove is positively infectious".
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' complimented Petty and Campbell's "raw guitar chords" and Benmont Tench's "honky-tonk piano fills".
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' said it features a "]strong, earnest vocal and a gritty, guitar-based production."
The song became a standard in Petty's live sets with "astounding results",
though it was not actually played as often as other songs which remained more popular. When "Jammin' Me" was performed during the Heartbreakers' impressive multi-performances at the Fillmore in 1997 and 1999, Petty played lead guitar, rather than Campbell. Despite the high chart position, the song failed to appear on the 1993 release ''
Greatest Hits (Tom Petty album), Greatest Hits'', but did appear on the compilations ''
Playback'' and ''
Anthology: Through the Years'', as well as the posthumous collection ''
The Best of Everything''.
Personnel
*
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...
- lead and backing vocals
*
Mike Campbell - lead and rhythm guitars, bass guitar, percussion
*
Benmont Tench
Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Early years
Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin ...
- piano, organ
*
Stan Lynch
Stanley Joseph "Stan" Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994.
Early years
Lynch was born in ...
- drums, percussion
Charts
References
{{authority control
1987 singles
Tom Petty songs
Songs written by Bob Dylan
Songs written by Tom Petty
Songs written by Mike Campbell (musician)
1987 songs