S8E13 The Apartment Song

Transcript

(* Note - the transcript is as-written before recording. I usually change a few sentences or words here and there on the hoof as I'm speaking.)

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, my fine friends. Welcome to episode thirteen of the eighth season of the Tom Petty Project Podcast! I am your host, Kevin Brown. This is the weekly podcast that digs into the entire Tom Petty catalog song by song, album by album and includes conversations with musicians, fans, and people connected with Tom along the way. 

Some quick social media stuff before we dig into this week’s song. A couple of weeks ago, the Twitter poll asked you to rate Depending On You and the results were as follows. 11.1% rated it between 1 and 6, 66.7% rated it between 7 and 9, and 22.2% gave this a top score ten out of ten. Over on Facebook Bob Reidy rated it an 8 and said Bob Reidy “It’s great but he has better on this album and overall. He set the bar at an Olympian level so our expectations are high. For anyone else this would be the best song on an album. This album is my favorite as I’ve said. I know you don’t understand or like baseball but he put his best hitters towards the top of the lineup. The rest of the album is great but the best songs were up front.” And I think this album maybe more than any other apart from Torpedoes perhaps, is front loaded with some gigantic songs, so I completely understand where Bob is coming from on this one. But the rest of the tracks on the album are really, really strong too! My mate Paul Roberts says “Another great song... perhaps not super duper but very strong. I'd say an 8 or 9. I don't think anything on this excellent album drops below a 8. Oh hang on I forgot about the "Hello CD listeners" track. Maybe I should do a bonus episode on that hidden track just for Paul now! It wouldn’t be very long, but hey, maybe it will turn up at the end of an episode and you’ll have to listen all the way to the end to catch it!!! Kelly Ward says “Right up there for me. It always makes me feel happy” and Beccy Gleason Wolfe agrees, “Right up there for me too”. And yeh - especially those harmony vocals in the pre-chorus make it a feel-good song. Sight & Sound, which is a fabulous charity that provides free vision care to those in the music industry that can’t afford access, says “Love it. Classic Petty catalogue situation where there are so many great songs that the good ones never make it to the forefront, except for us, the hardcore fans, and TP Project listeners. Think about the ones that did not even make the albums like "Keep a little soul". There a several examples like this. Often I play them for friends and they say, are you kidding me that is a great tune. How was it not on an album?” And we’ve talked about that lots. John Paulsen and I actually commented on the Long After Dark album that we were surprised Keep a Little Soul was left off. In fact, I think we both included it in our producer for a day segment. So many great outtakes that most artists would love to have released as singles! 

Today’s episode covers the fourth track from side two of Full Moon Fever, The Apartment Song. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, I don’t play any of the music from the song in the episode itself in order to avoid any copyright issues and to be mindful of Tom’s estate. If you want to give the song a listen before we dig into it, there’s a link in the episode notes! There’s also a link to the original demo version of the song from the Southern Accents sessions with Stevie Nicks singing harmony vocals. So give that one a listen too perhaps as I’ll be talking about that one in the episode as well! 

As most Pettyheads know, The Apartment Song was originally recorded, or at least demo-d for the Southern Accents project. Along with Rebels, Trailer, and Sheets, Apartment was another word that Tom jotted down to help tell his story of his version of the South. The original track is an unusual one because according to the Heartbreakers official YouTube channel, Mike Campbell plays bass on the demo and on drums we have George Drakoulias, who helped produce the Playback boxset that the demo finally emerged on. Now, Drakoulias’ definitely wasn’t around the Southern Accent sessions, so the most likely scenarios are that either Stan Lynch played a drum part that wasn’t usable, or that a drum part simply wasn’t recorded. The Southern Accents sessions were so torrid and unpredictable that it’s hard to say exactly which of these would be the more likely. In any case, the original demo is paced differently, with a full on honky tonk bass line from Mike and that duet vocal from Tom and Stevie Nicks. Another  possibility is that the only thing that survived from the demo is the vocals from Tom and Stevie and maybe a scratch guitar track, with the rest of the demo being built out later for the Playback set. In Conversations With Tom Petty, Tom tells Paul Zollo “Steve and Iused to do that from time to time: just sit around and sing. And sometimes run a tape recorder and we’d play it back, have some drinks.” He goes on to say “I had never really pictured it being a duet. But Stevie was there, and I showed her the song I’d written and she liked it and sang along on it. Probably only got recorded once.” He also says that when Full Moon Fever producer Jeff Lynne asked him if he had anything laying around that they could work on, Tom mentioned that he had a demo that he had made with just him and Stevie.  So again, this points to the demo version that is on Playback definitely not being something that was worked up at all during those tumultuous days of 1984. If I ever get to chat to Mike Campbell, I’ll definitely be asking him about this one, because of course, Tom’s trusty Lieutenant was integral to both the eventually released “demo” version and the version that we end up with on Full Moon Fever. 

The Apartment Song is also the only track on the album that features Benmont Tench, on piano. Of course Benmont, Howie Epstein, and Stan Lynch were very much less than enthusiastic about Tom venturing out to make a solo record and the piano part on this song is fairly rudimentary but I still like that Tom brought Benmont in to play it.

The song starts with a lovely little one beat snare fill from Phil Jones, who was the session drummer brought in to play drums and percussion on this album and plays on every track except Love is a Long Road. In keeping with everything else on Side Two so far, the song wastes no time in getting to the first verse. In fact I went back and counted and it’s 7 seconds before the vocal comes in on this one, 4.5 seconds on Depending on You, 8 seconds, with 2 seconds of a count in, on Yer So Bad, and 6 seconds on Feel a Whole Lot Better. Also like the songs the come before this one on Side Two, the rhythm section keeps a really nice straight backbeat and doesn’t move much off the root notes. We get two guitars here, one panned fairly hard left, an acoustic guitar, and one panned fairly hard right, an electric guitar. The acoustic guitar strumming pattern is pretty much an up and down 8th notes with a couple of quarter notes in there and the electric guitar is playing that nice juicy syncopated country lick. But the pace and flow of the song is immediately different and has a much more 60s rock n roll skin laid over that swinging country heart.

After four bars of that steady groove, Tom comes in with the first lyric, which is essentially, the whole premise of the song encapsulated in four lines. “I used to live in a two room apartment, neighbors knockin on my wall. Times were hard, I don’t wanna knock it. I don’t miss it much at all”. It’s a song about having it tough in times past and not wanting to go back to that life. It’s succinct, visual, and beautifully delivered. The bass just gallops underneath this whole verse, pounding out the root notes at double time. We get a great little bap bap bap snare lead into the verse which repeats when Tom sings “knocking on my wall” to emphasize that line. Some people might find that a little cheesy but for me it works really well here. It’s super cool where it’s placed the second time around too because it comes in between the 3rd and 4th beats in the bar. We only get 8 bars of this first verse before we head into the chorus. 

When we talked about Depending on You I used the analogy of a playground swing to describe the chord progression in that song’s chorus and we get the same thing in this one. 

D A E A D A E. It’s like a pendulum swinging back and forth. You also get handclaps, I’m pretty sure on the snare hits in this chorus and maybe even a shaker mixed really, really low. There’s definitely something adding in a little more to the percussion here. I also think there are three guitars in this section. The electric guitar is playing stabs on the 2s and 4s then you have one acoustic strumming that similar double time rhythm. But I think, and this is really me going out on a limb, but I think there’s also a second acoustic playing only on the down stroke on that last E chord at the end of each four bars, you can hear the bass strings being hit more regularly. It sounds like the top E string is being played at that double time speed to me. So maybe it’s the same acoustic part, but something tells me it’s a third part - especially because, as I’ve said on almost every song on this record, there are a LOT of guitars on. this. record!!!

Now, there’s a fantastic little trick coming out of this chorus into the second verse. I don’t know whether I’d ever consciously noticed it before and when I’ve drummed along with this song in the past, it’s easy to miss because you’re just sticking on the beat, but, there’s an additional two beat bar in here. It’s 3 bars of 4 beats, 1 bar of 2 beats then 2 bars of 4 beats. So, look I know this is nerdy stuff but I think it’s crazy cool! So the first four bars of the chorus are a straight 4/4 time. The count from there though is 1234, 1234, 1234, 12, 1234, 1234… second verse. That’s cool ladies and gentlemen. And it’s not complicated or massively innovative, but it’s really, really effective here. And like a great magic trick, you don’t really notice the sleight of hand. That’s a fantastic little turnaround. Also coming out of the chorus you can really hear those handclaps, with a pretty big delay added to them.

The second verse has something else I’m curious about - the bass sounds different. It’s almost like Jeff was playing with his fingers to this point but switches to picking here. There just sounds like there’s more attack on those bass notes somehow. Maybe it’s just how its mixed and maybe it’s a delay or some other effect that he’s using to fatten that up, but it’s just slightly more pronounced and slightly more noticeable in the mix. Other than that, there’s nothing really different through this next verse chorus section of the song. But then we get the real hook in this one and the biggest departure from how the original demo would have been imagined. And I have to think that this would have been Jeff Lynne’s. Tom tells Paul Zollo, “That’s us doing our Buddy Holly thing.” The “thing” his talking about is the famous paradiddle rhythm of Peggy Sue. I just used a word there that you likely won’t recognize if you’re not a drummer, or at least a musician and it’s something I think I should explain because it’s cool and it’s a rudiment that I still haven’t mastered, even though I should have by now. When you listen to that jungley sounding floor tom you might think that the drummer is just playing those 16th notes with alternating hands. But a paraddidle gives you that very specific way that it sounds so you could play it L R L R L R L R L R L R L R L R. But a paradiddle is so named because of the DIDLE bit being played by the same hand and when you play two paraddidles in a row, the hand alternates. So you instead get L R L L R L R R L R L L R L R R. Try tapping that rhythm using your hands at a fairly slow tempo, then slowly increase it. When you get to the speed of The Apartment Song or Peggy Sue you can see that it’s a technique you REALLY have to practice.

Coming into this section we get a great little “hey” that would have been Tom stepped back from the mic so you really get the sound coming from the overhead mics or the room mics, which give it that “live” feeling. As well as being played in a paradiddle pattern, those drums are being panned left and right for effect and a snare has also been added in. I’m pretty sure that snare would have been overdubbed in because I don’t think that Phil Jones has three hands! 

Through this bridge section, the electric guitar is also dropped out and the stabs are being played by a second acoustic guitar. So just a little thing to really let the drums lead the section and keep the bottom end nice and clean. However, after the first four bars, we get the very deep bass notes of the piano coming in to give the bridge a little push to come back out into the third and last verse.

Alright folks, It’s time for some Petty Trivia! 

Your question from last week was this: When Tom recorded Mary Jane’s Last Dance for 1993’s Greatest Hits, according to most sources, the band recorded a large number of covers, from which Something In The Air was chosen to be fully mixed and released. But which Elvis Presley song was also recorded and eventually released on 1995’s Playback boxset? Is it a) Viva Las Vegas, b) Wooden Heart, c) Jailhouse Rock, or d) Return to Sender

Well, written by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey, and the legendary Bert Kaempfert, and recorded in 1960 for the movie GI Blues, the answer is …… b) Wooden Heart. So let’s get straight to the point. I know this is an old German folk song with a splash of paint but man, it’s one that I’ve just never really dug. Hopefully my Mum never listens to this episode and I know a few of you will call me a fool for this, but Elvis has just never landed with me. I completely understand how revolutionary he was as a performer and he was a fine vocalist, but the songs themselves were all very much of a muchness and with only a few exceptions, I find them really dated. I also realize that they weren’t dated at the time, but just, for whatever reason, we didn’t listen to Elvis when I was growing up so I think I just missed the boat and haven’t been able to catch up with it. My mum on the other hand is now a huge Elvis fan and regularly goes to see Elvis tribute performers. I was chatting with someone the other day about what we can expect from the vault in the years ahead and a completely mixed and mastered release of all the covers the band did during that session, in whatever state of completeness they are in, would be amazing to hear. 

Your question for this week is this: Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue shares a strange connection to the The Apartment Song. What is it? Is it a) the album it is on was released on the same month and day as Full Moon Fever, b) Buddy Holly’s eponymous album featuring the song peaked at the same position on the Billboard chart c) The producer’s last name was Petty (Norman - who also cowrote it), or d) Peggy Sue and The Apartment Song are exactly the same length

OK, back to the song. Coming back out of the bridge, the bass piano notes cut out before Benmont starts matching the bass line on piano in around about a middle C position. The third verse is basically a repeat of the second and the following chorus follows the same pattern as the others. The chorus then repeats but just to change things up ever so slightly, because Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty don’t like a song to ever sit completely still, there are some piano chords on the chord changes. These chords aren’t quite as low as the bass notes during the bridge, but they’re not as high as the staccato 8th notes Benmont plays during the last verse.

After this last chorus, we head into the fade out, where those staccato fifth chords on the piano come back in and Tom repeats I’m Lonely tonight, with the Lonely being sung in an Aminor descending progression rather than major. After Tom has sung this through three times, the paradiddle beat comes back and Benmont is let off the chain to provide some great Little Richard style piano wailing over top of that great beat. Just all the little tricks of the trade to make a two and a half minute song interesting and varied.

The lyrics in this one are again, really direct and simple. Tom reminisces about his two room apartment and that he’s glad he doesn’t live there any more, but there’s a fondness in the tone. In the second verse, we hear that there’s a similar nostalgia for a former relationship that he sometimes remembers wistfully. The chorus underscores all this by giving his current state. “Oh yeah, I’m alright, I just feel a little lonely tonight. I’m okay most of the time, I just feel a little lonely tonight.” So, I’m OK but I could be doing better. There’s a romantic pragmatism on display here that elevates the song from being another rumination on lost love over 8 bars or a wallowing self-pity. It’s a glass that is definitely half full rather than half empty.

In his fabulous book Tom Petty’s Southern Accents, author and former guest on the show Michael Washburn comments on the difference between the demo version and the one we get on Full Moon Fever. He says” Sometimes polishing a song doesn’t mean perfecting it. Petty fans know The Apartment Song as one of Full Moon Fever’s lesser tunes. The original demo… featuring Stevie Nicks’ voice snaking alongside Petty’s, feels wild and vital where the Full Moon Fever release feels mannered and restrained.” Now, while I absolutely understand where Michael is coming from, this is the beauty of music. This is one of those rare songs where I really don’t have a strong preference between two versions of a song. The demo is swampier and it swings differently. It’s definitely far more country slash southern rock than it is rock n roll, which the Full Moon Fever version is. The latter has the Buddy Holly beat and a Little Richard piano part, the demo has a full on country bass line with Stevie Nicks dripping her harmonies all over Tom’s lead line. But man, I wouldn’t want either version to go away! The Full Moon Fever version wouldn’t have worked on Southern Accents, but the demo arrangement would have been so much better placed than any of the Dave Stewart songs, if the original concept had been followed through. Michael concludes by calling The Apartment Song “a track that by all sane interpretations should have been released on Southern Accents” and I can’t mount any substantial argument against that statement.

Curiously, this song was only played live four times. All during the Heartbreaker’s 1997 Fillmore residency but quite surprisingly, an official live version of the song has never been released. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the tracks used on the Fillmore release or the Live Anthology were recorded during the last 6 of the 20 date run. The last time The Apartment Song was played live was on January 28th, so there’s a chance that a high enough quality recording wasn’t captured. However, there are bootleg copies of three performances that you can find through the LivePetty.com website. I’ll link to my favourite (the Jan 21st show) in the episode notes so that you can go and listen to it if you like. It gives a great insight into how Tom had reimagined the song for a live setting. The piano is way more prominent, the bass line is far busier, and Steve Ferrone plays a snare pattern that’s quite different than the Peggy Sue beat. It’s really cool to hear and you should check it out!

OK PettyHeads, that’s it for this week! Is The Apartment Song one of Tom’s best ever compositions? No. Is the Full Moon Fever version stronger or weaker than the arrangement that might have ended up on Southern Accents? That’s a great debate. Is it one of the most upbeat, fun, perfect little pop songs on this album full of perfect little pop songs? In my opinion, yes it is. It’s also one of those deep cuts that I adore and a song that just makes me smile every time I hear it. I also think that it would be a perfect jam song for a bar band. You could let the piano play go nuts on this one, then let your lead guitarist rip out some Chuck Berry licks, add in a harmonica maybe, and even drop it right down in the Lonely Tonight section and get some crowd participation. It’s music you can dance to and grin to. So for that reason, and this is one of the first songs where I’m giving this song a higher score than I think it maybe deserves on the strength of how much I love it, but The Apartment Song gets a 9 out of 10 from me!

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Petty Trivia

QUESTION: Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue shares a strange connection to the The Apartment Song. What is it? Is it a) the album it is on was released on the same month and day as Full Moon Fever, b) Buddy Holly’s eponymous album featuring the song peaked at the same position on the Billboard chart c) The producer’s last name was Petty (Norman - who also cowrote it), or d) Peggy Sue and The Apartment Song are exactly the same length

ANSWER: Well, Buddy Holly’s eponymous record was released on February, 1958, while Full Moon Fever came out April, 1989 and while Tom’s first solo album peaked at #3 on the Billboard chart, as far as we can tell, there’s no record of Buddy Holly’s debut charting at all! Peggy Sue clocks in at 2 minutes 30 seconds, while The Apartment Song clocks in one second longer at 2:31, so the answer is . . .  that Buddy Holly’s producer was named Petty. Norman Petty to be precise, who also cowrote Peggy Sue and many of Holly’s other early hits. An accomplished songwriter and performer in his own right, Petty opened Clovis studio and produced albums for a number of Texas performers including Buddy Knox, Waylon Jennings, and eventual Wilbury Roy Orbison. So there’s another connection here aside from just the name! The studio is still standing and you can tour the location by appointment if you’re ever in Clovis, Texas.

Lyrics

I used to live in a two-room apartment
Neighbors knocking on my wall
Times were hard, I don't wanna knock it
I don't miss it much at all

Oh yeah, I'm alright
I just feel a little lonely tonight
I'm okay most of the time
I just feel a little lonely tonight

Well, I used to need your love so badly
Then I came to live with it
Lately I get a faraway feeling
And the whole thing starts again

Oh yeah, I'm alright
I just feel a little lonely tonight
I'm okay most of the time
I just feel a little lonely tonight

Oh yeah, I'm alright
I just feel a little lonely tonight
I'm okay most of the time
I just feel a little lonely tonight

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