Beaty Towers is located on the edge of the university campus alongside U.S. The tempo is fast and "urgent," and is built on a repeated jangling guitar riff based on a " Bo Diddley beat." As described in Rolling Stone, "The supercharged riff set the template for decades of Petty hits, but it was also an homage to the Byrds: Petty and Mike Campbell's twin guitars mirrored Roger McGuinn's 12-string, infusing the folk-rock sounds of the 1960s with New Wave energy." Lyrics and rumors īeaty Towers on the University of Florida campusĭue to the lyrics about a desperate girl on a balcony hearing "cars roll by out on 441," the song was rumored to have been written about a college student who committed suicide by jumping from the Beaty Towers residence hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. "American Girl" uses standard rock instrumentation of electric guitars, electric bass, drums, and keyboards. It was recorded on the 4th of July in 1976, the Bicentennial of the United States. "American Girl" was written by Petty around the time he and the Heartbreakers signed their first recording contract. It is ranked number 169 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Petty died of complications from cardiac arrest after an accidental prescription medication overdose on October 2, just over a week later.
They played it to close out the encore of their performance on September 25, 2017, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, the final concert of their 40th Anniversary Tour. "American Girl" was the last song performed in concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It has been consistently rated as his best song, only surpassed by " Free Fallin'" otherwise, and one of the best rock songs of all time, and has been called "more than a classic rock standard - it's practically part of the American literary canon." It has also been used in several movies and television shows, often during a scene in which a character, much like the protagonist in the song's lyrics, is "longing for something bigger than their current existence." ĭespite limited chart success, "American Girl" became one of Petty's most popular songs and a staple of classic rock. It was re-released in 1994 as the second single from Petty's Greatest Hits album and peaked at No. 40 in the UK for the week ending August 27, 1977. It was released as a single and did not chart in the United States, but peaked at No. " American Girl" is a rock song written by Tom Petty and recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for their self-titled debut album in 1976. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singles chronology
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