Mike Campbell co-wrote many of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ tracks. However, one song slipped from Tom’s radar and landed in Don Henley’s hands. Mike chatted with Danny Wimmer and shared Petty’s regret over the song that got away. He explained:
“I’ll give you a short version. I write all the time, and with Tom [Petty], anytime I would have a piece of music I thought was valid, I’d play it for him, and if I was really lucky, he’d write to them,Roger Waters’ Attempt To Boast About Nick Mason’s Support Backfires which he did to quite a few of them. That [The Boys of Summer] was a piece of music I had that I thought had a good vibe to it.”
Campbell continued:
“I showed it to Tom and Jimmy Iovine was there that day. We were working on an album and we just thought this doesn’t really fit into the flow of the album so Tom passed on it.”
The guitarist also shared how he got connected with Henley. He recalled:
“We were busy doing other songs and this and that, so Jimmy called me a week later. He said, ‘Don Henley’s looking for a song,’ and I said, ‘What kind of song is he looking for, a ballad or a rocker?’ He said, ‘An image maker.’ [And] I happen to have an image maker in my back pocket. No, but I sent the song over to Don, and he wrote that incredible song to it. I’m ever grateful for that as well.”
‘The Boys of Summer’ became one of Don’s biggest solo hits and Mike revealed during the interview what Tom thought about the track. The guitarist expressed:
“Tom told me years later, we were sitting in the car together, and I turned on the radio, and ‘The Boys of Summer’ came on, and he looked at me. He said, ‘You know I shouldn’t have let that one get away. Good on you,’ and that was nice.”
Even though ‘The Boys of Summer’ became Don’s, Campbell was also a co-writer in one of The Heartbreakers biggest singles’ ‘Refugee.’ Here’s what Mike said about the making of the single to Straight in 2014:
“I just wrote the music and handed it to Tom, and he put the words over it, and when he did, he found a way to make the chorus lift up without changing chords. I like songs that are like that.”
You can watch Mike Campbell’s interview with Danny Wimmer Presents and listen to ‘The Boys of Summer’ and ‘Refugee’ below.
Source: rockcelebrities.net