Songoftheday 3/2/14 - I've given up on waiting any longer, I've given up on this love getting stronger...

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Don't Come Around Here No More"
from the album Southern Accents (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by Florida rockers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, whose Long After Dark album had scored them two top-40 hits with "You Got Lucky" and "Change Of Heart" in 1982 and '83. It took three years for the band to release another album, and their sixth, Southern Accents, had three songs co-written with 1/2 of British new wave stars the Eurythmics, Dave Stewart. One of them, "Don't Come Around Here No More", was released as the first single, and the Indian instrumentation with sitar and all was a big change for their sound. The song's inspiration supposedly came after a one-night-stand between Stewart and Stevie Nicks after Stevie broke up with Joe Walsh (drama!). The video had Petty, Stewart, and the band reenacting Alice In Wonderland with Alice eventually becoming a cake...

"Don't Come Around Here No More" became a top 20 pop hit for Petty in May of 1985, while almost reaching the top of the rock radio chart at #2. Internationally, the single went to #20 in Canada and #50 over in England (where straight-ahead rock music was having a tough go).

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's Petty and the band live in 1985..

...and again in 2006 with Stevie Nicks herself...

Last year British singer Diana Vickers tackled the song...

A year later, American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez interpolated the chorus on her debut album track "Don't Come Around"...

Up tomorrow: George is troubled by a needy girl.