There aren’t many songs that I know word for word, but “American Girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, is definitely one of them.
Growing up, you could usually count on iconic lines like, “She was an American girl, raised on promises,” radiating out from the radio speakers at least once a day, along with comparable late seventies hits from stars like The Eagles.
It’s the kind of song that didn’t make a huge impact when it was first released in 1977 — it didn’t even make it to the charts — but slowly built up over time into an classic of American seventies rock n’ roll on par with mega-hits like Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven.”
In fact, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are one of the few bands from the seventies that are still together today. Unlike many of their peers, who broke up and benefited from reunion tours in recent years, this group never broke up, and have now been producing hits continuously for the past 40 years!
The classic “American Girl” followed hits like “Don’t Do Me Like That,” and “Refugee,” but today it’s probably one of the bands most recognizable songs. Performed here on the BBC show Old Grey Whistle Test in 1978, this poignant song about the American dream is just as relevant now as it was then!
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