| "You Got Lucky" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byTom Petty and the Heartbreakers | ||||
| from the albumLong After Dark | ||||
| B-side | "Between Two Worlds" | |||
| Released | October 22, 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:38 | |||
| Label | Backstreet | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers |
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| Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singles chronology | ||||
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"You Got Lucky" is the first single fromTom Petty and the Heartbreakers' albumLong After Dark. The song peaked at #20 on theBillboard Hot 100 and #1 on theBillboardTop Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the end of 1982. Somewhat unusually for a Petty song, guitars give up the spotlight to allowsynths to carry the song's main structure.
In a November 2003 interview withSongfacts, guitaristMike Campbell explained the song's origins:
"You Got Lucky" was written to adrum loop. I had made a drum loop in my studio and put the music together. We went into the studio and actually recreated another drum loop. The drummer would actually go out and play, then we'd cut the tape and tape the loop together. We ran it around the room over some mic stands and through the tape heads, and then printed that for three or four minutes and then recorded the song over that drum loop. The guitar solo was Tom's idea, he suggested we do anEnnio Morricone guitar sound, kind of a vibrato arm strat kind of solo. Sort of a surf guitar with a tremolo arm, like aClint Eastwood movie, aGood, The Bad And The Ugly kind of thing. It was Tom's idea to put that approach on there.[3]
Despite the song's popularity, it was initially rarely played live by the band, since it was not one of Petty's personal favorites; it became more of a staple since 2014.[4]
Cash Box wrote that "smoldering synthesizer and guitar melody sets the moody scene" and that there is a "sharp edge" in Petty's voice, making him sound "earnest and convincing."[5]Billboard called it a "midtempo ballad which has the moody intensity of 'A Woman in Love'."[6]
Petty felt the video was "a real groundbreaker," and stated that he and the band wrote thetreatment themselves, borrowing heavily from the post-apocalyptic look ofMad Max 2, released in 1981.[7]
Directed by Jim Lenahan, the video begins withTom Petty andMike Campbell happening upon a black tent in front of theVasquez Rocks after riding in a hovercar (from the television seriesLogan's Run). They find aradio/cassette player wrapped inbubble wrap and play the tape, which begins the music of "You Got Lucky." The other band members,Howie Epstein,Benmont Tench andStan Lynch, arrive in asidecar racing motorcycle.
Entering the tent, they turn on a bank ofcobweb-covered switches that control power formusic studio equipment as well as a bank oftelevision sets which show the videos for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Here Comes My Girl" and "A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)." A clip from theGalactica 1980 episode "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I" playing on one of the televisions elicits a visceral reaction from Petty, possibly explaining the cause of the destruction in the video's universe. As they explore the tent, Campbell finds aGretsch 6120 guitar[8] just in time to play the song'sguitar solo. Epstein hits the jackpot on aslot machine, causing coins to flow over his hands. Petty overturns anAstro Invader arcade video game before they all ride away, leaving behind the cassette player.
| Chart (1982-1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S.Billboard Hot 100[9] | 20 |
| U.S.BillboardTop Tracks | 1 |
| CanadianRPM Top Singles | 30 |
| Year-end chart (1983) | Rank |
|---|---|
| US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[10] | 97 |
