Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks have long been one of music’s most underrated duos.
In Cameron Crowe’s latest documentary, Tom Petty: Heartbreak Beach Party, the late Heartbreakers frontman reflected on his collaborations with Fleetwood Mac’s Nicks, particularly on the songs “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and “Insider” in 1981.
“Stevie’s a fan of the band and she just had been for a long time and wanted to come and hang out and sing some,” Petty said in a resurfaced interview.
Petty, who passed away in 2017 from “multi-system organ failure” caused by “mixed drug toxicity,” recalled how Nicks had persistently asked him to write a song for her.
“She was asking me one night at dinner for a song, and ‘Would you write a song?’ She’d asked me a couple times, but one night, she got real adamant about, you know, ‘I really want a song.’ So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll write the song.'”
Creating “Insider” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”
Petty revealed that he returned home that evening and, by the next afternoon, had written “Insider”—a song that would later appear on his 1981 album, Hard Promises.
“It’s where I got the whole ‘hard promises’ line, the whole thing just hit me in the head all at once,” Petty recalled.
The chorus of “Insider” features the lyrics:
“I’m an insider, I’ve been burned by the fire / Oh, and I’ve had to live with some hard promises / I’ve crawled through the briars / I’m an insider.”
Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks (Photo: Getty Images)However, when Petty played the song for Nicks, she made a surprising decision.
“She said, ‘You know what? I can’t take this from you because I know, I can see how bad you want it, and you just keep it and write me another song and we’re even.’”
Instead, Petty and Nicks worked on another track, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which ended up on Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna.
“I think it took us a few hours. We went down and learned it and sang it and the rest is history,” Petty recalled.
Petty’s Love for Creating Music
For Petty, the magic of making music never faded.
“And it’s still a big thrill, anytime you create a piece of music to me, it’s just a real kick,” he shared. “It’s like… it’s fun. It’s fun for four people to play and tape rolls and then you can play it back. I’m still fascinated by that.”
In 2009, Petty and Nicks reunited on stage to perform “I Need to Know” during From Gainesville – The 30th Anniversary Concert. The “Dreams” singer made a special appearance for the performance.
The Revival of Tom Petty: Heartbreak Beach Party
The interview clip is part of the documentary Tom Petty: Heartbreak Beach Party, which originally aired on MTV in 1983 and has resurfaced over 40 years later.
According to the official synopsis, the film is a “fun, candid, fast-paced, and musically rich ride with America’s greatest rock & roll band” and serves as a “time capsule of the dawn of the MTV era and a rare, shining glimpse into Tom Petty’s lasting creative genius.”
The documentary follows the Heartbreakers as they complete, promote, and tour their Long After Dark album—their third and final project with legendary producer Jimmy Iovine.
Tom Petty: Heartbreak Beach Party is now available for streaming on Paramount+.