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The Penguin Discography: The Waiting




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The Waiting
    Authors »
Tom Petty

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Date Performance 1985-08-00
Running Time 5:08
Performers Tom Petty (6 String Electric Guitars), Tom Petty (6 String Acoustic Guitars), Tom Petty (12-String Electric Guitars), Tom Petty (12-String Acoustic Guitars), Tom Petty (Vocals), Mike/Michael Campbell (Lead Guitar), Mike/Michael Campbell (12-String Guitars), Mike/Michael Campbell (Lap Steel Guitars), Mike/Michael Campbell (Slide Guitars), Howie Epstein (Bass), Howie Epstein (Mandolin), Howie Epstein (Harmony Vocals), Ben(mont) (M.) Tench(, III) (Keyboards), Ben(mont) (M.) Tench(, III) (Vocals), Stan Lynch (Drums), Stan Lynch (Vocals), Jimmy Z(avala)/Z(anala) (Saxes), Jimmy Z(avala)/Z(anala) (Harmonica), Lee Thornburg/Thornberg/Thomberg (Trumpets), Lee Thornburg/Thornberg/Thomberg (Flugel Horn), Nick Lane (Trombones), Nick Lane (Euphonium), Pat Peterson (Backing Vocals), Pat Peterson (Percussion), Caroll Sue Hill (Backing Vocals), Caroll Sue Hill (Percussion), Doug Field (Recorded By), Mike Carver (Recorded By)
CommentsRecorded at the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, California. Engineered in the Westwood One Mobile truck, either August 6th or 7th, 1985. With Soul Lips Horns & The Rebeletts.
Appears On
Pack Up The Plantation: Live (0000)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

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Performance #1:
Running Time 4:00
Performers Jimmy Iovine (Produced By), Tom Petty (Produced By), Shelly Yakus (Engineered By), Shelly Yakus (Mixed By), Tom Petty (Lead Vocal), Tom Petty (12 String Electric Guitar), Mike/Michael Campbell (Lead Guitar), Mike/Michael Campbell (Bass Guitar), Ben(mont) (M.) Tench(, III) (Organ), Ben(mont) (M.) Tench(, III) (Background Vocal), Stan Lynch (Drums), Stan Lynch (Background Vocal), Phil Jones (Percussion)
CommentsRecorded at Sound City, Van Nuys, CA and Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA. Mixed at Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, CA (MCA Records) "I remember being half asleep," Benmont says. "The phone rang and it was Mike or Tom or somebody saying, 'We want to do Yeah Yeahs for the background on 'The Waiting,' can you come down, are you asleep? 'Never mind' I said, 'No, I'll be there,' and I got in the car and drove down to Cherokee and me and Stan went Yeah, Yeah a couple of times and we were done. That's what I remember." Luckily Tom remembers more. He remembers getting the basic riff for that song and driving his family crazy for a week, walking around the house playing it, waiting for inspiration. Understandably, the chorus that finally emerged was, "The waiting is the hardest part." He then walked around singing and playing that until the verses arrived. "The lines people most often come up and quote back to me on the street are 'I won't back down' and 'The waiting is the hardest part'," Petty says. "Roger McGuinn tells me over and over that he gave me that line. I went to see the Byrds - Clarke, Hillman, and McGuinn - in '78 or '79 and he says he said to me backstage, 'The waiting is the hardest part.' But I don't remember that. I do remember that he also told me he was living in a condo in Century City. That really stuck in my mind because I hated Century City. I had to go there every day for these legal things and I couldn't imagine living there. I'll give him credit for 'Century City,' but I think if anything, 'The Waiting' was inspired by something Janis Joplin said that I'd read in Life magazine: 'I love being onstage and everything else is just waiting.'" The promotional music video was directed by Jim Lenahan.
Appears On
Hard Promises (0000)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Playback (1995)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Playback (1995)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
A Bunch Of Videos And Some Other Stuff (0000)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

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    Last Modified »
2008-08-05