TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS - RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM

RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS

SONGWRITER: tom pretty; jeff lynne & mike campbell

COUNTRY: u.s.a.

ALBUM: FULL MOON FEVER

LABEL: mca records

GENRE: heartland rock

YEAR: 1989

"Runnin' Down a Dream" is a song co-written and recorded by Tom Petty. It was released in July 1989 as the second single from his first solo álbum Full Moon Fever. "Runnin' Down a Dream" achieved reasonable chart success, reaching number 23 both in Canada and on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. It has since garnered significant airplay on classic rock stations, and lent its name to the 2007 documentary on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

The song was co-written by Mike Campbell, along with Petty and Jeff Lynne. It was a nod to Petty's musical roots, with the lyric "me and Del were singin' 'Little Runaway'" making reference to Del Shannon and "Runaway".

The song uses E major as a tonic, but makes ample use of chords outside that key, such as D, G, and C major chords. Some passages use a pedal point of E in the bass, while changing chords from E major to C and D major chords above it. The repeating fuzz guitar riff, using the notes B, B♭, A, G, and E, lacks only a D to complete the hexatonic E blues scale.

The music video for "Runnin' Down a Dream", directed by Jim Lenahan, featured animation, based on several episodes of the classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, featuring a drawing style reminiscent of McCay's and showing Petty and a character who resembles Flip travelling through Slumberland. The 1933 film King Kong is also briefly referenced when Petty, atop the Chrysler Building, attempts to swat at attacking oversized mosquitoes, much like Kong swatting at the biplanes in the film.

Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. Petty served as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He was also a member and co-founder of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, and his early band Mudcrutch.

It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down

I had the radio on, I was drivin'

trees flew by, me and Del were singin little Runaway

I was flyin'

Chorus:

Yeah runnin' down a dream

that never would come to me

workin' on a mystery, goin wherever it leads

runnin' down a dream

I felt so good like anything was possible

hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes

the last three days the rain was un-stoppable

it was always cold, no sunshine

Chorus

I rolled on; the sky grew dark

I put the pedal down to make some time

there's something good waiting down this road

I'm pickin up whatever is mine

Chorus

Chorus.