Stevie Nicks didn’t need much help becoming a rock star, but when she launched her solo career, Tom Petty gave her exactly the song she needed. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” became a major 1981 hit and helped establish Nicks on her own.
By late 1980, Nicks was ready to move in a different direction after the grueling Tusk sessions with Fleetwood Mac. She was especially taken with Petty and the Heartbreakers and had even joked about leaving Fleetwood Mac to join them.
“Stevie Nicks was saying all the time: ‘I’m going to leave Fleetwood Mac and join The Heartbreakers,’” Petty recalled in the 2007 documentary Runnin’ Down a Dream. He joked back, “Yeah, that’s good, Stevie, but there aren’t any girls in The Heartbreakers.”
Nicks didn’t end up joining the Heartbreakers, but she did find a way to bring their sound into her own music. She approached producer Jimmy Iovine about making her first solo album, hoping to capture some of the Heartbreakers’ rock ’n’ roll sound.
“I almost preferred the Heartbreakers’ music to Fleetwood Mac’s music at that point,” Nicks said in the documentary. “So I called Jimmy Iovine and asked him if he would consider producing my first solo record.”
Petty got involved, but Nicks had to do some convincing before he agreed to write a song for her. “She started a campaign for me to write her a song, and I kept saying: ‘No, I don’t have time,’” Petty recalled. Eventually, she wore him down.
Petty’s “Insider” was a little outside Nicks’ usual lane, which was part of what made her like it. He played the bluesy track for Iovine, who loved it, and Nicks recorded it alongside Petty at Sound City in Los Angeles.
The two immediately clicked when they sang together. “Stevie naturally gravitated to the harmony part,” Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench later recalled. “And Tom loved the way her voice sounded. The harmony blend was perfect.”
Everything seemed to be falling into place, until Petty decided he wanted to keep “Insider.” “When she came in the control room, I said: ‘Stevie, I’m really sorry but I don’t want to give you this song,’” Petty recalled. Nicks accepted the decision, but she still wanted something from him.
Petty eventually played her several songs from the Heartbreakers’ Hard Promises sessions, including “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” which he had co-written with guitarist Mike Campbell.
Nicks knew she’d found what she wanted. “That’s why I wanted you to write a song,” she told Petty. “It’s rock’n’roll, that’s what you do.”
However, Petty and Nicks weren’t quite on the same page. Petty thought he was giving her the song, not the existing Heartbreakers recording. Iovine, who was producing Nicks’ album and dating her at the time, heard the potential in the track and turned it into a duet.
Petty wasn’t initially thrilled with the decision. “He plays me ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,’ the same track, with her singing,” he recalled. “I go: ‘Jimmy, you just took the song.’” But Iovine replied, “This is gonna buy you a house.”
“Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” was released on July 8, 1981 as the first single from Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna. It quickly became a major hit, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September and staying there for six straight weeks.
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