In 1981, Tom Petty released one of his most enduring songs—but it didn’t come easy for him. “The Waiting,” the first single from the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album Hard Promises, took weeks to write.
Known for its distinctive guitar riff and anthemic chorus, the song captured the frustration of waiting for something—or someone. The simple, relatable message gave the track universal appeal that still resonates 45 years later.
Petty once told Performing Songwriter that “The Waiting” was difficult to write.
“I remember writing that one very well,” the legendary singer said. “That was a hard one. Went on for weeks. I got the chorus right away. And I had that guitar riff, that really good lick. Couldn’t get anything else. I had a really hard time. And I knew it was good, and it just went on endlessly. It was one of those where I really worked on it until I was too tired to go any longer. And I’d get right up and start again and spend the whole day to the point where other people in the house would complain. ‘You’ve been playing that lick for hours.’ Very hard.”
“It’s one that has really survived over the years because it’s so adaptable to so many situations,” Petty added.
Petty’s version of the song became a Top 20 hit, reaching No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1981. Fourteen years later, music legend Linda Ronstadt recorded a country-rock cover of the song for her 1995 album Feels Like Home.
Ronstadt admitted that, at first, she tried to sing like Petty.
“When you’re singing his material, it really helps to know his influences firsthand,” she shared in an interview. “At one point, I realized I was trying to sing like Tom Petty, who was singing like Roger McGuinn, who was singing like Bob Dylan, who was trying to copy Woody Guthrie. You wind up with all these people standing in your mouth.”
Petty ultimately approved of the cover, telling MOJO that he had heard Ronstadt’s version of the song and felt that “she did it very well.”
While “The Waiting” took a long time to write, it was certainly worth the wait for Petty’s fans. Decades later, it remains one of the late legend’s most enduring songs, and a reminder of the days when things didn’t come as quickly as they do now.
“It was about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true,” Petty once said, according to Rolling Stone. “I always felt it was an optimistic song.”
Related: 1989 Classic Rock Hit Ranked Among ‘Best Road-Trip Songs’ of All Time Remains a Timeless Driving Anthem
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