When Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks covered the ‘needles and pins’

Tom Petty’s first official live album, 1985’s Pack Up the Plantation: Live !, covered a wide range of material. From older Heartbreaker songs to newly released tracks, there was something for everyone – including her frequent singing partner, Stevie Nicks. After many previous collaborations, Petty confidently invited her to team up again for a cover of “Needles and Pins,” a combination that made sense.

“Some of my best musical memories of her are sitting on the couch and playing the guitar while she sings,” Petty told the Toronto Sun in 2014. As they each navigated their own path, the two writers – Composers have found it reassuring to have support outside of their respective bands.

“He gave me a lot of advice on stuff,” Nicks recalls to Rolling Stone in 2017. “He was the kind of person who said, ‘Here’s my advice. If you take it, great. Otherwise, that’s fine. as well.’ “

The first collaboration of Petty and Nicks came in 1981 at the request of Nicks. Seeking to sound like the Heartbreakers but forbidding joining the group herself (“No girls allowed” was how Nicks remembered hearing Doug Morris, then president of Atlantic Records.), She opted for the next best thing: producer Jimmy Iovine – finally won a Petty duet, “Stop Draggin ‘My Heart Around”, for his first solo album, Bella Donna.

“I almost preferred the music of the Heartbreakers to the music of Fleetwood Mac at the time,” Nicks said in the 2007 documentary Runnin ‘Down A Dream. “So I called Jimmy Iovine and asked him if he was considering producing my first solo record. I thought maybe that was the way to get the sound of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. And I wanted to be friends with Tom and friends with the Heartbreakers.

However, their intense chemistry led fans to inevitably wonder: were they really just friends?

“I pushed on this,” recalls Petty’s biographer Warren Zanes, “telling her, after telling me they weren’t in a relationship,” You sound like a couple. Tom looked at me and said, “We’ve had our time.

Regardless of the details, Petty and Nicks’ relationship was always calm and productive. Another duo, “Insider,” appeared on Petty’s 1981 album, Hard Promises.

“There was no drama between her and the Heartbreakers,” keyboardist Benmont Tench told Classic Rock. “In Fleetwood Mac there was a lot of personal stuff going on. Then she walks into the room with us, a rock’n’roll group led by a guy she adores. I think it was a breath of fresh air for her.

A live version of “Insider” also appears on Pack Up the Plantation: Live !, but “Needles and Pins” offers a unique showcase for Nicks and Petty. The song was originally written in 1963 by Sonny Bono (Sonny and Cher) and Jack Nitzsche, a longtime collaborator with Phil Spector. “Needles and Pins” has been covered by various other artists like the Searchers, the Ramones and Gene Clark. But it was originally sung by Jackie DeShannon, proving that the tune welcomed both male and female voices – and was perfect for Petty and Nicks in 1985.

“In 1978, we had just released our second album, and I started getting calls from someone I had never met before, but she was really nice,” Petty said 32 years after “Needles and Pins ”, presenting Nicks at his July 2017. Summer concert in Hyde Park in London. “And over the years we’ve become really close, and she’s the honorary daughter of our band – Stevie! “