Breakdown (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song)

"Breakdown" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album. It became a Top 40 hit in the United States and Canada.

Played live, Petty sometimes incorporated "Breakdown" with Ray Charles's "Hit the Road Jack". A live recording of this variation appears on The Live Anthology.

Background
"Breakdown" was a song written and recorded for the band's debut album. Initially, the song had lead guitarist Mike Campbell with a distinct guitar lick being played only near the end of the song. While playing it back one night, Tom Petty and Dwight Twilley, a friend of Phil Seymour, were in the studio, and Twilley enjoyed it. He suggested that the lick should be used throughout the song, and Petty obliged. At 2 AM, he gathered the Heartbreakers to join him in re-recording the song. Their final take was seven to eight minutes long, but it was pared down to 2 minutes and 39 seconds on the album. Guests on the song's recording include guitarist Jeff Jourard, a common collaborator with the band in their early days, and Phil Seymour, who sings backing vocals.

Reception
Record World called it a "slow, sultry rocker, dominated by guitar, with Petty's distinctive vocal again standing out."

Track listing

 * 7" Single (US, 1976)
 * A. "Breakdown" – 2:39
 * B. "The Wild One, Forever" – 3:01


 * 7" Single (US, 1977)
 * A. "Breakdown" – 2:39
 * B. "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" – 3:54


 * 7" Single (Germany, 1977)
 * A. "Breakdown" – 2:42
 * B. "Luna" – 3:59


 * 7" Single (Spain, 1978)
 * A. "Breakdown" – 2:42
 * B. "Strangered in the Night" – 3:32

Album appearances

 * Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)
 * FM (1978)
 * Pack Up the Plantation: Live! (1985)
 * ''Greatest Hits (1993)
 * Playback (1995)
 * Anthology: Through the Years (2000)
 * Mojo Tour 2010 (2010)

Grace Jones version
Jamaican singer Grace Jones recorded a reggae-inflected version of the song on her 1980 album Warm Leatherette. Petty wrote a third verse of the song specifically for Jones to record; "It's OK if you must go / I'll understand if you don't / You say goodbye right now / I'll still survive somehow / Why should we let this drag on?" The song was edited from its full, 5:30 album version to a 3-minute-long track on single release. It was released as a US-only single in July 1980 but did not chart.

Track listing

 * 7" single
 * A. "Breakdown" – 3:00
 * B. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:24


 * 12" single
 * A. "Breakdown" – 5:30
 * B1. "Breakdown" (edit) – 3:10
 * B2. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:24


 * 7" promotional single
 * A. "Breakdown" (stereo edit) – 3:00
 * B. "Breakdown" (mono edit) – 3:00