B-side "Make That Connection" Format 7" Length 4:08 | Released April 18, 1987 Genre Heartland rock Label MCA | |
"Jammin' Me" is the first single from Let Me Up (I've Had Enough), an 1987 album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It is co-written by Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Mike Campbell. The heartland rock tune has been included in Petty's 'best of' albums Playback and Anthology: Through the Years.
Contents
Background and lyrics
On the True Confessions tour between Tom Petty and Bob Dylan (who both later became members of the Traveling Wilburys), they collaborated on this track which became the opening track on the album. The song is about a man "overwhelmed by the volume of disconnected "news" generated in the disinformation age" containing a "laundry list" of 1980s celebrities such as Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and Vanessa Redgrave, and the apple in young Steve's eye obviously referring to Steve Jobs at Apple, among others. It follows in line with an ongoing theme throughout the album of people "who are reeling from media assaults and shattered relationships", but have a strong desire to survive in order to make sense of the world. Some of the lyrics came from Dylan and Petty picking words out of a newspaper and off the television.
Release and reception
"Jammin' Me" was released as the first single from Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) in 1987. It hit number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart as well as number #18 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became Petty's third single to hit number one on the Album Rock (later known as Mainstream Rock) chart and stayed there for four weeks; previous songs to top this chart were "The Waiting" in 1981 and "You Got Lucky" in 1982. Critics were generally favorable towards the single with Allmusic comparing it to the Rolling Stones song "Start Me Up", saying "the fabulous groove is positively infectious". Rolling Stone complimented Petty and Campbell's "raw guitar chords" and Benmont Tench's "honky-tonk piano fills". The song has become a standard in Petty's live sets with "astounding results". When "Jammin' Me" was performed during the Heartbreakers impressive multi performances at the Fillmore in 1997 and 1999, Petty played lead guitar, rather than Campbell. Despite the high chart position, the song failed to appear on the 1993 Greatest Hits package, but did appear on the Playback and Anthology: Through the Years compilations.