The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise
She was gonna keep
Oh yeah, alright
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, alright
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Ooh
Uh-huh-huh
Uh-huh-huh
Oh yeah
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, and if she had to die tryin'
She had one little promise
She was gonna keep
Oh yeah, alright
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin' on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it's so painful
Something that's so close
And still so far out of reach
Oh yeah, alright
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
Ooh
Uh-huh-huh
Uh-huh-huh
Oh yeah
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by greendreamer, Squirt_gun
American Girl Lyrics as written by Tom Petty
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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God it's so painful when something that's so close Is still so far out of reach
Best line. I love it.
@allenegirl Yes, it is the best line. I like to think Tom Petty has a deeper meaning for the lyrics to this short song. His metaphor "American Girl" is one's "American Dream" who strives and dedicate his/her early life to a fantasized dream reality, like being a star or famous or achieving a very competitive goal, like getting the Olympic Gold. The "one little promise she was going to keep" if she "had to die Tryin'" shows one's life dedication and commitment to the goal in discrete. The chorus is an inspiration one gives themselves to keep the "Dream" alive by making it their life long goal (Making it last all night). The second verse reveals as time goes by and the strive gets tough and when the "Dream" lost its initial luster "Well it was kind of cold that night" and reality sets in diminishing the dream, being around cars on the freeway instead of being near waves on the beach. However, Petty tells us one should never give up the "Dream" since the thought of success "And for one desperate moment there He crept back in her memory" the "He" is a metaphor for success or goal not reached. One's dedication and commitment is not lost if we keep reaching for that goal and it could be so close but still seems so far away when we're disappointed by distractions. I thought it is an inspirational song instead of the other way. I guess my glass us usually half full.
I don't know if I think that this is absolutely about suicide... The first verse you have the words "if she had to die trying she had one little promise she was going to keep". I do think it's about the feeling of revenge that comes from being broken-up with by your first love, or revenge from not being loved by a significant male figure in your life, and how a first love relates a lot to all the other dreams and empty promises American girls are force-fed about how grand life can be if we only try hard enough and work fast enough...
It's funny because in L.A. the ocean isn't that far away, but no one can see or hear or smell the ocean from their apartment unless they're part of the uber-rich. I like how Petty paints a picture of this, comparing the ocean of L.A. being so close but so far and replaced by concrete and cars as a reminder to anyone who's "trying to make it in this town" just how far they still have to go to acheive their dreams and have that ocean view. Just like this girl's dreams of making a name for herself, of finding a man who really loves her, and she's just sick of working at it, sick of all the empty promises.
Death was close...she could end it all by jumping into that ocean that wasn't really an ocean at all but just a mindless line of cars...but then for a second the man who broke her heart popped back into her mind and she remembered that she made a promise to herself to get revenge, follow her dreams, make something of herself even if it killed her...so she'll go on racing through life forcing herself to make promises about all that life has in store for her, and hopefully run across someone who will teach her what it means to relax and not fight so hard...
@temsabi <br /> Everyone— this song was written about a girl who committed suicide at the University of Florida in the 80’s. I went to school there. Tom Petty grew up in Gainesville, Florida. He played concerts at UF 6-7 days in a row and this song always struck us as students. The school is very challenging and stressful for young students. Many can’t make it. Couple that with new and lost love. <br /> The girl jumped off the building. The building was right off US441 which is the street that runs right along the university and where she committed suicide. <br /> The song is about a young promising soul who couldn’t handle the stresses of life.
@Ericn that's impossible considering the song came out in '76
Suicide? Are you people nuts? No way. It's about a girl that recognizes there's more to life out there than the small place she lives, and she wants to go out into the great big world to find it! And the difficulties in leaving her old life behind, because of old commitments and such.
@dylanite Indeed, it's a bit to read all the pseudo-intellectual pontification in the other ill-informed guesses (about "typical" men, etc.). +1 to you.
@dylanite what does one desperate moment as she's standing on the balcony of her apartment wishing that the cars (from nearby route 441, which runs by Beatty Towers dormitory - could be an apt place for a jumping.<br /> Petty denies this is about a particular incident, and of course, the song doesn't give us the final result of the recollection, but the narrator keeps pleading with the protagonist to<br /> "take it easy baby, it'll be alright "<br /> From the initial dream of escaping a less than ideal situation, to the fast forwarding to the result of chasing that dream and going through bad relationships, bad choices, bad luck, and little or no guidance. <br /> Kinda reminds me of Jenny in Forest Gump as she's on her balcony.
I think the meaning is a little different than most of ones I have read. First Tom Petty said it was not about a suicide. That is an urban legend. What I think it is about is the disillusionment that can come from loving. She was an American girl raised on Promises- She put her trust in to someone and he broke his promises. It was a great big world with lots of places to run to- Lots of men to run to also. She is using promiscuity to get rid of her pain. And if she had to die tryin' She had one little promise she was gonna keep-That is to herself, not to put her heart out there to get hurt again. Oh yeah, all right, take it easy baby, make it last all night-There is the promiscuity. Well it was kind of cold that night she stood alone on her balcony-He is asleep after sex (typical guy) she decides to get some fresh air. Out on 441 like the waves crashin’ on the beach- the drone of a highway can sound like the ocean. For one desperate moment there he crept back in her memory- She is trying to forget him but, it’s hard when you are alone with your thoughts. God it’s so painful that something so close could still be so far out of reach-She knows what she really wants she will never find through going to bed with a lot of guys but, she can’t put her heart out there yet, her body but not her heart.
@Justguessing I think you are right, sure hits home.
i think tom wrote this song for me. thanks tom.
I was reading a tom petty guitar tab book and it explains some of his lyrics...
"Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by Out on 441 like waves crashin' on the beach"
"I remember writing the song about hearing the cars roll by because I was living in an apartment in Encino, CA by the freeway. The sound was really annoying and we used to jokingly pretend it was the ocean."
This song is so good. "It's so painful, something that's so close, and still so far out of reach" (my favorite line:) is something everyone feels about something, or a certain someone. Tom is wonderful.
Yeah, I think it's just a song about a young girl's take on being frustrated in pursuit of her so-called American dreams, filled with awesome imagery from TP's own life experience, as usual.
hamstylz is exaclty right, tom petty is an incredible artist. it doesnt matter what mood your in, there's a tom petty song that fits it. just about any situation your in you can relate lyrics of a tom petty song to it
How about...this is a song about a typical American girl from Anywhere, America, who grows up without a consistent, loving father-figure, either due to divorce, abandonment, death, whatever. After being let down by the absence of a father, she goes off into the world to chase her dreams but it all feels so empty because she is still longing for the love she never had.