American Girl
Tom Petty Cover | 2009
Table of Contents
Background and Release
“American Girl” was released on June 30, 2009, with a video featuring exclusive footage captured on Taylor’s sold-out arena tour. The track was available for full-song download, ringtone download and ringback download. Nowadays, it isn’t available on streaming services.
In 2011, Taylor added “American Girl” to her pre-show playlist for the “Speak Now World Tour” (2011-2012). On June 2, 2011, she used one of the lyrics of this song for her infamous arm lyrics: “And for one desperate moment, he crept back in her memory”
Lyrical Theme
Second Performance
«To me, Tom Petty represented a kind of songwriting I idolised: complex simplicity. It said so much in the lyrics, the concepts, the stories, the message, the nuances … but always brought you back to a hook that got stuck in everyone’s head. He motivated thousands of guitarists to learn to play just because they wanted to be able to play ‘Free Fallin’. Count me as one of them.»
Taylor Swift
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinking 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
And if she had to die trying
She had one little promise she was gonna keep
[Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
[Verse 2]
Well, it was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
She could see the cars roll by out on 441
Like waves crashing on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God, it’s so painful
It’s something that’s so close but still so far out of reach
[Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl
[Final Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Let’s take it easy, baby
And make it last all night
Oh yeah, all right
Let’s take it easy, baby
Oh, let’s take it easy now
Oh yeah, all right
She was an American girl
Associated Eras | Fearless Era reputation Era |
---|---|
Cover Artist | Taylor Swift |
Original Artist | Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers |
Released | June 30, 2009 |
Genre | Country Rock |
Length | 4:10 |
Label | Big Machine Records |
Songwriter | Tom Petty |
Producer | Denny Cordell |