You Got Lucky

"You Got Lucky"
Single by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
from the album Long After Dark
B-side "Between Two Worlds"
Released October 22, 1982
Format 7"
Recorded 1982
Genre Heartland rock
Length 3:38
Label Backstreet
Writer(s) Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Producer(s) Tom Petty, Jimmy Iovine
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singles chronology
"A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)"
(1981)
"You Got Lucky"
(1982)
"Change of Heart"
(1983)

"You Got Lucky" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' album Long After Dark. The song peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the end of 1982.

Music video

The look of the official video echoes the postapocalyptic feature film Mad Max 2, released in 1981. Both are set in a dusty, eclectic world of somewhat vintage electronics and mechanical devices in a gritty landscape.

The video begins with Tom Petty and Mike Campbell happening upon a black tent in the desert after riding in a hovercar (from the television series Logan's Run). They find a radio/cassette player and play the tape, which begins the music of "You Got Lucky". The other band members, Howie Epstein, Benmont Tench, and Stan Lynch, arrive in a motorcycle and sidecar.

Entering the tent, they turn on electricity for music studio equipment as well as a bank of television sets which feature Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' videos for "Here Comes My Girl" and "A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)". A clip from the Galactica 1980 episode "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I" plays on one of the televisions. Mike plays a guitar solo, Howie hits a jackpot on a slot machine, and Tom overturns an Astro Invader arcade video game before they all ride away, leaving only behind the cassette player.

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (1982-1983) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 20
U.S. Billboard Top Tracks 1
Canadian RPM Top Singles 30

Cover versions

References

  1. "Listen to Divine Fits Cover Tom Petty’s ‘You Got Lucky’ At Bonnaroo". ConsequenceOfSound.net. June 2013.
  2. Ladan, Bruce (5 April 2014). "Ridley Bent releases fourth album Wildcard in Winnipeg". CBC News. Retrieved November 5, 2014.