Song of the Day: "Dogs on the Run"

This might be my favorite Tom Petty song. I've been listening to '85's Southern Accents lately for a travel-section piece, and I forgot how good (and vastly underrated) this album was. Dogs on the Run, a deep album cut and never a hit, reminds me of riding bikes with my father through Valley Forge, Pa., some 22 years ago. We were highly dysfunctional back then (divorce, puberty, the '80s, the usual), but cranking this TP rocker on my Sony Walkman and pedaling like mad was rare solace. Dogs on the Run has all the makings of a classic "road" song, whether you're on two wheels or four. Here's a chunk of that travel piece, a playlist for cruising to Key West.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Song: Dogs on the Run

Album: Southern Accents (MCA)

Why we care: Petty’s figurative Florida is usually a landlocked affair, all parts greasy garages and haunted highways. But on this overlooked ’85 album cut, the Gainesville guy washes up on a beach and tumbles into the arms of a young bleached blond. This rocker is about where you’re going more than where you’ve been — the very stuff of shoreline daydreams.

Why we like it: Dogs on the Run has all the right ingredients for a road trip classic: a floor-it beat, jangly guitars, a killer brass section and great quotable parts: “She said, ‘Honey, ain’t it funny/How a crowd gathers ’round/Anyone living life without a net?’”

Song grade: A

Album grade: A

Comments

[Guy]

Southern Accents has gotta be Petty's most under-rated CD. "Don't Come Around Here No More" got all the pub (thanks to MTV) but the disc has some great album cuts.

[Max Teody]

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