Tom Petty – HuffPost 6.14.10

Mike Ragogna: Do you have any advice for new artists who are coming into music right now?

Tom Petty: Songs are everything. When you first come in, there are a lot of bells and whistles thrown at you. But just work on your songs…if your songs are great, there’s nothing that can stop you. Making a record? You’ve got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it’s the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you’re already 90% there. I always tell young people it’s all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs.

MR: Beautiful. You know, what you said is exactly the same thing Leon Huff told me in one of my earlier interviews, and he said it three times as well. It’s all about the songs.

TP: That’s the power behind the whole thing. I mean it’s great to be good on your instrument or to be a really good singer, but you’re not armed until you have the song. The song is what does it. Everything else you can learn with practice. But the song is this kind of heavenly gift that you’ve got. Really, really work on it. You can chrome a turd, but you can’t make a song unless you have one. I hear these tracks where they’re trying to get by with groovy sounds or nice rhythm or this and that. But it don’t work unless there’s a great song.

The band has a rule–if you submit a song, you’ve got to be able to get it over with one instrument and one voice. If you can’t do that, there’s no need for us to work on it. It’s got to stand. It’s got to be able to move you with only one instrument.