"American Girl"

I can't think of any way to describe Tom Petty's voice other than a "keening nasal wail". This is epic stuff, tons of atmosphere, an unstoppable beat and Mike Campbell's guitars never sounded more like bells. There's a couple of moments right at the start when one of the band makes a "tch" sound, which just seems so perfect as the song winds up. It's a spare, stripped-down rocker, under-produced, with a terrific biff-bang-pow dry drum sound and just the right amount of harmony. I can't help thinking of this song as some sort of companion piece to Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights", which might be doing Tom Petty a huge injustice, but hey, it's my list.