Music Notes

Eddie Vedder Sings With Tom Petty

The Waiting is a song from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released in 1981 as a single off of their album Hard Promises.

I've been aware of it for many years; my Mom used to play it occasionally before she developed her piety, but the interesting thing is she always insisted on playing the YouTube video of Eddie Vedder performing onstage with Tom Petty. Eddie sings all parts of the song except for the bridge. At the time I had no idea who he was or why she preferred his voice, or even what she thought was so special about the song itself. (She also liked Petty's Refugee, I Won't Back Down, and Running Down a Dream, which all have earned a comfortable spot on my own playlist... I consider Tom Petty one of the best artists from his era, right alongside John Fogarty.)

The unique sound of The Waiting has entrenched itself quite nostalgically in my memory, but forever with Eddie Vedder's rich timbre. Whenever I happen to hear the original version, I can't help thinking that Tom Petty's voice on it sounds just a bit too... Weaselly. Not that Petty doesn't have a nice distinctive voice that I can spot in a crowd, but I now understand why Mom liked Eddie's version of The Waiting better.

When I discovered Eddie’s Beatles cover last summer, I also watched him and Petty doing The Waiting on YouTube, the same video my Mom used to play, for myself for the first time. With my current understanding of music and knowing the lyrics, I find it's a real classic piece. It was heartwarming to see Eddie and Tom enjoying themselves together onstage. I immediately added that audio to my playlist.

The Waiting is a wonderful song to get lost in, with, in layman's terms, an in-depth, well-defined melodic "path" that a lot of older songs have and a lot of more modern songs lack. One evening, in fact, while listening to The Waiting with my eyes closed, I nearly fell asleep at the bridge/interlude. Guess that's the mark of a really good song