Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – Here Comes My Girl

About The Song

“Here Comes My Girl” is a rock song written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, recorded by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for their third album, Damn the Torpedoes, released on October 19, 1979, by Backstreet/MCA Records. Released as the album’s second single in April 1980, with “Louisiana Rain” as the B-side, it peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 14, 1980, spending seven weeks on the chart, and reached No. 41 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart. The album hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200, blocked by Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA for three million US sales.

Recorded in mid-1979 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, the track was produced by Jimmy Iovine and Tom Petty. It features Tom Petty on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Mike Campbell on lead guitar and bass, Benmont Tench on organ and piano, and Stan Lynch on drums. Ron Blair, the usual bassist, was unavailable for this session, so Campbell filled in, as noted in Rhino’s session logs. The song’s jangly, Byrds-inspired sound, with Campbell’s 12-string Rickenbacker riff, blends new wave and classic rock, per American Songwriter. The lyrics, about finding solace in a lover amidst life’s chaos, were written by Petty in 1978, inspired by his then-girlfriend Jane Benyo, whom he married in 1974, per Petty: The Biography. The track was recorded in a few takes, with Iovine emphasizing its dynamic shifts, particularly the spoken verse, per Songfacts.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in Gainesville, Florida, in 1976, were riding the success of “Don’t Do Me Like That” (No. 10, 1980) during Damn the Torpedoes’ release, despite a legal battle with Shelter Records, per Stereogum. Campbell wrote the music in his LA apartment, and Petty added lyrics after a late-night drive, aiming for a hopeful tone, as he told Billboard in 1999. The band performed it live on their 1979–1980 tour, including a February 1980 show at LA’s Forum, and it remained a staple, played at their 2017 Hollywood Bowl concert, Petty’s last before his death on October 2, 2017, per Rolling Stone. A 1980 performance on Fridays TV show highlighted its live energy.

Covers include Relient K’s 2003 version for a tribute album and a 2018 live take by The Dirty Knobs, Campbell’s band. The song appeared in films like Home Alone (1990) and TV shows like Scrubs (2002). Its G-D-A chord progression, analyzed on Medium, and anthemic “here comes my girl” refrain drove its radio play, per Genius. The music video, a simple performance clip, aired on early MTV. Petty called it a “love letter” to Jane in a 2002 Mojo interview, denying broader metaphors. The track’s recording, per Billboard, captured the band’s growing confidence, with Tench’s organ adding a warm texture.

Video

Lyric

You know, sometimes, I don’t know why
But this old town just seems so hopeless
I ain’t really sure, but it seems I remember the good times
Were just a little bit more in focus

But when she puts her arms around me
I can somehow rise above it
Yeah, man, when I got that little girl standin’ right by my side
You know, I can tell the whole wide world to shove it, hey

Here comes my girl
Here comes my girl
Yeah, and I say, it’s alright, it’s alright

Every now and then, I get down to the end of the day
I have to stop, ask myself why I’ve done it
It just seems so useless to have to work so hard
And nothin’ ever really seems to come from it

And then she looks me in the eye, says, “We’re gonna last forever”
And man, you know I can’t begin to doubt it
No, ‘cause it just really feels so good and so free and so right
I know we ain’t never gonna change our minds about it, hey

Here comes my girl
Here comes my girl
Yeah, and I say, it’s alright, it’s alright