The A.V. Club has a relatively new feature dubbed, “The Single File,” in which they analyze what makes a song great.  The latest Single File revolves around one of our all-time faves, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers‘ American Girl. When we saw Petty perform it live in 1978 at San Diego State’s Montezuma Hall it was revelatory and on par with Springsteen’s Born to Run live in1975 at UCSB’s Robertson Gym.  American rock songwriting at its finest.  That was our in-depth “analysis” both back then and today.

Check out Petty’s performance of the song from 1980 below, and then check out the A.V. Club’s feature on the song HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aZAh1I_z6I&feature=player_embedded