Legendary Nashville songwriter, Harlan Howard is purported to have coined the expression “three chords and the truth” and friend and colleague Bob Dylan is also remembered for the great line “All I need is my red guitar, three chords and the truth”. Well that’s all this riff is. Three chords. No passing chords, no fancy inversions or suspended notes. Just three chords - D A E.

Mike Campbell was and is famously prolific in his writing and brought all of that work to Tom in case there was something there that connected. In this case, Tom saw the truth in those three chords and decided to write a masterpiece. It may have taken a while for the final brushstrokes to arrive, but when they did, they truly transformed a young girl with a faraway look in her eye into the Mona Lisa.

This episode includes a conversation with musician, writer, and former guest, Jeff Slate.

If you want to listen to You Wreck Me before the episode, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/-3aGZZueg08

If you'd like to listen to the fantastic version released as a part of the Fillmore box set, you can find that here: https://youtu.be/aPV745BKtr8

If you have any interest in Van Halen, please check out my friends Corey and Mark over on And The Podcast Will Rock. You can find the show here: https://shows.acast.com/podcastwillrock

Don't forget to follow me on social media, like, subscribe, and please, leave a rating if you like the show.

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All music other than the piano version of Wildflowers, including the theme song, provided by my very best friend Randy Woods. Check him out at https://www.randywoodsband.com

The Tom Petty Project is not affiliated with the Tom Petty estate in any way and when you’re looking for Tom’s music, please visit the official YouTube channel first and go to tompetty.com for official merchandise.

A last very special thanks to Paul Zollo. Without his book, "Conversations with Tom Petty", this podcast wouldn't be nearly as much fun to research. And further thanks to Warren Zanes for his outstanding book "Petty, the Biography".

Producer: Kevin Brown

Executive Producer: Paul Roberts

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