In honor of Flashback Friday and Tom Petty‘s birthday, we’re reliving a 1991 performance. This clip is from Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Take the Highway Tour.
Although the track is a popular one the band’s fans, this is a rare performance video. According to their YouTube information, it was recorded in 1991 but the city is unknown. Rolling Stone writes that the song was inspired by one of Mike Campbell’s motorcycles. He wrote it after it sparked inspiration.
“I was really into that frame of mind,” he told the publication. “This feels like a motorcycle shifting gears.”
Petty and Campbell recorded a demo of it that they called “chaotic, with a lot of drum fills.” To help get it closer to perfect, they called on Jeff Lynne who then recruited Jim Keitner. Keitner was there to lend a hand and help them get closer to the version of “Love is a Long Road” that we all know and love.
“All of us had a hand in the arrangement,” Petty later said of the final version.
Check out the rare video of “Love is a Long Road” below and check out Rolling Stone‘s full list of Petty’s best songs.