The second posthumous Tom Petty album, The Best of Everything, is set to be released on March 1st, premiering familiar tunes like “Free Fallin’,” “American Girl” and “I Won’t Back Down.” Yet, this two-disc project is set to feature unreleased songs, such as the last track on the album being unreleased track, “For Real.” The song has recently been released for old and new fans to listen to in anticipation of the album release.
According to Rolling Stone, the unreleased song was recorded back in August 2000 when Petty and the Heartbreakers traveled to Bill Bottrell’s studio in California to record an updated version of “Surrender.” And from there, the song was born but never officially released to the public. The lyrical content of the new track showcases how authentic Petty remained to his music and his beginnings as an artist. “Didn’t do it for no magazine/Didn’t do it for no video,” he sings in the new track. “Never did it for no CEO/But I did it for real/Would have done it for free/I did it for me/’Cuz it was all that rang true/I did it for real/And I did it for you.”
This new album set is the second posthumous project the band has put out. An American Treasure was widely critically-acclaimed by music enthusiasts. Many of the tracks featured on this project focused less on his hit records, and more so on the lesser-known tracks in the discography.
This second posthumous record will encompass a total of 38-tracks, many of them born from “Petty’s long term desire to release what he believed to be his greatest hits and strongest material across his four decades of songwriting,” according to a press release. Aside from the unreleased track, there is an alternative version of the title track with a never before heard second verse. The set also includes an essay on Petty that was written specifically for the collection by longtime friend, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, director, author and journalist Cameron Crowe.
Listen to the new track below.
Photo taken by Boston Lynn Schulz
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