Just watched Peter Bogdanovich’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” the documentary on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. It’s a long, winding look at a life spent chasing music, chasing dreams, and somehow keeping your feet on the ground while the world’s lights are flashing all around you. There’s something quietly moving in watching someone pour themselves into their calling like that, with no pretense, no shortcuts, just a steady devotion to craft and heart.
After the film, I wandered back through their catalog, following the threads of their story in song. And there it was: a little gem hiding in the MTV Archives, Even The Losers (1980). The first time I heard it, it felt like a whisper meant for the underdogs, the steady dreamers, the ones who keep moving even when the world seems to be passing them by. It’s effortless in its melancholy, but there’s also a stubborn pulse of hope beneath it, a reminder that even when life knocks you down, your song matters.
There’s a quiet strength in that kind of art: honest, unflashy, and enduring. It’s the kind of thing that makes you pause and remember that the chase, whatever dream you’re running after, has real worth in itself.
From the MTV Archives, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Even The Losers (1980)
Veni, Vidi, Scripsi 