‘Stop Draggin' My Heart Around’ is a song recorded by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and released as the first single from Nicks' debut solo album Bella Donna (1981). The track is the album's only song that was neither written nor co-written by Nicks. Written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song, Jimmy Iovine, who was also working for Stevie Nicks at the time, arranged for her to sing on it. Petty sang with Nicks in the chorus and bridge, while his entire band played on the song, with the exception of Ron Blair, who was replaced by bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn for the recording.
A performance of the song in the studio was used as the promotional video. The video was the 25th video to be played on MTV's launch date on August 1, 1981. Petty and Nicks also sang together on the songs ‘Insider’ (from Petty's album Hard Promises (1981)) and ‘I Will Run to You’ (from Nicks's album The Wild Heart (1983)), and frequently performed impromptu live versions of these and 1960s classic ‘Needles and Pins’ in many shows through the 1980s.
The song peaked at No. 3 on the American Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks, (Nicks's biggest solo hit and the Heartbreakers' biggest hit as well). However, in the United Kingdom, the song only managed to peak at No. 50. The song was released as the first single from the Bella Donna album. The next single was another duet: ‘Leather And Lace’ with Don Henley, which reached #6. It wasn't until the third single that Nicks was finally on her own: ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ reached #11.
Tom Petty met Stevie Nicks while he was recording his group's album Damn The Torpedoes. She asked him half-jokingly if he could write her a song that she could record for her first solo album. Petty didn't take her request seriously at first, but Nicks reiterated her request a year later as Petty was putting together his Hard Promises album. Shortly after the Hard Promises album was finished, Petty and company recorded a song that he and guitarist Mike Campbell composed about a year earlier – ‘Stop Draggin' My Heart Around’ - and sent that demo to Nicks' producer, Jimmy Iovine. She loved it, saying, "That's what I wanted all along." Nicks and Petty ended up doing it as a duet.
In a November 2003 interview with Songfacts, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist and primary songwriter Mike Campbell explained the song's origins: “’Stop Draggin' My Heart Around’ was a song that I had written the music and Tom had written the words. The Heartbreakers had recorded a version of it with Jimmy Iovine, and Jimmy being the entrepreneur that he was, he was working with Stevie, and I guess he asked Tom if she could try it, and it just developed from there. We cut the track as a Heartbreakers record and when she decided to do it, we used that track and she came in and sang over it. It became a duet. It's basically all the Heartbreakers on that record.”
Label – Modern
Songwriters – Tom Petty, Mike Campbell
Producers – Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1: Stevie Nicks]Baby, you'll come knocking on my front door
Same old line you used to use before
I said yeah, well what am I supposed to do?
I didn't know what I was getting into
[Chorus: Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty]
So you've had a little trouble in town
Now you're keeping some demons down
Stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my
Stop draggin' my heart around
[Verse 2: Stevie Nicks]
It's hard to think about what you've wanted
It's hard to think about what you've lost
This doesn't have to be the big get even
This doesn't have to be anything at all
[Pre-Chorus: Tom Petty]
I know you really wanna tell me goodbye
I know you really wanna be your own girl
[Chorus: Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty]
Baby, you could never look me in the eye
Yeah, you buckle with the weight of the world
Stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my
Stop draggin' my heart around
[Instrumental Interlude]
[Verse 3: Stevie Nicks]
People running 'round loose in the world
Ain't got nothing better to do
Make a meal of some bright-eyed kid
You need someone looking after you
[Pre-Chorus: Tom Petty]
I know you really wanna tell me goodbye
I know you really wanna be your own girl
[Chorus: Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty]
Baby, you could never look me in the eye
Yeah, you buckle with the weight of the world
Stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my
Stop draggin' my heart around
[Outro: Stevie Nicks]
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around
Stop draggin' my heart around