‘You Don't Know How It Feels’ is a song and the lead single from American musician Tom Petty's 1994 album, Wildflowers. The track features candid lyrics describing the songwriter's desire for personal and professional autonomy. The single reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, No. 3 on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, and No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Petty's last top-40 hit in the US. An alternate version was posthumously released on June 26, 2020. This version peaked at No. 54 on the iTunes chart.
MTV, VH1, and many radio stations aired a censored version of ‘You Don't Know How It Feels,’ taking the word "roll" out of "let's roll another joint", as well as a version that played the word "joint" backwards. A version replacing the word "roll" with "hit" was also made. The music video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1995. The actress in the video is Raven Snow; she also appeared in several episodes of Zalman King's Red Shoe Diaries and the film Delta of Venus as lounge singer Leila.
Marijuana had a little something to do with this song. Here's what Petty said about it on his VH1 Storytellers special: "Every blue moon or so, I might have a toke on somebody's... cigarette. It's an OK way to live your life, but it's not to be advised. I'm not going to say it's good or bad. But I wrote this song a while back and I was trying to do this character in the song who was kind of down and looking for some company. And instead of having him say, 'Let's have another beer' - they always have to have that in the song - I thought this guy should roll another joint."
The video was directed by Phil Joanou. It's one continuous shot, with the camera revolving around a microphone as all kinds of crazy stuff happens in the background, including a circus act and a bank robbery. Tom Petty was one of MTV's biggest stars, but they wouldn't play the video as delivered because of the drug reference (sex and violence were generally OK on the network, but they were very sensitive about drugs). When the video aired, the word "joint" was reversed so it came out sounding like "noojh." Apparently, MTV made this edit themselves. Petty said on Storytellers: "The strangest thing happened. I wrote this song not thinking that it was controversial in any way and I nearly left this song off the album 'til the very end, and we put it on. Imagine my surprise when this song comes on television and they say, 'Let's roll another noojh,' which sounded worse to me than joint. Because, I don't know if you've ever had a noojh, but it sounds really wicked." Perhaps to atone, MTV awarded it Best Male Video at the VMAs.
Label – Warner Bros.
Songwriter – Tom Petty
Producers – Tom Petty, Rick Rubin, Mike Campbell
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Let me run with you tonight
I'll take you on a moonlight ride
There's someone I used to see
But she don't give a damn for me
[Chorus 1]
But let me get to the point, let's roll another joint
And turn the radio loud, I'm too alone to be proud
You don't know how it feels
You don't know how it feels to be me
[Verse 2]
People come, people go
Some grow young, some grow cold
I woke up in between
A memory and a dream
[Chorus 2]
So let's get to the point, let's roll another joint
And let's head on down the road, there's somewhere I gotta go
You don't know how it feels
You don't know how it feels to be me
[Verse 3]
My old man was born to rock
He's still tryin' to beat the clock
Think of me what you will
I've got a little space to fill
[Chorus 2]
So let's get to the point, let's roll another joint
And let's head on down the road, there's somewhere I gotta go
You don't know how it feels
You don't know how it feels
No, you don't know how it feels to be me
You don't know how it feels
You don't know how it feels
No, you don't know how it feels to be me