Released: November 9, 1976
Songwriter: Tom Petty
Producer: Denny Cordell
[Verse 1]
Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life somewhere else
After all, it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die tryin', she
Had one little promise she was gonna keep
[Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night (Make it last all night)
She was an American girl
[Verse 2]
Well, it was kinda cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony (Ooh)
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441 like waves crashin' on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God, it's so painful when something that is so close
Is still so far out of reach
[Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night (Make it last all night)
She was an American girl (Ooh)
Well, she was an American girl
Raised on promises
She couldn't help thinkin' that there
Was a little more to life somewhere else
After all, it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
And if she had to die tryin', she
Had one little promise she was gonna keep
[Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night (Make it last all night)
She was an American girl
[Verse 2]
Well, it was kinda cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony (Ooh)
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
Out on 441 like waves crashin' on the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God, it's so painful when something that is so close
Is still so far out of reach
[Chorus]
Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night (Make it last all night)
She was an American girl (Ooh)
The Best of Everything
- Mary Jane’s Last Dance
- Walls (Circus)
- Angel Dream (No. 2)
- Room at the Top
- Into the Great Wide Open
- Dreamville
- I Should Have Known It
- I Need to Know
- American Dream Plan B
- The Last DJ
- Scare Easy
- Square One
- Breakdown
- Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
- Trailer
- I Forgive It All
- Hungry No More
- For Real
- Jammin’ Me
- Don’t Come Around Here No More
- I Won’t Back Down
- Refugee
- Here Comes My Girl
- Don’t Do Me Like That
- You Don’t Know How It Feels
- Learning to Fly
- American Girl
- The Waiting
- Free Fallin’
- Even the Losers
- Runnin’ Down a Dream
- Wildflowers
- You Wreck Me
- Southern Accents
- Saving Grace
- Listen to Her Heart
- You Got Lucky
- The Best Of Everything (Alternate Version)
- Mary Jane’s Last Dance
- Learning to Fly
- American Girl
- The Waiting
- Breakdown
- Refugee
- Into the Great Wide Open
- You Got Lucky
- Here Comes My Girl
- Don’t Come Around Here No More
- Walls (Circus)
- Even the Losers
- Insider
- Don’t Do Me Like That
- Rebels
- It’ll All Work Out
- Christmas All Over Again
- Swingin’
- Southern Accents
- Listen to Her Heart
- I Need to Know
- Room at the Top
- A Face in the Crowd
- Jammin’ Me