Released: October 19, 1979

Songwriter: Tom Petty Mike W. Campbell

Producer: Jimmy Iovine Tom Petty

[Verse 1]
We got somethin', we both know it
We don't talk too much about it
Ain't no real big secret all the same
Somehow we get around it

[Pre-Chorus]
Listen, it don't really matter to me, baby
You believe what you want to believe

[Chorus]
You see, you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)

[Verse 2]
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you wanna lay there
And revel in your abandon

[Pre-Chorus]
Honey, it don't make no difference to me, baby
Everybody's had to fight to be free

[Chorus]
You see, you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
No baby, you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)

[Bridge]
Baby, we ain't the first
I'm sure a lot of other lovers been burned
Right now this seems real to you
But it's one of those things
You got to feel to be true

[Verse 3]
Somewhere, somehow, somebody
Must have kicked you around some
Who knows, maybe you were kidnapped
Tied up, taken away, and held for ransom

[Pre-Chorus]
Honey, it don't really matter to me, baby
Everybody's had to fight to be free

[Chorus]
You see, you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
No, you don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
You don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – an L.A.-based gang of sharp-dressed garage-rock refugees from Gainsville, Florida – released their debut LP in November 1976, featuring two tracks which are now part of their long list of hits, “Breakdown” and “American Girl.”

Since that first LP in ‘76, the band’s style has epitomized and largely defined the American “heartland rock” movement – a vintage-guitar twang, hard lyric truth, and searing vocal attitude.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been nominated for 17 Grammy awards and sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all-time.