Tom Petty’s Bandmates Were Irritated With Him Over a Stevie Nicks Song on Their Album 

In 1981, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks released duets with one another on their respective albums. Nicks had long wanted Petty to write her a song and, to her delight, he wrote two duets for them. Petty kept the first song because he couldn’t bear to give it up. While Nicks was happy with the result, Petty’s bandmates were not. 

Tom Petty’s bandmates didn’t want him to give Stevie Nicks a song

Nicks was a huge fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. When she met the frontman, she asked him to write her a song. He agreed, and the result was “Insider.” The trouble was, when Petty heard her singing it, he realized he couldn’t give it up.

“She walked back in and said, ‘How was it?’ I said, ‘It’s amazing,’” Petty said in 1981, per Guitar Player. “She said, ‘I can tell by the look on your face, you don’t wanna give me this song. I’m giving it back to you right now.’ I really thought a lot of her for that.”

To make up for this, Petty wrote “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” It appeared on Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna. She loved the song, and Petty’s bandmates did too. They thought it was better than “Insider.”

“As a trade-out for ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,’ I didn’t think it was a good bargain at all,” drummer Stan Lynch said. “I remember [the discussion], ‘Well, we got ‘Insider,’ and I’m going, ‘Bad trade!’”

Regardless of the quality of either song, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” performed better commercially.