The Songwriting Process

Tom Petty comments on how he prefers to write music and lyrics:

Do you work on songs with your guitar, and work on music and words at the same time?

I try to, yeah. I work mostly with the guitar or piano. I’ve found, especially with this last album, that I really prefer getting the melody and music at the same time as hopefully a chunk of the words. I think this is better–mo’ better–for me than trying to marry the two together at different times. I think I was always happiest with the stuff that I wrote that came alive all in one try. But, you know, honestly, you do anything you can to make it work.