"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.Greenwald, Matthew. [ You Don't Know How It Feels]. AllMusic. Retrieved on April 9, 2009. The single reached 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.
Due to the song’s reference to marijuana, several outlets including MTV, VH1, and many radio stations aired a censored version, taking the word "roll" out of "let's roll another joint", or 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. At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in 1996, the song won the award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.https://www.grammy.com/artists/tom-petty/5380
"Girl on LSD" Petty originally intended the B-side of the single, "Girl on LSD", to appear on Wildflowers, but Warner Bros. refused because it was too controversial. In the song Petty sings about being in love with multiple girls on different drugs: marijuana, cocaine, LSD, beer, crystal meth, china white (a slang term for heroin) and coffee and being a drug dealer. In the chorus Petty states: "Through ecstasy, crystal meth and glue / I found no drug compares to you / All these pills, all this weed / I dunno just what I need."
Track listing US single (all formats)
"You Don't Know How It Feels" – 4:49 "Girl on LSD" – 3:39
German 7" single
"You Don't Know How It Feels" – 4:47 "House in the Woods" – 5:31
European and Australian CD single
"You Don't Know How It Feels" – 4:49 "House in the Woods" – 5:31 "Girl on LSD" – 4:59
Personnel Personnel are taken from the Wildflowers CD booklet. Tom Petty – lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar (first solo), harmonica, bass guitar Mike Campbell – electric guitar (second solo) Steve Ferrone – drums Howie Epstein – harmony vocals Lenny Castro – percussion Benmont Tench – grand piano, electric piano
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1994–1995)PeakpositionAustralia (ARIA)98
Year-end charts Chart (1994)PositionCanada Top Singles (RPM)95 Chart (1995)PositionCanada Top Singles (RPM)23US Billboard Hot 10061US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard)23US Top 40/Mainstream (Billboard)37
Certification
Release history RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)United KingdomNovember 7, 1994Warner Bros.AustraliaNovember 28, 1994
References