Heartbreaker Quotes

“I thought, that’s the way to live your life. Give gifts. Be generous to people. Be present in the moment. George taught me that.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I could give him a tape of three chords that I recorded to play over while I practiced, and he would come back with lyrics thousands of people would sing with tears in their eyes. He wrote songs that gave people great courage and comfort.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“It’s called ‘The Date I Had with That Ugly Old Homecoming Queen.’” I laughed out loud. Tom was more relaxed in front of the Fillmore audience. The room sounded great, and the consistency of the venue night after night helped him loosen up. He started inviting me up to his dressing room to write the set list, just like we used to. Benmont joined us. We came up with covers, deep tracks. The sets were raucous and fun. All sorts of pals started stopping by. Roger McGuinn joined us one night for “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man,” the Byrds classic he wrote with Gram Parsons, and “Eight Miles High.” A few nights later, Tom welcomed the great John Lee Hooker onstage to sing “Serves You Right to Suffer” and “Boogie Chillen.” It felt like a new era—with a fresh lineup and sense of camaraderie. I felt like Wildflowers had proclaimed Tom’s intent to reach a greater level of musical depth and seriousness as an artist. But the raucous theater residencies allowed us to explore the looseness and spontaneity that we had experienced playing with Bob. I thought we were in a new place as a band, even as friends, and I was excited to see where it would all lead. Sadly, in the years following Wildflowers, Howie’s addiction to heroin intensified. Each time I saw him, it was shocking. It stripped”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“It is another reason why Full Moon Fever sounded so different from anything else Tom ever did. Benmont didn’t play on it. Benmont contributed much of the musical beauty on Wildflowers. I think Tom realized”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I also produced and played on a great album called Rumble Doll, by Patti Scialfa, a soulful red-headed Sicilian Jersey”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Howie produced a Grammy-winning album for John Prine, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, called The Missing Years. I gave him a burning slow blues that I loved. Prine transformed it into “Great Rain.” Howie”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Into the Great Wide Open a natural evolution from Full Moon Fever, and our new fans loved it. At least one of our old fans heard some of the Heartbreakers magic on it. When we played the album for George, he sat forward when my big guitar riff kicked in on “Makin’ Some Noise.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I had a glass slide in my coat pocket. I handed it to him. George looked down at it and grinned. He shrugged and said, oh, okay, I’ll try. He sat down with my Strat, slipped the slide on his finger, and played the solo on “Handle with Care,” off the top of his”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“He told me they had all written a song called “Handle with Care” and thought it might need a guitar solo.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“But that’s what we did. While Jeff was out of town, Tom came over and we recorded a cover of Gene Clark’s “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” and a beautiful lullaby Tom wrote called “Alright for Now.” But”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Tom wasn’t sure what to call it and then it just popped into his head. Full Moon Fever. Tom and Jeff couldn’t wait to bring it to the label. They were so excited. Tom called me after the meeting. In shock. “They don’t like it. They say they won’t release it.” “What?” This had never happened before. Tom was stunned. “They don’t hear a single.” “The whole thing is singles!” The original nine songs on Full Moon Fever, as presented by Tom and Jeff to the heads of MCA Records, were “Free Fallin’,” “I Won’t Back Down,” “Love Is a Long Road,” “A Face in the Crowd,” “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” “Yer So Bad,” “Mind with a Heart of Its Own,” “Depending on You,” and “The Apartment Song.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Runnin’ Down a Dream.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I hadn’t told him about the sound of the Harley shifting. “What’s it called?” “Love Is a Long Road.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“As Tom sang the last down of the chorus, I rolled the volume up on the Gretsch and played the solo that’s on the record in one pass.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Nashville-tuned Martin”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I handed Tom my J-45. He strummed a simple, repeating riff and stayed on it as he sang the lyrics. He said it was called “Free Fallin’.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“That night, alone with Bob, Benmont gracefully ended “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” with”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“and we all played “Chimes of Freedom” and “In the Garden” together.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Can we do “Shelter from the Storm”? Sure. Can we do “Forever Young”? If you want.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“The Satellites were funny and fun to be around,”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“A few days later, I put the Broadcaster and the LinnDrum in my trunk and drove back over to Cherokee for another session. We worked on a new song of Bob’s called “Trust Yourself.” Keltner played a low rumble that swayed in time with Bob at the mic. Bob had his back to me, and”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“We worked on two more songs that day. “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll” and “Look Yonder.” Bob didn’t ask”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“It was a long, narrative song called “Danville Girl” that Bob had written with Sam Shepard. As I played”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I looked up at the sky in disbelief. In tall white letters, the blue street sign over my head read “Victory Boulevard.” I laughed out loud and turned and ran down Victory as “The Boys of Summer” played for the second time.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“I took a breath and turned north on Winnetka”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“By the time I got to the corner of Winnetka, I just wanted to”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Pierce College, stretching while I waited at crosswalks. I was heading to a running trail I liked that ran a mile loop starting on Canoga.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Howie was recording with us and his harmonies with Tom gave even the most raucous songs a melodic shimmer. Tom’s writing and vocals were especially powerful. On songs like “Straight into Darkness” and “Change of Heart,” I”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“Howie Epstein was a happy-go-lucky Jewish kid from Milwaukee, with”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir

“it brings back all the old memories of what happened to him and I am gripped by a cold gray sadness. Sometimes for days.”
― Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker: A Memoir