Bob Dylan / Tom Petty / 2:56
Musicians: Bob Dylan: vocals; Tom Petty: guitar; Mike Campbell: guitar; Benmont Tench: keyboards; Howie Epstein: bass; Stan Lynch: drums; Philip Lyn Jones: congas; Carolyn Dennis, Madelyn Quebec, Elisecia Wright, and Queen Esther Marrow: backup vocals / Recording Studio: Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, California, June 19, 1986 / Producers: Tom Petty and Bob Dylan / Sound Engineer: (?)
“Got My Mind Made Up” was written by Bob Dylan with the assistance of Tom Petty (before or at the beginning of the True Confessions Tour). Petty and his band also recorded the song during the sessions for his album Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough), released in 1987. “Got My Mind Made Up” was excluded from the final track listing, but was officially released on the Petty box set Playback in 1995.
A comparison between the two versions reveals Dylan’s crucial contribution to the text. In Tom Petty’s version, the tale can be summarized as nothing more than a lovers’ quarrel. By contrast, Dylan gives this awkward couple’s relationship a more evocative dimension than a simple breakup, as the harsh comments addressed to the ex-girlfriend show: “Well, I gave you all my money / All my connections, too”; “Well, if you don’t want to see me / Look the other way.”
A demo of “Got My Mind Made Up” was cut on May 19, 1986, at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Exactly one month later, the final cut was made at the same facility. Dylan and Petty were accompanied by the members of the Heartbreakers, including Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Howie Epstein, and Stan Lynch. This is an excellent rock song, Bo Diddley–like, with a formidable rhythm section of bass, drums, and rhythm guitars giving full force to the song. The Delta blues riff played on bottleneck is superb, and the lead guitar with its very pronounced vibrato is irresistible. The sound of the song is one of the richest on the entire album, probably due to the absence of a prominent synthesizer and other metallic-sounding digital effects.
The first public performance of this song was at a concert in San Diego, on June 9, 1986, ten days before the recording session. Dylan was accompanied by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!