Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)

What this video is

Released June 1981 as the second single from Hard Promises — Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' fourth studio album — this video arrived at the precise cusp of music video's institutionalization: MTV launched August 1, 1981, just weeks after the single's release. The clip thus occupies a liminal position as a late promotional film and an early MTV-era artifact simultaneously. The production emerged from a deeply…

Why it matters

This video is a landmark in early American rock music video production, demonstrating that a non-Hollywood filmmaker with deep musical intimacy could produce a visually sophisticated promotional clip predating MTV's formal influence. Its chiaroscuro approach directly influenced the cinematography…

The director

Jim Lenahan received an honors degree in Theatrical Scenic Design from the University of Florida (1973), then worked at Walt Disney World before Tom Petty invited him to California. He served as lighting and production designer for every Petty tour from 1974…