In a November 2003 interview with Songfacts, guitarist Mike Campbell explained the song's origins: "You Got Lucky" was written to a drum loop.

Sort of a surf guitar with a tremolo arm, like a Clint Eastwood movie, a Good, The Bad And The Ugly kind of thing.

[4] Cash Box said that "smoldering synthesizer and guitar melody sets the moody scene" and that there is a "sharp edge" to Petty's vocal, making him sound "earnest and convincing.

"[6] Petty felt the video was "a real groundbreaker," and stated that he and the band wrote the treatment themselves, borrowing heavily from the post-apocalyptic look of Mad Max 2, released in 1981.

[7] Directed by Jim Lenahan, the video begins with Tom Petty and Mike Campbell happening upon a black tent in front of the Vasquez Rocks after riding in a hovercar (from the television series Logan's Run).