As explained in a Songfacts interview with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, Tom Petty wrote this as "You Rock Me." The band thought the title was a little ordinary and a lot cliché, but they liked the track so they recorded it and lived with it despite the title. One day Petty got the idea to change it to "You Wreck Me." Replacing one word made the song take on a whole new meaning. Campbell is credited as a songwriter on the track along with Petty.
"You Wreck Me" was the second single from Tom Petty's Wildflowers album, following "You Don't Know How It Feels." It's a solo album, but the Heartbreakers all played on it and Mike Campbell co-produced it along with Rick Rubin. Petty first released a solo album in 1989 with Full Moon Fever, which also featured some Heartbreakers and was co-produced by Campbell. At that time, he was also active with the Traveling Wilburys, where his bandmates were Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. As you've probably deduced, Petty was quite prolific; the Wildflowers sessions ended up with a surplus of songs. The ones that didn't make the album were included on the 2020 reissue Wildflowers & All The Rest.
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