Rocker Tom Petty in 5 songs

Five months ago, on October 2, 2017, singer Tom Petty went to join Chris Cornell and Chuck Berry at the rockstars' star-studded Garden of Eden. 

He was briefly gravedigger, then eternally guitarist, and singer. He founded the band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976, and they have their star landlocked in the Wall of Fame, like a mocking cigarette spark that won't go out.

He was a dandy, he was a rockstar. His songs are feel good but emotional; His music videos are crazy. He was musically inspired by Elvis Presley, and the Beatles, without really sounding like any.

Tom Petty is the father of two children, and many more songs. The selection of only five of them was a heartbreak but it's kind of the Tom Petty effect, isn't it?

1. DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE
   1984-85, Southern Accents

   Immersed in the world of Alice in Wonderland, the clip almost looks like bright Marilyn Manson. Tom is the Mad Hatter, and Alice, transformed into a cake, is eaten. 
   The story behind this visually quirky track is crisp. Tout first because Don't Come Around here No More is a collaboration with David A. Stewart, from the group Eurythmics. 
   
   After a concert by Eurythmics, Stevie Nicks of Fletwood Mac invited him to a party at her house. David Stewart didn't really know who Stevie Nicks was, but came anyway. Stevie had parted ways with Joe Walsh of the Eagles the day before. David Stewart went to bed in a room, but woke up around 5 a.m. And for good reason, Stevie Nicks was in the room, trying on Victorian style clothes. The next morning, she told Joe Walsh not to come to her house anymore, and her words dubbed the song "Don't Come Around here No More."  David A. Stewart says he remembers Stevie Nicks' fittings in the middle of his night as a scene from Alice in Wonderland. 

   There are evenings not to be missed, we get good songs out of them. Still, your name is David A. Stewart, and play with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. 

2. YER SO BAD
   1989-90, first solo album Full Moon Fever

   It's the story of a guy, and sisters who marry a hard-working city dweller. She divorces and dates a singer. The guy wonders which of the two may well be worse. The first husband tries to kill himself. And the guy thinks that it won't happen to him, that he has someone who will save him ("you"), and then that this world is crazy, and then that you're so bad.

   The chorus makes you want to speed down the highway, run endlessly on the beach and turn on yourself, barefoot in your living room. All this in just over three minutes.

3. A FACE IN THE CROWD
   1989-90, Full Moon Fever

   Of adorable sweetness and delicacy, the piece tells the story of a romantic relationship. A Face in the Crowd is what every Love is before you see it with the bottom of your heart, and you fall madly in love with it. 
   
   A Face in the Crowd is also a 1957 film directed by Elia Kazan.
   
   
   

4. FREE FALLIN'
   1989-90, Full Moon Fever

   I remember exactly the first and last time I heard this song, during Tom's lifetime. The first time was several years ago. I had found in my YouTube suggestions a live video called "Tom Petty & Axl Rose – Free Fallin' ". Suffice to say that the prospect of observing and hearing a 4.26-minute live simultaneously projecting Tom and Axl on my screen was a place of celebration. A bit like a nutella-speculoos pancake. It's not two-in-one, it's both together, and it's not always better, but always good.And this Free Fallin' live was. 
   Axl Rose makes his Axl Rose and gesticulates, hops, while Tom Petty contrasts: he remains calm and confident. 

   The last time was five months ago. I was in an Irish bar in Helsinki after an Arch Enemy concert. From the first notes played on the radio, I recognized Free Fallin', and I stopped the time the moment of the song to better enjoy it. It was October 1. The next day, I heard the news of Tom Petty's death on the radio. It was the last free fall.
   
   "Free Fallin '" was in the top 200 of Rolling Stones magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.

   
   
   

5. LEARNING TO FLY
   1991, The Great Wide Open

   I saved this one for last, because it's by far the best. Listening to Learning to Fly is like throwing star confetti in the face of the world, exactly in rhythm with guitar riffs. 

   Tom Petty claimed to have been inspired by the interview seen on television of an aviator for the lyrics. The pilot said "It's not so hard to learn to fly, the hardest part is to go back down" ["Coming down is the hardest thing"]. The musician added that the lyrics also evoked the Gulf War, and the images he had seen on television ["and the rocks might melt, and the sea may burn… "]. Tom Petty envisioned Learning to Fly as a redemption song.  

   Wherever Tom Petty is today, I am sure that he is flying around the clouds, without the fear this time, of coming down. 

    

"Music is probably the only real magic I've encountered in my life."

Tom Petty.