Tom Petty died last night. I heard the news of his passing as I was traveling down a Greensboro street with Sirius XM radio cranking out some classic vinyl enjoying a sunny day with a warm fall breeze blowing through the open top of my Porsche. Upon hearing the headline from the DJ I almost had to pull over to gather my thoughts.
The morning had brought the news of a mass killing and hundreds of people injured while enjoying an outdoor concert in Las Vegas. That news had already put me in a somber mood just knowing that something like that could happen anywhere and it is terrible that people died listening to live music and doing what they love. But this news…it just hit me in the heart. I was stunned.
I was a fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the time his first album hit the FM radio waves in 1976. That is how we really used to find out about music. The radio and maybe a Rolling Stone magazine article at times. There was no music TV then or internet just printed articles and radio. By the time Tom’s third album “Damn the Torpedoes” released in the fall of 1979 I have vivid memories of holding that red colored vinyl jacket in my hand and watching the vinyl spin as I played several of the killer tracks off both sides for the students at the college I was attending. I was probably broadcasting to a few hundred at the time but it was great fun listening to the vast music collection they had on hand there. I can remember this like yesterday. It was a fall day in October, the album was brand new, and the weather was cool as well as sunny. A precursor to the winter which is a season I do not like at all. Much like today a winter in life without Tom Petty in it.
As the years passed I have managed to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers many times on several tours. I have blogged about some of the shows and some I never captured on the blog. I will link you back to some of those moments on my other blog location as they are on this blog but it is not as searchable as the old google site. The photos are fuzzy due to the era of digital cameras then…the megapixel rating was quite low then! I could have never gotten a 35 mm film camera into the venue so I did the best I could. Here is the link: http://downsouthradiohour.blogspot.com/search?q=tom+petty
There are so many moments of my life that I remember what was happening when I heard a certain Tom Petty song. I totally get what people mean when they say an artist is a part of the soundtrack of your life. Tom and his band will always be on the soundtrack to this one. Thanks for the music. You and your band were brilliant.
We got somethin’, we both know it, we don’t talk too much about it
Ain’t no real big secret, all the same, somehow we get around it
Listen, it don’t really matter to me baby
You believe what you want to believe, you see
You don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some
Tell me why you want to lay there, revel in your abandon
Honey, it don’t make no difference to me baby
Everybody has to fight to be free, you see
You don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
No baby you don’t have to live like a refugee
(Don’t have to live like a refugee)
Baby we ain’t the first
I’m sure a lot of other lovers been burned
Right now it seems real to you, but it’s
One of those things you gotta feel to be true
Somewhere, somehow, somebody must have kicked you around some
Who knows maybe you were kidnapped tied up,
Taken away and held for ransom
Honey, it don’t make no difference to me, baby
Everybody has to fight to be free, you see
