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Wildflowers
Tom Petty
1994
Simply put, the greatest love song ever written. I’m sitting here at 30,000 feet writing this on (another) flight home from St. Louis, and once again I’m listening to this song for inspiration.
But wait! Don’t I already have a Tom Petty song on this list?! Well, no I don’t. I have a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song on the list already; Tom also released three solo albums over the course of his career, including Wildflowers, and in doing so he gave me (and you, remember it’s all about you) the gift of being able to include two Tom Petty songs on the Top 100. What a giver, that Tom Petty. (I was sad that nobody picked up on this distinction in their Top 20 guesses but did think I would have selections from both Eric Clapton and Derek & The Dominoes in there. 🙄)
But before talking about this song, let’s talk a little more about Tom Petty himself. Even choosing one song from Tom Petty the solo artist was challenging. I mean, if this was my straight Top 100 songs and I was able to take multiple songs from the same artist, I seriously would have had HALF of the Top 10 filled with Tom Petty songs — this, Free Falling, American Girl, You Wreck Me, and I Won’t Back Down. Crazy! The man was an absolute treasure, which is why he comprises my other single life regret: not taking my family to see him live in concert before his passing. We were just getting to that stage when the kids were all old enough to start taking them to concerts, and I had considered going to his show in Berkeley the month before he died and I thought, “nah, we can wait until he comes through the next time.” There was no next time. Which is one of the reasons that when chance to see a Taylor Swift or a Coldplay or a Lady Gaga show as a family arrives, I’ve jumped on those opportunities.
I am, however, happy to say that I did see the man perform live, back in June 1995 on the Wildflowers tour, just days before graduating from high school. One of the greatest concert experiences of my life, honestly. If you saw Tom Petty live, you heard exactly the same sound that you heard on his studio albums. Same voice, same rhythm, same harmonies, same everything. That’s hard to pull off!
In the end, though, this is my favorite Petty song ever and as I said, I think it’s the greatest love song ever written. It’s also the lead track on one of the greatest albums of all time, easily top 5 for me. You have to know a bit of the backstory to this one to appreciate some of the significance (and you should absolutely watch this doc about the making of the album). Tom was mentally going through the process of what would turn out to be a painful divorce from his wife of many years. And for the longest time, I thought this song was about his wife when he sang in the chorus, “You belong among the wildflowers . . . You belong somewhere you feel free,” which is just one of the coolest lyrics ever written in a rock song. But now I wonder if he was writing that for himself?
Once again, I must recommend that you listen to this one with headphones on. There’s a lot of layers and texture going on here (naturally, given a Rick Rubin production) that you just don’t get with a casual listen. Anyways, I’ve said enough, other than to conclude with, one day I will learn how to play guitar and this will be the first song I learn and will sing it for Tiffany on our 77th wedding anniversary.
Other Songs Considered:
Here are my Top 75 Tom Petty songs. Why 75, you ask? Because I couldn’t limit myself to just 50 songs. He was that good.