Episode 53: Tribute to Tom Petty
Links
Transcript
Transcript
Time Crisis, back once again.
So much to talk about, but the most important thing is Tom Petty.
She's a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus, in America too.
She's a good girl, crazy about Elvis, loves horses, and her boyfriend too.
It's a long day, living in Reseda, there's a freeway, running through the yard, and I'm
a bad boy, cause I don't even miss her.
I'm a bad boy for breaking her heart.
And I'm free, free falling.
Yeah, I'm free, free falling.
Time Crisis.
Crank it, bro.
Time Crisis, October 8th, 2017.
Back in the room with a married man.
I'm wearing a ring.
Are you?
You're actually wearing a ring?
Let me see.
Simple gold band.
Oh wow.
You got that band of gold.
Totally.
So you guys like, went to a ring store?
How does it work?
I went to the Tiffany's in Pasadena.
The Tiffany's?
Yep.
That's off brand.
Is it?
Tiffany's.
That's like most on brand, brand, what?
What do you mean?
For you.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
What am I gonna do, go to like a pawn shop?
I guess so.
Yeah, pawn shop in Reno on a road trip.
Right.
That'd be more on brand for me.
I mean, well it's a simple band of gold.
You could get that anywhere.
Yeah, I don't know.
I went over to like, Hannah was like, you know what?
If you're gonna get the band of gold, don't mess around.
Let's not f*** around.
Let's just like make it classic.
A name you can trust.
Spent a couple hundred more than I would have elsewhere.
Right.
Anything inscribed on the inside?
I think Tiffany's.
So I'm wearing the brand.
Wait, it says Tiffany's on the inside?
Wait, hold on, hold on.
Let me take this off.
I think.
I can't even read it, man.
But it says something on the inside?
Yeah, Tiffany Co.
So I'm just wearing this brand adjacent to my skin at all times.
So now if we did like one of those magazine like break down the look for you, Jake, it'd
be like homemade Grateful Dead t-shirt, pair of Lee jeans, New Balances.
Gray polar fleece.
A gray polar fleece.
North face.
A North face polar fleece and a Tiffany's gold ring.
And an old minivan.
Yeah.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
So we're listening to Bob Dylan, Man and Me.
Right, because this is from your wedding playlist, which is we now have up on Apple Music.
Jake's wedding playlist.
Literally you put up the playlist that you made for your own wedding.
Yeah, my iPhone was plugged into the PA system the entire wedding.
Just, you know, playing for a few hours.
So you didn't hire a DJ.
Nope.
Golden oldies.
Tasteful palette.
This may be Bob's sweetest song.
It's a great song.
This actually is the epitome of tasteful palette.
Oh yeah.
And also it's in Big Lebowski.
Yeah, I mean also that association.
Favorite movies of all time.
You had a small wedding.
Was there dancing or was it more just like a little dancing?
So yeah, it was a small wedding.
It was 20 people.
It was a few friends and then parents and aunts and uncles.
So it wasn't like a raging dance floor, but we did a first dance.
Yeah, what was the first dance?
The first song on the playlist, the Elvis song.
The Wonder of You.
Yeah, sort of like late Elvis.
This is like Vegas Elvis?
Yeah.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the floor.
Mr. and Mrs. Jake Longstrip.
You got it.
I love this palette too, man.
Hannah's mom loved this choice.
Everyone else was like, "Come on, man.
That was corny."
Dave was just like, "Mm."
Not tasteful.
He was like, "Late Elvis.
I don't know.
Okay."
And you dance for the whole... and then everybody joins you?
Yeah, yeah.
We dance for the entire song.
But here's the thing.
This has a great James Burton guitar solo in it.
It's two minutes, 15 seconds.
So it's like in and out.
But it's also kind of up-tempo slightly.
So it's not like a painfully slow, plodding dance.
And then after that, we went into some other up-tempo oldies.
And then the old folks got out on the floor and danced for a little bit.
The dancing was like 30 minutes.
Over at 930.
Great.
So mostly just conversation, cracking a cold one.
That was more the vibe?
Yeah.
It was great.
Great food at the Inverness Yacht Club, which is a beautiful old boathouse that juts out
into Tomales Bay.
In Northern California.
Yeah.
Great weather.
It was like 70, light breeze, sunny.
Nice.
Beautiful.
We came in in a boat.
Because you got actually married on a dock.
Yep.
Yeah.
And then everyone was gathered at the end of the dock.
And then we made our entrance in this little rowboat with an outboard motor on it.
Yeah.
And dad's friend Tom was wearing a suit and a captain's hat.
And brought us in.
We got out of the dock and then he just sped out.
Amazing.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
You love me as you do.
That's the wonder.
Oh, what a boat.
I guess I'll never know the reason why.
So Jake, we need to think about something vaguely uplifting, at least something proactive
or things that we can do.
You received a listener email about Puerto Rico.
I did.
Let's read it.
Okay.
Hi, Jake.
I'm Kamiya, pronounced like the Hall & Oates song, Kamiya.
Her name is spelled with one L. The Hall & Oates song is spelled with two Ls, like Kamiya.
Let's listen to the Hall & Oates song so that we know.
Very soundless.
Kamiya.
Okay.
Okay.
So neither Camilla nor Kamiya, Kamiya.
It's almost like chameleon.
Right.
Okay.
Hi, Jake.
I'm Kamiya from Puerto Rico.
I'm also a longtime Time Crisis listener.
I know there's a very slim chance of you reading this, and I feel strange writing to your email
as I imagine everyone who writes to you about TC feels.
I should let the listeners know they don't need to feel strange about writing to my email
about this, but Puerto Rico needs help.
About a week ago, Puerto Rico got hit by the worst hurricane in its history, Hurricane
Maria.
The country is a disaster.
Some towns have been completely flooded, while others have no way of entry or no communication
has been made with them whatsoever.
We don't know the exact number of casualties yet.
Puerto Rico's return to normalcy is very, very far away.
I finally found some signal to write to you guys.
So I was wondering if there is any possibility of you guys on the show mentioning these ways
that listeners can help if they wish to.
So we're going to tweet out from the Time Crisis Twitter account links for people to
donate money.
Some of these organizations.
Yep.
I donated to one already that was like, it said the First Lady of Puerto Rico started
it.
It's so crazy sometimes knowing where to donate.
Like people, man, if people, I like GoFundMe is when you can just go direct to somebody,
but so I was just like looking for the best place to donate.
And I see the First Lady of Puerto Rico.
That seems to make sense.
But then there was like all these like on the website, it's like we want to thank all
our corporate sponsors and it was like McDonald's and all these like harsh places like that.
Look, if McDonald's is giving money to help the people of Puerto Rico, no problem.
Yep.
Just like kind of weird seeing like all these like corporate logos on the thing.
Did you Google that organization to like see if there was any weird chatter about it?
I didn't see any weird chatter.
I mean, it was on all like respect, quote unquote, respectable newspapers were like
hyping that one up.
But anyway, we're actually getting somebody from Puerto Rico giving us some ideas.
So we'll tweet that out to everybody, encourage everybody to donate.
Yeah.
So she gave us three or four links to send out.
Oh, thanks, Camelia.
I know the US has has way too much going on, but Puerto Ricans are suffering.
We are American citizens, too.
Just a small mention of our situation would mean the world.
Thank you so much.
P.S.
I've listened to every single episode of the show.
It helped me pass pre calculus.
I would always listen to the show while I studied.
It's also exposed me to a bunch of music I'd never heard before.
You guys are sick.
I hate to be writing under these circumstances.
I wanted to write about how that Coldplay song that was always on the top five is kind
of my success story or success song.
Long story.
Oh, you know, thanks, Camelia.
Maybe when things settle down, we'll get part to your email.
Yeah, I assume she's talking about I want something just like this.
Chainsmokers featuring Coldplay.
Great song.
Best Chainsmokers song.
I'm not sure about that.
I think Ghibli best Coldplay song.
Really?
You can make the argument that in yellow.
Yeah, something early.
Yellow's the best early Coldplay song.
Yeah.
Something just like this, the best late one.
I heard that at the gym the other day.
It's a good feel good song.
I mean, I was at the gym this morning.
Yeah.
They blasted November rain.
Oh, in its entirety.
The whole thing.
It was so good.
That's a long song.
That's a beautiful song and weirdly good for working out because it picks up at the end.
Yeah, I mean, it's just like, I mean, I'm into ballads.
I mean, I can rock out to a ballad.
Yeah.
I was sort of like, I wish Axl had written more stuff like this.
Maybe just had one in him.
You know, those G and R fans, man, they want the hard stuff.
They'll accept a ballad every now and then.
But I mean, that song is like beautiful.
Yeah.
Maybe the best G and R song.
It's a great song.
If you want to love me, then darling don't refrain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
You need some time on your own.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
You need some time on your own.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
You need some time on your own.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
You need some time on your own.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
I just end up walking in the cold November rain.
Andrew WK is getting everybody clapping their hands.
This is sick.
It's better than I remembered.
I remember I really making a egregious guitar f*** up.
I'm so bad at learning lyrics too.
I know I definitely--
Classic cover style.
I can relate playing in a cover band.
It's like Dave Giger, like, "I've got to memorize these lyrics."
Maybe we've got to get this back--
We've got to get this back in the Vampire Weekend live canon.
And then you do 8-minute version and jam it out.
You bring the Jerry vibes with the petty vibes.
This is sick, dude.
Oh, that's right.
[laughter]
Well, it wouldn't be an indie rock show without a little half step off.
[laughter]
That's great, man.
I was just sitting there on YouTube.
Vampire Weekend, don't come around here no more.
I love it.
Yeah, so we covered that, that one time at Central Park.
Just once.
Yeah, just once.
You know what it is?
Maybe it was self-conscious.
I always loved Tom Petty.
I always thought he was a f***ing poet.
But maybe early Vampire Weekend days, I had this weird feeling like,
"Oh, people think that we're like frat rock,
and people think that Tom Petty is frat rock."
I don't know.
God, I never would think of either of you guys as frat rock.
I think of like, you know, whatever, AC/DC or something, you know.
Yeah, who knows?
Maybe this is like weird, young--
It's interesting you say that.
Yeah, young and uptight.
Sure.
But--
Oh, and then one time at some event,
we covered the '90s Tom Petty song called "Walls."
It's on the "She's the One" soundtrack.
It was a single.
It goes, "Cause you got a heart so big, it could crush this town."
You know that one?
I don't think I do.
It's a good song.
Anyway, we had certain songs that we just play every show,
but I can't think of any artist who we ever covered three different times.
Wow.
So yeah, I've always loved Tom Petty,
and I think also as I've gotten older,
he definitely has become more of an influence in a way
because he doesn't wear like big metaphors or language on his sleeve.
You can easily make the mistake of saying that he's not at the level
of the Springsteens or the Dylans or whatever, but he really is.
And that's why "Free Fallin'" is probably the song I've come back to the most
in my life, just like thinking about the lyrics.
What do I really think this song means?
And he's one of those dudes who it's like it's actually very simple
and very profound, just as profound as those other guys.
No, you're right.
I mean, I think when I was younger, I gravitated towards the sort of like
stuff that was like on the surface level more edgy,
whether it was like the Beatles, which were sort of the vanguard of their day,
or whether it was like '90s alternative indie stuff.
A little more experimental.
Yeah, exactly.
Tom Petty's like quietly experimental.
He's a very modest artist.
Yeah, he's a mellow dude.
Smoked a lot of weed.
Just laid back.
Just a f***ing cool guy, you know?
Here's the next question from the email.
Would either of you consider yourself Pettyheads or casual fans/listeners?
I'll be honest, with Tom Petty, I feel so connected to certain songs,
but, you know, I'm casual, and yet with certain songs, I feel like very connected.
Nothing wrong with having an amazing greatest hits.
I mean, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steve Miller Band.
You know.
Billy Joel, Volume 1 and 2.
Yeah.
I mean, there's some artists where it's true, like the deeper cuts maybe don't hit as hard.
All good.
He asked, "Favorite deep cut?
Mine is 'Mystic Eyes' from the live anthology album,
which is a dead-esque nine-minute cover of an originally sub-three-minute Van Morrison song
that kind of makes eight-minute Cape Cod seem unambitious."
Wow, shots fired.
I like that he's challenging you.
Wait till you hear it, Zach.
Wait till we get that eight-minute Cape Cod out there.
Do you have a favorite Tom Petty deep cut?
I mean, a couple.
I mean, is even "The Loser" a deep cut?
I thought that was a single.
There's one from one of the later records called "Square One,"
which is like a beautiful ballad from like maybe '06, '07, somewhere in there.
Oh, that's cool.
2000s era Tom Petty.
Yeah, yeah, it's really beautiful.
Had to find some higher ground
Had some fear to get around
You can say what you don't know
Later on won't work no more
Last time through I hit my tracks
So well I could not get back
Yeah, my way was hard to find
Can't sell yourself for peace of mind
Square One, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me, my dear
It took a world of trouble
It took a world of tears
It took a long time
To get back here
[Guitar]
Try so hard to stand alone
Struggle to see past my nose
Always had more dogs than bones
I could never wear those clothes
It's a dark victory
You won and you also lost
Told us you were satisfied
But it never came across
Square One, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me, my dear
It took a world of trouble
It took a world of tears
It took a long time
To get back here
[Guitar]
[Guitar]
Square One, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me, my dear
It took a world of trouble
It took a world of tears
It took a long time
To get back here
Square One, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me, my dear
It took a world of trouble
It took a world of tears
It took a long time
To get back here
So like I was saying, you know,
it's kind of basic, but my favorite Tom Petty song is "Free Fallin'."
It's one that I've come back to over and over again in my life,
and I feel like I've really studied it.
Great video, I've studied the video too.
Actually, in the Vampire Weekend holiday video,
there's an homage to the "Free Fallin'" video.
Really?
In "Free Fallin'," Tom's like up on a roof in the first verse,
and there's like this girl's birthday party by the pool beneath him,
and he's like up there, and we did a shot like that in holiday,
where there's like a pool party, and I'm like up on the roof in a powdered wig.
It's a little connected.
Holiday
So one thing that I always thought was interesting about "Free Fallin'"
is just like, you know, when I was a kid, in my neighborhood,
I would hear this song, this just goofy, simple song that the kids would sing,
and a lot of kids I remember would always say,
"'Cause I'm free, free ballin',"
which for people who don't know, I don't know if people still use that phrase,
that just means you're not wearing underwear.
Are you familiar with this phrase, Jake?
I was typing an email today, and I was referencing the song "Free Fallin'" in it,
and the autocorrect went to "Free Ballin'."
Classic autocorrect.
And I was like, "Are you serious?"
I just, yeah, I remember a lot of kids just being like,
"'Cause I'm free, free ballin'"
That's pretty funny.
So everybody's been at a bar somewhere,
where there's just like a bunch of kind of like fratty white dudes,
just like, "Free Fallin',"
and you're just kind of like,
but I think it's a very misunderstood song.
I think it's almost like born in the USA style,
because maybe this is obvious,
and people will be like, "Everybody feels this way about the song,"
but I think the way that sometimes the song comes across in a bar or a grill setting,
Like a casual setting.
It's almost like the chorus is like triumphant in a way,
and then you really stop and think about like,
"What does 'Free Fallin'' mean?"
Let's break it down.
Let's start it.
This is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Produced by Jeff Lynne.
Love that.
Electric Light Orchestra.
Wilburys.
1989.
She's a good girl
Loves her mama
Loves Jesus
In America too
She's a good girl
Is crazy 'bout Elvis
Loves horses
And her boyfriend
He's coming out of the gate really hot.
Yeah.
Jesus, America, Elvis, horses.
You know what I love too?
In this song, he says "Free Fallin'" like 20 times.
He says "She's a good girl" twice in the entire song.
And it's so like burned in.
You're like, "That's 'Free Fallin''."
She's a good girl
That's all it takes.
Good lyrics.
You don't have to say it over and over again.
So, yeah, right off the bat, he's coming out big.
She's a good girl.
Loves her mama.
Loves Jesus in America too.
So she's a little on the conservative side.
Yeah.
Is this set in the '50s or the early '60s?
Great question, Jay.
That's how I interpret it.
That's a great question because in the video,
the first verse looks like it's set in the '50s.
And then the second verse is like suddenly it's 1989, L.A. in the valley.
Right, 'cause I remember the video.
There were kids skating in an empty pool.
Yeah, so that's '50s.
They're cutting it up on a half pipe.
Half pipe.
Oh, on a half pipe.
Up in the Hollywood Hills.
So this is kind of, I guess, for, you know, in the '50s,
that's the equivalent of what people would say now is a basic person.
She's crazy about Bieber.
She's a good girl.
Loves her mama.
That stays.
Loves Jesus in America too.
And Instagram too.
She's a good girl.
Crazy about Bieber.
This is something about Uggs and pumpkin spice lattes.
That's the stereotype.
Right.
She's somewhat skeptical about America's imperialism.
Loves Jesus and Hillary too.
She's real bummed out that Trump won the election.
Just a solid moderate liberal.
Yeah.
Didn't like Bernie.
A little too caustic.
Yeah.
Also, I love that this girl loves horses and her boy--
Okay, the one part of this song that confuses me is she loves horses and her boyfriend too.
Because maybe it's--I don't know.
Horses are a deeper love.
She's young.
She, in a deeper sense, understands that this high school boyfriend is like--
She's not going to marry him.
Well, then the question also--
It's sort of like she loves him, but it's like, eh.
Well, the question is also who is Tom Petty in this song?
Because we've got to listen to the--he's not the boyfriend.
We've got to listen to this part.
Drums drop.
This is where it turns.
This is just good-ass song.
No, it's--
He's talking about the girl, just describing her.
And you're like, okay, is this song about just good girls?
Yeah.
And then suddenly it gets a little more specific.
He's talking about her--
So specific.
Yeah, so he's talking about this very generalized American good girl.
Yeah.
Jesus America Elvis Horse's boyfriend.
The four horsemen--
Mama.
Oh, and Mama.
The five horsemen of American femininity, according to Tom Petty.
Circa 1961.
Then it gets really specific.
It's a long day living in Reseda.
So, okay, now we know where we are.
We're in the San Fernando Valley.
Yep.
You know, sometimes you take it for granted that everybody knows what that really means,
but maybe as people who spend a lot of time in L.A., we should explain.
As a kid, I didn't know.
I'm growing up on the East Coast.
I don't know what Reseda is.
Yeah, me neither.
I mean, the best way that I've--
This is like yet another comparison.
It might not help people, but I was always kind of understood.
The Valley is a little bit like New Jersey, where I'm from.
In New Jersey, you're across the river from the action.
Right.
I don't think New Jersey produces such pathos like the Sopranos and Bruce Springsteen
because we're just across the river from the action.
And in the Valley, you're just over the mountains from the action.
Yep.
So much stuff in American pop culture is set in L.A.
that probably people who aren't from L.A.
We heard all this stuff growing up.
So a Valley girl.
Right.
When I was a kid, people always talk about a Valley girl, and I was like,
"Oh, is a Valley girl just like a cool L.A. girl?"
But there's this other undertone.
It's a little bit like a Jersey girl.
She's cool.
Suburban.
But she's not from Beverly Hills.
Yep.
Like when they made that--Sit Rank Zappa had that song.
It was a little bit like making fun of her.
Absolutely.
And then if people might remember from the '90s in Clueless,
there's a lot of jokes about the Valley too
because Alicia Silverstone's character is from Beverly Hills.
So she's from like fancy, right in the mix, L.A.
Her dad's a power broker, lawyer.
And then there's like a joke about they go to a party in the Valley,
and it's like this whole thing, and then she gets lost,
and she has to call her brother and be like, "I'm lost in the Valley,"
and he has to pick her up at Circus Liquors.
So the whole concept of the Valley is that it's like a lower middle class--
I encountered Reseda again in Paul Thomas Anderson's film Boogie Nights,
and there's references to Reseda in that film,
and maybe even the Burt Reynolds character who's the porn director.
I think his house might be in Reseda.
In Reseda.
It's not Hollywood.
Yeah.
It's not fancy.
It's like a big suburban nowheresville kind of thing.
And just in case you weren't familiar with Southern Californian geography,
he follows up It's a Long Day Living in Reseda
with there's a freeway running through the yard.
And that's true is that in the Valley,
they weren't going to put up the 101 through Brentwood.
They put the 101 going through these kind of lower middle class towns.
So it's like, you know, it's got that Jersey vibe,
that kind of like--the way people talk about it,
almost like the [expletive] suburb.
So she's got a freeway running through the yard.
And then this is when it gets really emotional.
First verse is about a good girl, and I'm a bad boy
because I don't even miss her.
I'm a bad boy for breaking her heart.
So now we finally know who Tom Petty is in this song.
He broke up with her.
He's standing in the shadows.
Yeah, I'm still a little bit confused about who her boyfriend is.
She loves him.
Let's get--
Maybe he is the boyfriend.
Wait, wait.
Yeah, that's what I thought.
What do you mean?
Well, because it depends when does freefalling take place.
I thought he already broke up with her.
Yeah, he's saying, "I'm a bad boy."
No, but in the first verse he says she loves horses and her boyfriend too.
Oh, okay.
I see what you're saying.
Like if you broke up with somebody and you felt bad about it,
be like, "You know what, man?"
And you're like, "Come on, man.
It wasn't working."
You're like, "Yeah, but she's such a good person."
She loves Jesus and America too.
"Yeah?
Yeah, she's just--she's so great.
I feel so bad that I hurt her."
She loves horses and her boyfriend too.
And then your friend would be like, "Wait, she has a boyfriend?
A new boyfriend?"
No, I'm the boyfriend.
"Web, I thought you broke up with her."
You're speaking in third person?
"I thought you broke up with her.
You're the ex-boyfriend."
"Oh, yeah, I mean, you know, that doesn't make any sense."
Hmm.
Okay, I see what you're saying.
And I'm going to say that like the song is so--
Or he's--it's a scene shift.
Maybe.
The song is so economical and sparsely written that I have to give him the benefit of the doubt
that that was--that it's all intentional.
And then maybe he's not the boyfriend.
Because, you know, if you're kind of like a lazy songwriter, you might be like,
"It doesn't sing well for me to say, 'And she loves me too.'"
It's one of two things.
Either the first verse takes place in a different time period,
and then the second verse we're shifting to after he broke up with her,
or this is like--this like high school sweetheart type thing,
this girl that he loves so much, they had such a special connection,
he broke up with her because he's a bad boy.
He messed it up. He hurt her.
And now a year later, he's talking about her, and she's got a new boyfriend,
but he's kind of a herb, and Tom Petty is like kind of thinking about how, like, damn.
So where's he falling to? He's free falling.
Well, so then we finally get to the chorus.
♪ And I'm free, free falling ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm free, free falling ♪
Classic chorus.
Okay, so this is where my point is that I feel like it's somewhat misunderstood,
and I'm sure a lot of people are listening and be like, "No, it's not misunderstood."
That's exactly how I've heard it,
but I just always had this feeling that people sing along to that chorus
in such a triumphant way.
Like, "I'm free."
But that's the whole point to me of the chorus is that it's, "And I'm free."
Normally when you say, "I'm free," it's a liberating feeling.
This is America. We pride ourselves on freedom, individual liberty.
Yeah.
But to me, the whole point of this song is that this is about the dark side of freedom.
It's not a celebration of freedom.
He says, "And I'm free." It doesn't feel good to be free falling.
Right.
The whole title of the song, "Free Falling," that's like f*cked up.
That's like your life's in a tailspin.
You're unmoored.
And I think that's some real sh*t.
I think that the American obsession with freedom--
we like to think that freedom is just something you fight for,
and then once you have freedom--
you know, like when we talk about war, freedom isn't free.
As if that's the equation, that it's like, "Freedom is, of course, a good thing."
Gotta go 7oz murder people to get it.
But once you have it, it's a good thing.
Whereas Tom Petty, it's an interesting point.
He's saying he broke up with this girl, and he's free.
So in that sense, he no longer has a girlfriend.
He no longer has to pretend that he's crazy about Elvis and Jesus, too.
He can do whatever he wants.
So it's half a good feeling, it's half a terrible feeling.
He's free falling.
He's talking about life being in free fall.
It's harsh.
He's just walking around the mall aimlessly.
Yeah, in the video.
He's just at the mall by himself.
He's just like, "Guess I'll check out Hot Topic and Tape World."
Yeah.
Solo.
Should also point out that this was on his first solo album.
Oh, wow.
People always forget that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Tom Petty are two separate things.
Sure, sure, sure.
So in another sense, he's by himself now, 39-year-old man.
Was he 39?
Yeah.
This came out in 1989.
Oh, yeah.
So it's actually a really sad song.
He made a decision that maybe he felt like he had to do.
He had to break up with this person.
But you always carry that harshness with you.
That's the weird thing about growing older is that every decision you make is a trade-off.
Fork in the road.
Yeah.
There's no version of life where you make all the right decisions and you come out on the other end like perfect.
Oh, yeah.
You make the right decisions.
And people on their deathbed full of regrets no matter how well they choose because every decision
whether romantic or whatever, you make a choice for freedom, you got to pay the piper.
Regret.
To quote another PTA film, Magnolia, Robards on his deathbed, "Regret!"
Everybody has regret on their deathbed.
That's just life.
Sound free, free font.
All right, let's get into the second verse.
All the vampires walking through the valley move west down Ventura Boulevard.
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows.
And the good girls are home with broken hearts.
Yeah, it's crazy how he goes from hyper-specific regional details to like super universal human truths.
He's just like jumping back and forth over that chasm.
It's deep.
It's something he's really good at.
Yeah.
So all the vampires walking through the valley, again, the San Fernando Valley, he's being very clear that the song takes place in the valley.
Yep.
Move west down Ventura Boulevard.
That's kind of the main commercial drag in the valley.
Who are the vampires?
Are they the same as the bad boys?
And all the vampires.
Or maybe he's just trying to paint a picture of like the opening of the song is so wholesome.
Mama, Jesus, America, Elvis, horse, his boyfriend.
Right.
And then maybe this is about like how that innocence gets shattered through heartbreak or whatever.
Do the vampires just represent something kind of darker, more evil in the world?
Yeah.
Like you're a good girl having a pool party in Reseda.
But just a few blocks away on Ventura Boulevard are vampires.
There's a vampire.
Emotional vampires.
I'm picturing just like a really pale, like pasty, like goth dude.
Yeah.
Just like walking down Ventura Boulevard at like 90 degree heat wearing like a trench coat.
Just going into like a subway.
Let me get the six inch.
This good girl, she's like going to subway.
She just got her driver's license, drives a subway by herself for the first time, sees this dude and just like, what?
This is like gross.
Like he's no Elvis.
Just pasty like punk dude.
Yeah.
In the video they have some actual like, she starts hanging out with like goth dudes.
I haven't seen the video in like, you know, 20 years.
Great video.
So then he says all the bad boys are standing in the shadows and the good girls are home with broken hearts.
He's kind of like generalizing too.
Just like, look at this world.
You got vampires walking around.
Why can't the boys and the girls just be together and have a good time?
Because life's not like that.
People break up.
Things fall apart.
It reminds me of like you hear those stories of like, yeah, they got divorced.
They had a 32 year marriage and he just decided to he wanted to live by himself in an apartment by the golf course.
Yeah.
Free falling.
Right.
You know, it's just like, what?
All right, dude, I get it.
You always felt like your wife didn't support your golfing.
Now you can golf as much as you want, man.
How does that feel?
When I hear those stories, that really throws me off kilter.
You know, it's funny, too, is like when people talk about relationships, one of the classic cliches that people talk about is I don't want to die alone.
You're going to are like in a breakup.
You don't know how to you don't know how to do it.
You're going to die alone.
It's like in a movie or something.
You're going to die alone.
Yeah, I am.
We all die alone.
No, you don't have to die alone.
You could die surrounded by family when you enter purgatory and go to heaven or hell.
That will be alone or it'll be just you and St. Peter or Lord Satan.
But you don't have to die alone.
That phrase has multiple meanings.
But anyway, go ahead.
When you enter the afterlife, you might be alone.
But then you enter the black nothingness of zero consciousness and your body rots in the ground.
Oh, well, that's a pessimistic view.
I think then you'll be alone for about five minutes.
Then you'll meet your ancestors and go get a slice of pizza.
So people always that's this big fear that most people have.
I don't want to die alone.
Or it's a harsh thing to say to somebody.
You're going to die alone.
In movies, they always say that like, you don't know what.
So I can't imagine saying that.
You know what?
Yeah, you're going to die alone.
I mean, in movies, that's what I'm trying to accomplish here by breaking up with you.
Right. I'd rather die alone than live another eight years with you and then die when I'm 81.
I'm 73.
I'm going to I'm bringing up with you now we're divorcing.
I'd rather die alone.
Thank you. I mean, it's brutal.
The price of freedom oftentimes is somebody else's heartbreak.
Just like the price of American freedom is a lack of freedom for many people around the world.
Also true.
Maybe that's what Tom was thinking about.
But, yeah, so this idea of dying alone, like to be in your 60s or 70s and be like, you're rolling the dice hard.
Yeah, because you might not meet somebody else.
And you're like you're saying yourself, I'd rather die alone.
I'd rather just I don't know what you read.
Yeah, I play golf, watch TV.
Even like the most like bawling social people in their 70s.
Their social calendar is not morning to night packed.
Nope.
OK. Let's get in the third verse.
Free. Free.
Oh, this part's so dope.
I wonder if Jeff Lynn's singing in there.
Oh, it might be.
Such a simple interlude.
It's kind of slow, too, when you really think about it.
The snare.
Military drums.
Oh, he wants to go to L.A.
Right over Mulholland.
Well.
That's my favorite verse.
It also makes me think of Lebowski to bring it back to the beginning of the show when the dream sequence when the dude is on the carpet.
He's going over L.A. and all of a sudden he just free falls.
Yeah.
Fade into like the weird bowling alley nightmare.
Oh, yeah.
OK, so here he says, I want to glide down over Mulholland.
So, again, to listeners who are not familiar with L.A. geography, every verse has something about L.A. geography.
So she lives in Reseda.
That's in the valley.
That's across the mountains from L.A.
Talks about Ventura Boulevard.
That's also in the valley.
That's a commercial thing.
Now, Mulholland is interesting because Mulholland is the street.
There's like Mulholland Drive.
People probably heard of the David Lynch movie.
That's a famous L.A. street.
Really what it is, if you look at L.A., it's like L.A. is this big flat expanse and then you have mountains.
Santa Monica Mountains.
And then you have the valley on the other side.
So at the very top of the Santa Monica Mountains is a street called Mulholland.
It snakes along the spine.
It's, yeah, the very top.
In some ways, you could call Mulholland the dividing line between Los Angeles and the valley.
So when he says, "I want to glide down over Mulholland," he's talking about crossing this line between L.A.,
the glittering city of dreams, and the valley.
The drab suburbs.
Drab suburbs.
Okay, so it's interesting.
You were saying that he's saying he wants to go to L.A.
This is one thing that I had.
Tom is a dude, or the narrator, let's call him Tom, is a dude from the valley.
High school sweetheart.
She's a good girl.
And then he's a bad boy.
Cheats on her or whatever.
He breaks her heart because--and at first he doesn't even miss her because he just wants freedom so badly.
He knows she's great, but he just can't hang.
And then he goes into free fall.
So I'm kind of picturing in a way that she's stuck back in the valley with the vampires and stuff,
and maybe he moved to L.A. or something.
I'm almost picturing like--this is not the story the video tells.
He started a band.
He's playing.
I'm almost picturing that, that like she's this good girl who likes Elvis.
She's with this dude.
He just unceremoniously dumps her.
She thought they were going to be together forever.
He unceremoniously dumps her because he's pursuing bigger dreams.
He's starting a power pop band in L.A.
He's starting a power pop band.
Playing gigs on the strip.
He's playing gigs on the Sunset Strip.
He crosses Mulholland, the dividing line.
He's in the city now, and he's living that freedom.
But sometimes at night when he gets back from a sick gig,
Benmont Tench ripping it up on the keys,
now things get quiet.
He has a kind of dark night of the soul, and he thinks,
"Wow, it's been pretty cool moving to L.A. and having to start a power pop band,
but as free as I feel, sometimes I almost feel like I'm free falling.
This is all happening so fast.
It's weird.
I'm a--and then he says, "Maybe I'm a piece of [bleep]."
Like he just signed a big record deal, and then he thinks back to the girl back home,
and he's like--everybody's telling him, like, "Tom, you're so great.
Love your new power pop aesthetic.
It's a little classic rock, a little new wave."
I'm hearing some Dylan in there too.
I'm hearing a little Dylan in there.
He kind of taking me back to the birds.
And everybody's pumping him up.
Big Gene Clark fan.
Yeah.
Stan Lynch just killing it on the drums.
I hope he's your drummer forever.
And he's getting hyped up, and then he has this dark night of the soul
where he's like--thinks back to this girl whose heart he broke.
He's just getting back to his apartment, opening that fridge, just the jar of mayonnaise.
Right.
Exactly.
That's it.
Single Budweiser.
Right.
Five of the six beers in the six-pack gone.
That's like the symbol of male freedom in America is like a [bleep] fridge.
Yeah.
Just filthy [bleep] fridge.
All right, man.
You want to go be a bad boy?
You want to break up with a nice girl?
You want to move to L.A.?
You want to go be a rock star?
Okay.
That probably feels pretty good when you're up on stage with Mike Campbell next to you.
But what about when you get home to that empty apartment
and just look at that jar of mayonnaise?
Then maybe recede doesn't seem that bad.
I also love--I love in songs when people go between the general stuff and then "I."
Tom Petty's really good at that too.
I feel like WAC songwriters, it's "I, I, I, I."
Yeah.
And he knows how to kind of paint a scene and then get personal again.
So with this kind of emotional final verse, now he's really telling us how he feels.
Because in the beginning he said, "I'm a bad boy. I don't even miss her."
Yeah, right.
We know you miss her, Tom.
Stop frontin'.
So now he's saying, "I want to glide down over Mulholland."
I'm picturing him, apartment on the Sunset Strip,
thinking back to that girl over the mountain.
And he almost is envisioning a big Lebowski-esque dream sequence
where he flies up over the mountains, glides down over Mulholland.
He's back in the homeland in the valley.
She's only like 15 miles away.
Right.
Yeah, glide down.
Different world though.
Right, yeah, a different world.
It's like Jersey and New York.
Exactly.
He almost wants to return to the scene of the crime
where this broken-hearted girl was left.
He wishes he could glide down.
And it's a fantasy.
That's also why he says, "I want to drive up over Mulholland.
I want to write her a letter."
He's painting a fantastical thing.
I want to glide down over Mulholland.
I really picture him flying.
Yeah.
I want to write her name in the sky.
Now he's keeping it real.
He does miss her.
He's going to free fall into nothing? Is that right?
I'm going to free fall out into nothing.
Going to leave this world for a while.
So that's like really harsh.
World for a while.
That kills me.
Is he shooting up? What is he doing?
Getting hammered?
Oh, you know what? That's a good interpretation.
Yeah, and I guess Tom Petty was known to have had some problems
with heroin and stuff, so who knows?
Really? I didn't know that.
Yeah, you did.
Maybe not in this period.
Practice period.
I mean '70s.
I mean everyone.
Right, a lot of rockers had substance abuse problems.
So maybe he means that, but it's also like this is where I think
you kind of--to me, you really get the whole story of the song
is like he's almost like nihilistic now.
It's like so here's a guy who had the choice to be free.
He took that choice.
He got freedom.
He broke a heart along the way, and he's free, but he's free falling,
and you're kind of like, whoa, is free falling fun?
Is it like skydiving?
Is it worth it?
I think this is where he explains what free falling is.
I'm going to free fall out into nothing.
I'm going to leave this world for a while.
It's almost like he mainlined freedom, and it really makes him want to like
die almost or maybe like just get [bleep] up on drugs and like check out.
But it's like freedom is this like harsh thing.
Yeah, and the freedom that a rock star buys is extreme,
and it's cool that he doesn't lean on the rock star trope heavily at all.
This song could apply to someone that just has a normal gig
and just broke up with someone and is like aimless.
I love that too.
It's relatable.
It's not just like being a rock star is hard.
I live in a gilded cage.
Yeah, like that movie Somewhere.
Right.
Where that guy's just like a rock star and he lives at the chateau,
and you're like, do I care about this character?
It's depressing to be rich.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, this is like--
I'm a multimillionaire.
This song could apply to any human being--
Yeah, absolutely.
--who made a decision to buy themselves freedom,
but that carried with it an emotional weight.
And there's a dark night of the soul that probably everybody has.
It's like sometimes you're free, sometimes you're free falling.
And in this final verse, he's talking about when you have that feeling of free falling.
He wants to free fall out into nothing, leave this world for a while.
It's harsh.
You're right about it being similar to Born in the USA too,
where the chorus is like--at first read, the chorus is triumphant.
Right.
But if you think about it a little bit and take in the verses,
Born in the USA, and then I'm free, free falling.
They're both like very bittersweet.
Yeah, they're easy to yell in a group and feel like pumped up.
Anthemic.
Yeah, and I really feel like Tom wanted to let us know in this final verse
what free falling really means, and he leaves it on just such a dark note.
Because really, there's more chorus, but that's the final--
Damn.
That's the final verse.
I'm going to free fall out into nothing, going to leave this world for a while.
Sounds like suicidal.
Almost, man.
Yeah.
You broke that good girl's heart, man.
Now you're almost questioning the point of living.
♪
And then just kind of a good breakdown chorus.
♪
♪
I also just kind of love that this is like his biggest song.
He's this classic American songwriter,
and his biggest song is about the two sides of freedom.
I love that.
It's just like real American poetry.
So confident, too, to write something so simple and straightforward
and not try to make it arty.
Right, he's great at that.
The choruses are always straightforward.
I won't back down.
It takes courage to just do something really straightforward, you know,
and be like, "This isn't the hippest thing,"
but I guess he was 39 at the time, had nothing to prove, which is great.
Although it was his solo album, so he was stepping out on his own.
It's cool that his solo album did so well, and it's big.
It's like when Bruce made his first solo record without the E Street Band,
the Tunnel of Love album in '87--
Not his first, but his first studio record.
--which was a great record, but it was definitely like the energy
of the whole Bruce Springsteen project sort of diminished a little bit.
It wasn't like a smash hit the way Full Moon was.
Yeah, it's a great album, but it's more like Bruce being like,
"Enough with the big stuff. I just want to get more personal."
And Tom kind of had it both ways, which is very cool.
So we got Josh Ells calling in now.
Tom and Bruce.
Tom and Bruce. It all comes back to Tom and Bruce.
We got Josh Ells calling in, who's a journalist, writes for Rolling Stone,
among other places, who wrote a big story on Tom Petty a few years ago.
So he dug into his notes, and he's going to talk to us a little bit.
Somebody actually spent time with the man.
We're going deep.
Oh, yeah.
Now let's go to the Time Crisis Hotline.
[phone ringing]
Hey, what's up, Josh?
What's up, Evan? How you doing?
Not bad. Long time no see.
I should point out that Josh once profiled Vampire Weekend for Rolling Stone.
Yes, full disclosure.
What year?
That was on our second album, so it must have been 2010 or so.
Contra era.
Contra era of Vampire.
That sounds right.
So you wrote a big piece on Tom Petty when?
June of 2014 was when I was with him, and then it came out a couple months later.
Oh, so pretty recently, actually.
So when a Rolling Stone journalist is writing a profile of a major musician like Tom Petty,
how does it work?
Are you hanging with him?
You getting 30 minutes on the phone and then calling up Ben Mond to fill in the blanks?
How does it work?
I did get Ben Mond on the phone from Rome, which was pretty dope.
But no, we hung.
I should point out, full disclosure, that I do work mostly for Rolling Stone,
but the Petty profile is actually for Men's Journal magazine.
But it works the same way.
Basically, there was a publicist who was like, "Hey, this is when you're going to be there."
And I think I talked to someone from his management company, too.
It's this very sweet woman named Mary, who I think had worked with him for like 40 years.
And they were just like, "Show up at his house in Malibu, and then you guys will just hang."
So I ended up spending most of two days with him, probably like five or six hours each day.
That's a lot of time.
Yeah, he was just down.
I've actually found with a lot of these older, just the real legend dudes that they're actually super easy.
Because I think, A, he's from an era where, you know, almost famous era,
where people would just come hang for like a week.
So it wasn't to like get on the phone for half an hour or like meet for lunch somewhere.
It was just like, "Let's come chop it up."
And also, he just like didn't have much going on.
I mean, he was in between--he'd finished making the record that they put out that year,
and then they were still a couple months from touring.
So he was just kind of chilling at his house in Malibu.
That's cool that he let you actually come to his house.
Because, yeah, maybe you're right.
Like he came from this era where you get like Cameron Crowe jumps on the tour bus for a week.
So they're like, "All right, let's get to know this journalist."
Because one thing that I'm sure you're familiar with, and maybe sometimes you're in this position,
that I always find funny as somebody who's like, you know, done a few interviews
and knows a lot of journalists and stuff is when you read some big profile of a actor or a musician or something,
and it's like, "I met them in the lobby of this hotel where they ordered this."
And there's like these details about what's happening in the lobby and what they ordered.
And I remember when I was a kid and I'd read something and I'd be like, "Wow.
I guess they stay at that hotel a lot or something."
And then you just realize like they literally came to town to do a day of interviews.
One after another, they're sitting in this restaurant in a hotel they've never been at in their life.
And like the idea that you're taking meaning from that is so harsh.
Just like at the Bowery Hotel, I sat down with Florence and the Machine
as they chomped down on an artisanal broccoli rabe pizza.
And you're like painting a picture and you're like for them, they're like bewildered.
They like just got off a plane. They're like at some--you know.
That's their favorite hotel. You didn't know that?
And even if it is their favorite hotel, it still like says so little about them.
So anyway, as I've gotten older, you kind of read the profiles where you can tell the journalist
is doing their best to paint a picture when they sat down at a random hotel restaurant
for 45 minutes with a jet-lagged person who doesn't even know where they are.
And you kind of forget that the publicist is standing right there.
They're like, "They came down. They have no idea where they are."
And we just started talking versus something like this where you actually go see this dude's house.
You're literally seeing his environment.
Yeah, totally. I mean, I feel like way more often than I like, my job is trying to disguise
all that stuff that you were just talking about, like trying to make 45 minutes at the Bowery Hotel
with Lawrence and the Machine not feel like 45 minutes.
But yeah, I feel like a lot of my job is trying to hide that or just like right around it in a way,
disguise how artificial the whole thing was.
But yeah, he really was just open.
And I mean, he didn't--he wasn't like showing me around his bedroom.
And I didn't get to crash there, so it wasn't fully just like, "Hey, come--"
So he didn't give you a tour?
I'm trying to remember, actually. I feel like I asked, and he just kind of--I don't know.
He changed the subject somehow.
Also, the flip side of the old dudes is like they've done this so much that they can be really slick
about like sharing what they want to share and not sharing what they want to share.
Right. You'll ask a question, and he'll just say exactly what he wants to say.
Yeah.
So you get to his house.
He was back in his home studio just like rocking out.
He had a stepson who was like in his 20s, and his stepson had this friend who was like going through a hard time.
And Petty kind of took this kid under his wing and brought him out on tour.
It was actually really sweet.
I mean, it's those little things that really show you who a person is
and the fact that he was not doing this for any kind of public goodwill.
It was just like a nice thing to do.
So he kind of like semi-adopted this kid.
So Petty brought this kid out on tour, and then he got really into music and started playing guitar,
and he formed his own band.
And then so Petty was actually producing his stepson's friend's band.
Oh, that's tight. Tom Petty just willing to give his time.
Yeah. I mean, that was one of the things that I found super cool about him
was he did not seem jaded in the slightest, and he was like, "You know, I love doing this,
and I get inspiration from these guys."
And yeah, I mean, that could sound super corny or like saccharine or something,
but he was just psyched to be making music with some young kids
and that they were making rock music.
And I got the sense that anytime he could be in a studio with whoever, he was pretty stoked.
So what else did you learn about Tom from spending that time with him?
We heard that he's a pretty big stoner.
I mean, he wrote a lot of songs about smoking weed.
Yeah, he smoked a lot of weed.
So even when the journalist comes over, he's still getting high?
Yeah, I don't know how high.
I mean, I think he just sort of maintained a baseline high that maybe wasn't even high.
That was just like Tom Petty.
Smoking joints, pipe, bong, what, vaping?
No, he was vaping. I was really surprised.
He was vaping?
Yeah, he was vaping, and he was just kind of like--it was just sort of all day.
So all day he's just hitting that vape a little bit, but he's not noticeably high.
Wake and bake.
He talked about how he was kind of spacey sometimes.
I didn't notice because I had never met Tom Petty, so I don't know that I would have--
Oh, he referred to himself as spacey?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He actually said he stopped driving.
He's like, "I'm too spacey," while he puffed on his 15th hit of his vape pen that day.
Well, if you're hitting a vape pen 15 times a day, you probably shouldn't drive.
Tom Petty, he was such a cool, mellow dude.
He's such an icon of just a chill, cool dude, and it's great to hear that he's actually a nice guy too.
And I would feel like he was very underrated in terms of the music stoner canon.
People know that he smokes weed, but it's like he might have smoked as much weed as Willie Nelson or something,
but I feel like he wasn't out there throwing pot leaves on CDs or anything.
It wasn't part of his identity.
That's cool. Just a dude who smokes.
Yeah, totally. I was surprised by this. He's super into history.
He was a real World War II buff.
He knew a frightening amount about the JFK assassination, and he was a real conspiracy theorist.
He definitely was more than one dude.
Oh, for real?
Yeah, yeah. He had a lot of thoughts.
But he told me he's super into Thomas Jefferson.
He said one of his favorite things to do whenever he was in D.C. would be,
"So I'll wait until it's really late at night, and I'll go get Superstone and go sit at the Jefferson Memorial and just read walls."
So I just pictured Tom Petty sitting at the foot of that giant statue,
just super spaced and reading the wisdom of one of the founders of our country.
Can you imagine just like you're on an eighth grade school field trip, you and some of the bad kids sneak out of the hotel,
get past the teacher, somebody has a fake ID, you get some beers, and you're just walking around empty D.C.
And then you roll up on some empty monument or something, there's nobody there,
and then you just see this thin blonde man hitting a weed vape.
"Yo, is that Tom Petty?"
"Don't mind me."
That'd be sick.
We were kind of doing an interpretation of "Free Fallen" and talking about how
it seems like a very personal song that's about the price that an individual pays for freedom,
whether that's leaving a broken heart behind or whatever, feeling like you're free fallen.
But we were also talking about how that kind of intersects with this American idea of freedom.
What's the price that America pays for freedom?
Maybe that's how Thomas Jefferson felt after he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
America's free, but...
At what cost?
A cost borne by others.
Exactly.
So Petty was pretty down on America.
He just went on kind of a diatribe about how we were living in a very anti-intellectual moment,
and Fox News was like banana republic sh*t,
and he wasn't so optimistic about our collective ability to make smart decisions.
Oh, damn.
This is two years before Trump.
Oh yeah, that's even before Trump.
Well, that's good to hear, because we want to believe that Tom Petty's on the right side of freedom.
And also, one thing I want to say about Tom Petty, too, is like,
we always try to check ourselves on this show, like,
Jake and I are both born into Northeastern and liberal families.
It's not particularly hard for us to be like, f*ck Trump.
But one interesting thing about Tom Petty is like, he's like this deeply Southern dude.
He kind of wrestled with his Southern identity, because he famously did a tour for an album
that was kind of about the South, an album called Southern Accents,
and he had a Confederate flag on stage, because this album was supposed to be about Southern heritage.
And, you know, in the 80s, it wasn't quite the hot-button topic it was today,
or at least there wasn't the internet for people to discuss it in the same way.
And he's one of the few dudes, later in life he fully disavowed it, and he's like,
I shouldn't have done that.
Whatever that flag might mean to my heritage, it's not right.
It means too many other horrible things.
There really is like this deep compassion and complexity beneath the surface of Tom Petty, I think.
Yeah, totally.
If I remember correctly, him using the flag was like slightly nuanced.
So even in the 80s, he was trying to make a nuanced point, although obviously,
I'm sure to a lot of people, they were like, alright, even if that is the case,
we're not trying to see the Confederate flag on stage.
But at least, because you see other guys from that era, not to make excuses for them,
but just as a point of comparison, you have these other guys from the era,
some of these older classic rock dudes are some of the most like crotchety, racist,
just like, don't you tell me what to do, like kind of taking all the wrong things away
from like the rock ethos.
Freedom.
Yeah, like the wrong type of freedom.
So you probably shouldn't have done it in the first place, but like we will give Tom Petty
some credit for like actually reckoning with that and apologizing for it.
Well, thanks so much for calling in, Josh.
We really appreciate getting some more personal perspective on the man, Tom Petty.
Thank you guys for having me.
Alright, thanks for calling in, dude.
I'll have you again soon.
Have a good one, man.
Time Crisis.
I was talking with a friend of mine, said the woman that hurt his pride,
told him that she loved him so, and turned around and let him go.
Then he said you better watch your step, or you're gonna get hurt yourself.
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
Oh, I love you, baby, don't do me like that.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
Someday I might need you, baby, don't do me like that.
Listen, little kid, you see, maybe you will bury me,
if you were in a public eye, give it someone else a try.
You know you better watch your step, or you're gonna get hurt yourself.
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
Oh, I love you, baby, don't, don't, don't, don't.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
What if I need you, baby, don't do me like that.
'Cause somewhere deep down inside, someone will say,
love doesn't last that long.
I've had this feeling inside, night and day,
I never can get that easy no more.
Listen, little kid, you see, maybe you will bury me,
if you were in a public eye, give it someone else a try.
And you know you better watch your step, or you're gonna get hurt yourself.
Someone's gonna tell you lies, cut you down to size.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
Oh, I love you, baby, don't, don't, don't, don't.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
I just might need you, honey, don't do me like that.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
Baby, baby, baby, don't, don't, don't, don't.
Don't do me like that, don't do me like that.
Baby, baby, baby, oh, oh, oh.
All right, you ready for the top five?
I'm ready.
It's time for the top five, five on iTunes.
So we're gonna compare this week's top five with 1981.
Why 1981?
I don't know.
Because that was the year of Tom Petty's highest charting single.
Okay.
And what was Tom Petty's highest charting single?
The answer may surprise you.
You probably think it's Free Fallin'.
Yeah, or like Refugee or--
Nope.
'81, though, that's--Refugee's '70s.
'81, I want to think like,
The waitin' is the hardest part.
No, Tom Petty's highest charting single
was as a feature with Stevie Nicks.
Okay.
So anyway, the number five song in 1981,
Sheena Easton, "For Your Eyes Only,"
which I think this is from a James Bond movie.
My brothers will be born in two months.
Really?
From October of '81.
They was born December 17th, '81.
Mother Longstreth in her third trimester.
Last episode we did a fantasy about my mom being pregnant.
Really?
'Cause it was--
For you.
September of '76.
Yeah.
So we just got four years forward.
I'm gonna use this--
Or five years forward.
When I make like a Martin Scorsese-style
five-hour dirty projectors documentary,
and it's gonna be like--
1981.
What was your mom's first name?
Carolyn.
Carolyn Longstreth.
And then this is when we start showing baby pictures of Dave.
My mom driving like a late '70s model Subaru.
In Connecticut.
You think she was pushing a Subaru in '81?
I don't know.
Yeah.
We had a Subaru in the late '80s.
I don't know.
I mean, yeah, I do.
So schmaltzy.
Yeah, I don't-- What is this?
Sheena Easton?
Sheena Easton, For Your Eyes Only.
It was a James Bond theme.
Was she a disco star?
I don't know who that is.
Sheena Easton, I believe, was Scottish.
I think she did that song.
My baby takes the morning train.
She was friends with the prince or something.
I don't know.
Okay.
Schmaltzy, that was a weak era for James Bond, too,
early '80s Bond.
Can you imagine?
Who was doing it?
Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, I don't know.
Something about early '80s Bond is like really off.
'60s and '70s was tight.
'90s and 2000s.
And then late '90s, it came hard.
Brosnan, great Bond.
Solid Bond, yeah.
GoldenEye, great video game.
I'm going to say Brosnan was the second best Bond.
Connery?
Brosnan.
Craig?
Mm.
You don't like Craig?
No, Craig, more, yeah.
I'm like, more Craig.
I don't like the late period Bond.
It's too violent.
It's too like born identity.
It doesn't really have much identity, does it?
No.
It lost its humor.
It's like not fun.
Not enough tuxedos?
What, am I like off kilter here?
People are looking at me like I'm crazy.
Well, the number five--
The last one we went to was like Father's Mansion,
and he's like--
Oh, in Scotland?
Yeah, I was like, what?
I was like, what?
He posts up like some weird, belligerent hermit with a shotgun.
And it's like, this is-- what?
I don't like this.
It's losing-- it has lost some identity.
I want him sneaking into cool mansions and stuff.
It lost that touch of elegance that you liked.
Keep those movies PG.
Hey, when are we going to get an American Bond?
That's what I want to know.
God, who would that be?
The Rock.
Woo!
Seinfeld has dropped a bomb.
[LAUGHTER]
The Rock as Bond.
That would be so insane, just like a Bond reboot
where just The Rock is James Bond.
Is he doing a British accent?
No, he's just American.
He grew up in America, but then his dad
got transferred to Great Britain when he was like 14.
So he had like a fully solidified American accent,
never picked up the British accent,
and then just goes in to intelligence.
The Rock was a Rhodes Scholar.
[LAUGHTER]
He was a football player--
Love it.
--who got cut from the UT Austin football program.
And then he was a Rhodes Scholar, so he went to Oxford.
And he was so bummed out that nobody knew how to play football.
And they were like, why don't you try rugby?
And then he really started showing-- starting his stuff
on the rugby field, and he caught the attention of MI6.
Yeah.
And instead of an Aston Martin or like a BMW,
it's like a Jeep, red Cherokee or something.
Like a Hummer.
It's a Ford F-150.
Ford F-150.
[LAUGHTER]
Built tough.
He was going to a rugby tournament in Croatia.
Yeah.
And so MI6 hit him up then and put him under cover,
because there was some like weird drug dealing,
sex trafficking--
That'd be sick.
--gangster in Croatia.
And they sit down with him, and they're just like--
also, I love it on the James Bond movies.
It's like it's just this endless cycle of this guy
called James Bond.
The story is like nonsense.
Yeah.
It'd be cool if they were just like-- for once,
they made a movie that recognized the fact that James
Bond is like constantly being-- is this identity that's
passed from person to person.
And they're just like-- in Croatia,
at the rugby tournament, they're just like, Dwayne,
we want you to be the next James Bond.
He's like, me, the next James Bond?
I'm American.
I drive an F-150.
Are you kidding me?
They're like, yes, we have had many British James Bonds.
But this-- this mission requires somebody
with an impeccable American accent.
You have to be the James Bond.
It's like King Ralph.
Remember that movie where John Goodman
becomes king of England?
I missed that one.
Love the concept.
By the way, you've got to see American Made.
Oh, have you seen it?
I saw it.
It's great.
Oh my god, I'm dying to see it.
Tom Cruise has never made a bad movie.
OK, anyway--
Wait, what?
Tom Cruise has never made a bad movie.
We can talk about that in a different--
OK, OK.
Number five song in 2017.
How's the song still up there on the iTunes chart?
It's crazy.
Someone in October of 2017 is like--
[MUSIC - TOM CRUISE, "DESPACITO"]
Every time I go to the Grocery Store or the gym--
Right.
--or the 7-Eleven or the Jiffy Lube, I hear "Despacito."
Yeah, somebody in America--
I'm finally broken.
I'm going to buy it now.
At this point, it's like, yeah, who's buying it?
It's like a grandma who's like, finally
heard the song for the thousandth time.
And at 7-Eleven, just says to the sales--
You got me.
Do you know what song this is?
Yeah, that's "Despacito."
Can you write it down?
And then they get home, and they say to their kids,
do you know the song "Despacito?"
And they're like, yeah, grandma.
How do I get it on my phone?
You could play it on streaming service.
How do I get it on my phone?
I could buy it in the iTunes Store for you, grandma.
How much?
$0.99.
Oh, my god.
No, $1.29.
$1.20.
Oh, my god.
It's all right, grandma.
I got it.
Anyway, not much else to say about that.
Back to 1981, the number four song, "Journey."
"Journey" still on the charts in '81.
Who's crying now?
Oh, they're crushing it in '81.
Like, I think "Don't Stop Believin'" is '81.
Oh, really?
"Open Arms."
Early '80s were weird.
Very weird.
We've talked about this before, because we did a lot of stuff from '80.
Right.
First year Reagan elected.
Right, right.
[MUSIC - "JOURNEY" BY RAYMOND LAMAR, "JOURNEY"]
(SINGING) It's been a mystery.
Love that bass.
Yeah.
What is that bass?
I don't know.
It might be like a fretless.
OK, I thought maybe it was synth.
I think it's fretless.
[MUSIC - "JOURNEY" BY RAYMOND LAMAR, "JOURNEY"]
Double with the piano.
(SINGING) On and on the streets, a taste of bitter sweet.
You could run a fretless bass through effects and get that tone.
Yeah.
Let's hear it.
[MUSIC - "JOURNEY" BY RAYMOND LAMAR, "JOURNEY"]
(SINGING) One love feeds the fire.
One heart burns the sky.
One man who's crying now.
Two hearts born to run.
Who'll be the next?
That's like his-- that sounds like "Don't Stop Believing."
That's his signature little riff.
(SINGING) Run.
Two hearts born to run.
Run.
[LAUGHS] That's that classic Steve Perry.
Very distinct singer.
Great singer.
Not a member of Journey anymore.
Right.
Have you seen that doc?
No, I've heard that's a great doc.
Oh, my god, about them.
Their singer's a younger Filipino guy?
Yeah, he was in a Journey cover band.
That's sick.
In the Philippines.
And there's footage of them playing, like,
you know, local cable access channel,
like playing a Journey cover set on TV.
And he's just nailing the vocals.
Oh, my god, it's insane.
I mean, I do feel bad for Steve Perry
not to be in this band where he wrote
some of their iconic songs.
But I love that story.
Just like--
Oh, yeah.
--dudes coming together from different countries, you know?
It's beautiful.
Yeah.
The number four song--
I can't remember if we really talked about this one.
This is Logic.
Do you know who Logic is?
I don't.
What genre do you think Logic is in?
Rap?
Good guess.
This song is called "1-800-273-8255."
Do you remember it?
Oh, the suicide hotline.
Yeah, this is the suicide hotline song.
Right.
[MUSIC - LOGIC, "1-800-273-8255"]
I've been on the low.
I've been taking my time.
I feel like I'm out of my mind.
It feel like my life ain't mine.
Who can relate?
Woo!
I've been on the low.
I've been taking my time.
I feel like I'm out of my mind.
I saw some tweet kind of in the aftermath of Las Vegas
that was like some conservative dude weighing in
on gun violence and the deaths caused by guns.
And this guy's just dead-ass serious.
You know, first of all, everybody should recognize
that actually 66% of deaths by gun are actually suicide.
So, you know, like as if that's like a good point,
as if you could say 66% of gun deaths are suicide.
So it's all good.
It's all good, man.
And also, I was reading, there's so much information
that suggests that obviously there's times where people are--
of course, some people make a decision to kill themselves,
and maybe there's very little we can do about it.
You know, it's horrible, but like maybe it's impossible
to get the suicide rate to 0%.
But there's so much information that suggests
that a lot of people who are struggling with something
or depressed, they are feeling suicidal,
but the actual moment they choose to kill themselves
is kind of a split-second decision.
Impulsive.
And if you don't have a gun, the likelihood of you actually,
you know, going through with it plummets.
And there's a lot of information about places
that implemented programs like in militaries
where you're not allowed to have your gun with you all the time.
There's something like the Israeli military said
that soldiers couldn't take the guns back to their barracks,
and the suicide rate in the military went down by 40% or something.
I've read those stories too, like people that attempted suicide
and lived, a lot of them report like,
"Oh yeah, as soon as I was into that process,
like once I jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge
and was plummeting to my death, I was like--
I instantly felt this regret.
Yeah, it's a fully different category than like
the Dr. Kevorkian terminal illness style
where somebody makes that deep decision.
Anyway, the number three song in 1981.
Here we go.
This is Tom Petty's "Biggest Hit."
Sweet.
Now it wasn't--you know, it's a feature.
I also love that this song is Stevie Nicks
with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Was this on the Stevie Nicks' "Bella Donna" album?
Yeah, I think this was on "Bella Donna."
Dave's confirming.
Produced by Jimmy Iovine.
So this was "Stop Dragging My Heart Around,"
which Tom Petty wrote,
and then he decided to let Stevie Nicks have it.
That's right, this is in the doc.
[playing "Biggest Hit"]
Total Tom Petty song on all fronts.
That's Mike Campbell there in lead.
Yeah.
He low-key has a real distinct sound.
Oh, definitely, yeah, great guitarist.
Do you think Mike Campbell's the one playing
on Don Henley, "Boys of Summer"?
Oh.
'Cause I know Mike Campbell wrote that song.
Did he co-write it?
Yeah, it's very possible.
He co-wrote it with Henley, yeah.
Shout-out to Mike Campbell.
♪ I didn't know what I was getting into ♪
♪ So you had a little trouble in town ♪
♪ Now you're keeping something mundane ♪
Those harmonies are so tight.
♪ Stop dragging my ♪
♪ Stop dragging my heart around ♪
[playing "Biggest Hit"]
♪ Ain't that a thing ♪
♪ Ain't that a nothing ♪
♪ Ain't that a nothing ♪
♪ Ain't that a guitar on the MTV ♪
I love that, like, vein of '80s rock that's, like...
Post-Bob Dylan?
It's kind of like post-modern, like, gritty swamp music.
[imitates guitar]
It's not the tasteful palette of, like, '70s [bleep]
It's like that '80s kind of, like, "Mm."
Yeah, it's like Dire Straits.
♪ Baby, you could never look me in the eye ♪
♪ Yeah, you're buckled with the weight of the world ♪
♪ Stop dragging my ♪
♪ Stop dragging my ♪
♪ Stop dragging my heart around ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
Good song.
Yep.
Not my favorite Tom Petty song, but I'm glad he--
if that's his highest-charting song,
then, you know, that's what it is.
I love hearing their voices together.
Sounded great right now.
Yeah.
In the headphones.
Definitely.
I also like that on that album,
she also had another great duet.
Oh, yeah.
Leather and Lace with Henley.
Wow.
That must have been--
That's big, man.
Petty and Henley.
Yeah, and I think they all dated.
God, can you-- really?
Yeah.
She dated Henley?
Yeah, they had a little thing, right?
I don't know.
God, can you imagine that crew hanging out, like, '81,
just like--
Yeah, Dawn's coming over.
Tom Petty and Dawn Henley having, like, some, like, awkwardness
'cause they both dated Stevie Nicks.
Hey, Dawn.
Yeah, you can imagine that, like, Tom Petty's, like, super mellow.
Dawn's real icy.
Yeah, Dawn's just, like, all weird, and, like--
Yeah, maybe Dawn's, like, dating her now,
and he, like, sees Tom, and he's like,
"Why did you invite Tom?"
And she's like, "Because we're still friends."
And then Tom Petty's just, like, super stoned.
He's, like, smiling, like, "Hey."
"Hey, Dawn."
"Hello, Thomas."
And Dawn's just, like, thinking,
"Your music doesn't reflect any sociopolitical truths."
Yeah.
"My music really mines things deeper."
Oh, yeah.
"You're just writing some fun rock songs.
"I'm a serious artist."
"American Girl," very original.
Get back to me when you've written a "Hotel California."
Something of that ilk.
"The Last Resort."
Have you ever even written a "Last Resort," bro?
Have you ever commented on--
See, that's the funny thing.
It's like, "Last Resort," I love that song, too.
For people who don't know, that's the last song
on The Eagles' "Hotel California" album.
It's over-baked, but--
It's so--
Yeah.
It's, like, a little schmaltzy, but it's, like--
It is, like, a very pretty song,
and it's about, kind of, manifest destiny
and American--
Ambition.
Ambition and stealing the land from the Native Americans
and taking natural beauty and covering it
in, like, [bleep] little houses.
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus people bought 'em.
Jesus people--
But then you consider that to, like,
the elegance of, like, a free-fallin'.
Maybe we're giving too much credit to free-fallin'.
I don't know.
Anyway, the number three song
by the Stevie Nicks of our time,
Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do."
Yeah.
You know, actually, this makes me think about--
Imagine if Stevie Nicks had, like, a--
Like, got into some beef with, like--
Who would she got into a beef with in, like, 1981?
Chrissy Hynde.
And, like, released some single about--
How she and Chrissy Hynde got into some public beef.
Right.
And she was trying to call out Chrissy Hynde.
One for the ages.
Crime.
She's crying so hard.
Doesn't it feel like this song came out, like, a year ago?
I know.
Totally.
This song feels like it came out 10 years ago.
I've got a point.
I've got to make it.
I'm going to try so hard.
Oh, OK.
Last show, remember there was the right side Fred thing?
Oh, yeah, somebody emailed us about to point out that that's--
so they gave publishing to the guys who wrote,
um, too sexy for Marshall.
Yeah, we talked about that.
Yeah, I don't think they needed to.
OK, well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It seemed, like, unnecessary.
Right.
Pull up the right side Fred.
Yeah.
And go to a minute 45 seconds into the song.
It sounds exactly like Julian Casablancas.
Wait, OK, so you're going on and making a totally different point.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're saying I'm too sexy.
Yeah, yeah.
Sounds like Julian Casablancas.
You know what I mean?
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
Yeah, on the catwalk, on the catwalk.
Yeah, I shake my little tush on the catwalk.
You think that sounds exactly like Julian Casablancas?
Yes, I do.
No one's agreeing with me here.
I thought that was just, like, spot on Julian.
On the catwalk.
On the catwalk.
I also thought Julian was kind of doing, like, a Lou Reed thing.
Turns out he's doing a right side Fred thing.
I can imagine him being like, you know what I mean?
I mean, the rhythm could be in a--
Yeah, the melody is sort of, like, strokesy, too.
And I do my little turn on the catwalk.
OK, I kind of--
I do my little turn.
He doesn't sound like that kind of voice.
Yeah, he does.
I do my little turn.
No, he's more like, yeah, I do my little-- this guy's
got this weird, like, Euro campy thing.
I do my little turn.
It is, like, one degree removed from Julian, dude.
That's a crazy call, man.
People on Twitter hit me up.
If you think that that sounded like Julian Casablancas--
We should do a--
A Twitter poll?
Yeah, a time crisis Twitter poll.
You're going to get crushed in that Twitter poll, John.
I might.
But that 20% that agrees with me--
That 5%-- that 4% that agrees with you--
It means the world.
The number two song in 1981, Christopher Cross,
a time crisis favorite.
We haven't heard him in a while.
Arthur's theme.
God, this '81 is pretty good.
It's so schmaltzy.
Actually, the Tom Petty was, like,
the only kind of cool song.
The rest of it's so--
is this Irene's Car?
An Irene's Car kind of song?
Oh, for sure.
'81 seems like a really depressing year to me.
I do my little walk on the catwalk.
Last night, she said--
[MUSIC - ARTHUR CROSS, "BITTERSWEET"]
Yeah, I don't understand this music, really.
[MUSIC - ARTHUR CROSS, "BITTERSWEET"]
I mean, I know it's supposed to be a bittersweet song,
but it's, like--
it's bittersweet for me in a harsh way, too.
[MUSIC - ARTHUR CROSS, "BITTERSWEET"]
(SINGING) When you get caught between the moon and--
(SINGING) --the oxygen.
Well, OK, it's weird, because it's, like--
he's trying to, like, earnestly make his, like, personal art
that expresses his truth.
Right.
But I just associate this with, like,
being in, like, an elevator, or, like,
being in, like, a dentist office waiting room.
Right.
His personal truth went straight out of the studio
into, like, the dentist office.
It's like there's no--
I think it was kind of marketed as, like,
mellow, easy listening music.
It's just like--
he wrote some great songs, but--
I love Sand--
I mean, but even "Sailing," it's like--
(SINGING) --all of his life, his madness--
It's that you could have produced it slightly differently.
I think-- yeah, I think--
I think it's just his era.
Like, he made this album this year, so it sounds like this.
Right.
(SINGING) --living is like a--
Because if he-- yeah, if he had recorded this in 1971--
(SINGING) --self-made--
It would have been, like, Randy Newman.
It would have-- it would have been, like, Elton John.
Yeah.
Oh, totally.
(SINGING) --wanted to be--
Christopher Cross.
(SINGING) --a little bit--
The number two song--
I think we heard this last time in 2017--
Post Malone.
Mm-hmm.
He's become one of the biggest artists in America.
I love that.
I always like Post Malone.
This is "Rockstar," featuring 21 Savage.
(SINGING) --on the catwalk.
I do my little thing on the catwalk.
(SINGING) --rockstars.
I've been-- I've been--
I've been popping, popping.
Man, I feel just like a rockstar.
I feel just like a rockstar.
All my brothers got their gas, and they always
be smoking like a rockstar.
When me-- when me call up on no [MUTED]
and show up, man, them the chatas.
When my homies pull up on your block,
they make that thing go--
This is a good detail.
And I know that Post Malone plays guitar,
but in 2010, he learned to play the guitar
for the band Crown the Empire.
Not familiar, but he was rejected after his guitar
strings broke during the audition.
So this is a guy--
Weird.
He wanted to play guitar in a rock band,
but the Lord intervened, broke his guitar strings,
and said, I have something bigger in store for you.
That changed everything.
Also, why would you pass on someone
because their string broke?
It's not their fault.
Maybe they had, like, a long line of guys
who had been a--
It's just like--
--been a long week auditioning thousands of guys.
Thousands.
What was the name of the band?
Crown the Empire.
I'm not familiar.
Rockstar is a good song.
You still like it?
Yeah, I'm cool with that.
Nothing wrong with it.
It's got the Trump-era EDM palette.
It's not EDM.
No, I know it's not, but it's that palette.
Trump-era rap?
It's, like, creepy, melancholy, sad, beauty stuff.
The number one song this week in 1981
was Lionel Richie and Diana Ross' "Endless Love."
Also a soundtrack song.
So we had three soundtrack songs in the top five.
"Endless Love" is the name of the film.
♪ There's only you in my life ♪
All these songs are so depressing to me.
I know.
♪ The only thing that's right ♪
I feel like this would be in a commercial
where you see, like, abused kittens and dogs.
♪ You're every breath ♪
This just makes me think of, like,
semi-abandoned retail spaces.
Yeah.
Uh, let me get the, uh, 6-inch meatball combo.
♪ You're my life ♪
Art, is it cool if I take off early?
We haven't had a customer in about three hours.
Yeah, Pam, uh...
And, uh, I'm sorry to say
there might not be a bonus this Christmas.
I know you're trying to keep the diner open, Art.
It's just tough with all these Chipotles
popping up in our small town.
♪ You're my life ♪
The kids don't want a slice of pie
and a cup of coffee anymore, Art.
I mean, there's that darn olive garden.
There's that Chili's.
Sometimes having a family diner on Main Street
seems like an uphill battle.
But go ahead, Pam.
Go home.
Tuck your children in.
God, I hate this kind of music.
I mean, it's good. It's a good song, obviously.
Is it?
I mean...
I hate this music. It's great.
How is it number one?
How in good Christ was that number one?
I mean, it was a big movie.
Obviously, Lionel Richie and Diana Ross,
major artists.
Major artists.
Great artists, but that was...
♪ There's only you in my life ♪
Do you think that was the credit song?
Or was that in the film?
Like a love scene?
I don't know.
I think it also has to do with what age you are.
Where it's like, you have your Irene's car,
weird music, adult contemporary music
you heard in the backseat of a babysitter's car.
And I feel like whatever age...
The same way we could probably listen to some
schmaltzy music from the '50s
and it doesn't hit us in the same way.
I think if you're at a certain age
and you hear music like this, it's just like...
Or just like...
Being alone, watching TV in the basement
on a Sunday afternoon.
Or just like, you're in eighth grade
and you're sick.
You're just home on a Tuesday
at two in the afternoon.
Yeah.
♪ I'll hold you close in my arms ♪
Sitting with your grandma at the CVS pharmacy.
♪
CVS fantasies.
Yeah, for me this is that...
I wonder if for kids now,
they'll hear like, Chainsmokers
and just be like...
You know, like in 40 years,
there'll be some kids that are just like,
"Oh dude, you remember just being in the car
with your dad on just like a...
[bleep]
cold Sunday?"
During the Trump era?
During the Trump era, and just...
[bleep]
I want something just like this,
and just like this is blasting,
and they'll be like, "Oh dude, I know."
So depressing.
We should make a song like that.
It'd be hilarious.
♪ I want something just like this ♪
It'd be like 17 layers of Irony Deep.
Yeah.
Remember when like your grandma
would be blasting Despacito?
When you're like waiting for Chipotle?
Remember?
[laughs]
Remember Chipotle?
Oh my God.
Chipotle was so depressing.
Remember Mexican food?
Yeah.
[laughs]
You're feeling a really dark future.
This is a good story.
Everybody loves Cardi B.
She first--
So it's true.
This was the first--
People are saying that this is the first
solo female hip-hop song
with no features since Lauryn Hill.
"Doo-Wop."
♪
That's crazy.
20 years.
I could also just picture those kids in the future,
like some kind of like college--
Well, there probably won't be college in 40 years,
but whatever.
They're just like just entering the FEMA camp or whatever
and just be like--
This is also such like a song, be like,
"Dude, remember being like nine
and just like being at the doctor's office
with your mom and you'd like look on TV
and just be like President Trump was like on the TV
on mute in the doctor's office
and they'd just be like playing pop radio
and you'd just hear like--
Just be like, "Nine in the doctor's office doing this?"
♪
♪ Say, "Lil' Glo, you can f--k with me
if you wanted to.
These expensive pieces--
I have very distinct memories of driving a CVS
with my dad in the Trump era.
He'd rap every word--
rap along to every word of this Cardi B song.
You just picture like my father
just kind of with a smile on his face
holding the steering wheel and just saying,
"Lil' b--k, you can't f--k with me."
I just remember just being a kid
and just being like, "It's a weird world, man."
Like--
And now she's president.
Now Cardi B's president.
Yeah.
That'd be cool if Cardi B was president.
I don't like that song.
You don't like that song?
I don't get it.
I don't get why it's popular.
I agree.
It doesn't hit me on any level.
It sounds like a generic mixtape song,
like track four off of Cardi B's
"Street Sweepers Vol. 4."
Well, the beat is--
Look, the beat is somewhat generic.
There's a lot of trap beats that sound like that,
but she has personality.
Okay.
You don't think she has--
♪
You know, it might be one of those things
I haven't listened to.
Like, maybe it just hasn't unlocked
the thing in me that's like, "Oh, I get it."
Maybe it's the choir.
I haven't had that feeling in years.
[laughs]
That part of me is dead.
♪
I love that her voice is kind of scratchy.
Yeah, it's kind of hoarse.
Yeah, it's cool.
♪
Her voice has so much character.
Come on.
I'm not gonna fight you on that.
Okay.
♪
Not a fun song.
♪
I mean, it's a dark song.
Yeah.
The lyrics are dark.
The beat is very kind of, like, eerie.
It's so minor, that arpeggio.
♪
Oh, you know what that reminded me of?
There's this Ween song called "I Play It Off Legit."
Yeah.
It has the same arpeggio in the beginning.
Oh, really?
And they're, like--
and they're talking about this awesome shirt that they have
that their mom bought for them.
Let's hear this.
♪
Oh, yeah, almost.
This is the weirdest--
♪ Little [bleep] you can't [bleep] with me ♪
Dude, this has that same vibe.
♪ 'Cause if you wanted to ♪
♪ I was out with Pat ♪
♪ While she's shooting fish ♪
Okay.
♪ If you wanted to ♪
This is a haunting song.
♪ These is red bottoms ♪
♪ These is blood issues ♪
Somebody got to do the mashup.
♪ Talking to some jill ♪
♪ Hanging out, shooting fish ♪
♪ Trying to tell me something ♪
♪ I play it off legit ♪
[laughs]
♪ How did you handle it? ♪
Maybe Cardi B's a Ween fan.
♪ I played it off legit ♪
[laughs]
This song is 25 years old.
That's crazy.
This came out in '92?
Yeah.
Wow.
♪ I play it off legit ♪
Hold on.
I just want to end on one last thought about Cardi B.
'Cause I love this thinking about the kids in the future
looking back on this music now.
Yeah, yeah.
'Cause I just thought, like, we're kind of paying
all these scenarios, these memories,
and I was thinking how--
Remember the TV show "Mad Men"?
Mm-hmm.
You remember it?
Great show.
It's not made by somebody who really lived through the '60s,
but I guess Matthew Wiener would have been
a really little kid then.
Sure.
So to him, he's making this show that's kind of
almost like an alternate look at his parents' generation.
Yeah.
It's an interesting way of looking at it.
And one thing they would always do in that show
is end with, like, some dramatic pop song of the time
to, like, really drive home, like, an emotional point.
So I'm picturing just, like, in 30 years--
Wow.
--when somebody's making, like--
The show about the Trump era.
Yeah, the "Mad Men" show about the Trump era
with some kid who's, like, a--
Who's, like, seven right now.
--who's seven right now makes--
and there'll definitely be some part in it.
I mean, what would it be about?
"Silicon Valley"?
Yeah, it'd be, like, a really--
but instead of having, like, the kind of fun--
the goofiness of, like, the show "Silicon Valley"--
No, yeah, but it's dark.
--it'd be dark, and this would be, like,
about some kid growing up in, like, Palo Alto,
and there'll be, like, a part when they, like,
walk downstairs, and they see their dad,
who's, like, an Elon Musk-type dude.
Yeah.
And he's, like, cheating on their mom.
It's, like-- and this would be, like,
the final scene of, like, an episode
where they just, like, come downstairs
and just be like...
[laughs]
"Dad?"
And you see him just, like,
making out with a young programmer.
And the Cardi B video's, like, on an iPad.
And then just cut to black.
And then it's black!
Yes!
[laughter]
♪
Executive producer Matthew Wiener II.
Yeah.
Mark Zuckerberg Jr.
Mark Zuckerberg Jr.
Directed by Mark Zuckerberg Jr.
So you don't go easy on your father
in this new webs-- in this new, uh,
"Implanted Memory" series.
Late in life, my dad really
covered a lot of guilt
about the destruction that his company brought.
I'm not my father, man.
[laughs]
When Facebook was shut down
by the government in 2022.
Yeah.
And my dad did eight years in jail.
Anyway, that's our top five.
Good hanging.
We got to hopefully lighten the mood a little bit
in this horrible world we live in.
Hope everybody's doing okay.
I play it off legit.
Just keep trying to play it off legit.
I mean, I don't know.
You know, sometimes you gotta--
I saw a quote recently on the--
some, like, Zen website.
'Cause I know I'm legit.
[laughs]
"Trying to avoid anxiety causes anxiety."
Oh, wow.
I mean, that's a classic, just, like, feel it.
Sure.
Which, depending on your situation--
That's the snake eating its own tail.
Depending on your situation might be good advice.
It's not--you can't maybe apply it to everything,
but it's, like, we live in harsh times.
We gotta just, like...
It's a Sunday afternoon,
hanging with your buddies, listening to TC.
Sometimes it's all you can do.
Let's pray for America.
Flipping a garden burger.
[laughs]
Garden burger.
No, I don't think anybody eats garden burgers anymore.
Flipping a veggie burger.
Cracking a Modelo.
Don't they sell Modelo at Chipotle?
Oh, yeah.
Cracking a Modelo at Chipotle.
My Sunday afternoon routine--
Getting that sofritas bowl.
Remember Sunday afternoons,
I'd just go with my dad down to Chipotle.
He'd pop in his earbuds,
listen to an Apple radio show called "Time Crisis."
That was his time.
And I would just sit next to him for two hours in Chipotle.
I was a little kid. I was bored.
I was on my iPad.
Dad was listening to his shows.
Bodak Yellow was blasting off the Chipotle speakers,
and that was kind of the only time we really got to hang out.
In silence.
I would make a mockery of that soda fountain.
[laughs]
I'd go back for eight, nine different Mr. Pibbs.
[laughs]
Anyway, while America is in free fall,
you know, Tom Petty is showing us the dark side of freedom.
We're in free fall.
I guess the positive side of being in free fall
is that at least you're free.
I'm trying to flip the script on it.
Anyway, rest in peace, Tom Petty.
You are a true poet.
We love you.
Love all your music.
Anybody who's listening who's not familiar with Tom Petty,
now's a great time to start with the greatest hits.
I think you're going to like it.
Anyway, thanks for listening.
We'll be back in two weeks.
(explosion)
View on TCU Wiki | Download Episode | Download CSV | Download Transcript