Mary Jane's Last Dance = Greatest RockNRoll Song of All Time

[KaneKungFu123]

Mary Jane's Last Dance by Tom Petty

She grew up in a Indiana town,
Had a good lookin' mama who never was around
But she grew up tall and she grew up right,
With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night
Then she moved down here at the age of eighteen,
She blew the boys away; was more than they'd seen
I was introduced and we both started groovin',
She said, "I dig you, baby, but I got to keep movin'"
...on, keep movin' on
(Chorus)
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm
Tired of this town again
Well I don't know but I've been told,
You never slow down, you never grow old
I'm tired of screwin' up, tired of goin' down,
Tired of myself, tired of this town,
Oh my, my, oh hell yes,
Honey put on that party dress
Buy me a drink, sing me a song,
Take me as I come 'cause I can't stay long
(Chorus)
There's pidgeons down in Market Square,
She's standing in her underwear
Lookin' down from a hotel room,
Nightfall will be coming soon
Oh my, my, oh hell yes,
You've got to put on that party dress
It was too cold to cry, when I woke up alone
I hit the last number, I walked to the road
(Chorus)

[tbach24]

Wouldn't say the best, but this is my favorite Tom Petty song and Tom Petty ranks high up there for me.

[DarkForceRising]

Kings' Road, One Story Town, Dogs on the Run, Shadow of a Doubt, Century City....

I could go on forever (and, of course, it is subjective) but I would highly recommend you guys check out Pettys' first four albums. Tons of songs you have never heard that are even better than the ones that get the mainstream radio play.

His music went in a different direction when the "Into the Great Wide Open" album hit in '91 or '92. His old stuff is pretty hard rock in many instances.

[istewart]

"Refugee" is light years ahead. So is "Free Fallin'" and "American Girl," FWIW.

[DarkForceRising]

BTW, tbach, I saw Matisyahu on that guy who comes on after Conan once.

Effin' awesome.

[B Dids]

The first time I heard this song I was on the road to work at the Skippers in Moscow, Idaho. I lived in Pullman. It was football season and homcomming for WSU. The Idaho Vandals were playing Montana and the teams were 1/2 (iirc) in division I-AA. There were more people in the Pullman/Moscow area than normal, a lot more.

I had driven the Moscow-Pullman highway probably every day for a couple of years (it's typically a 15-20 minute drive), and this was the first day that I'd ever seen it just bumper to bumper stop and go traffic. It was one of the mose bizzare things I'd seen, because at the time I hadn't put together all the factors that made this take place, and just didn't understand this weird mass exodus.

"Last Dance with Mary Jane" came on, and I just thought it was amazing. The tone of the song coupled with the weirdness of the night set a mood that I can always easily recall. The odd thing was that when I listened to the song again, it never ever had the same effect and always felt hollow. Like it was the perfect song for that perfect moment, but removed from that one instance, it never could conjur up the same feelings for me.

(another amusing story from that night- the car ahead of me was piloted by a mid-20s asian female. She had to slam on her brakes to avoid hitting the car infront of her at least 4 times. She didn't seem to be doing anything, just either wasn't very good at driving or at paying attention. The 5th time she didn't brake quick enough and rear ended the guy infront of her. Thankfully by that time we were at the point where the road went to 2 lanes and it didn't foul up traffic like it would had she hit him any of the earlier times.)

[ptmusic]

[ QUOTE ]
"Refugee" is light years ahead. So is "Free Fallin'" and "American Girl," FWIW.

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely. Also "Running Down a Dream" (even though the guitar riff is an ACDC ripoff), and a bunch of others. "Mary Jane" has great lyrics (and the video was pretty creepy good), but the music (esp. the chorus melody) is not best ever material.

-ptmusic

[Indiana]

I am utterly ashamed of this post and at how weak your musical depth really is Kane. I mean, I thought u were cool until u posted this. The greatest song of all time?

Indy

[trying2learn]

it's not even petty's best song.

(american girl is)

[peachy]

Tom Petty is one of the ugliest guys id do in a heartbeat that i find hot in an odd sorta way...i love this song and the majority of his songs...he kicks butt



i loved some of his newer songs from ECHO...

Room at the top (one of my favs EVER)
One more day, one more night


I always liked Its good to be King as well

[irishpint]

i had music threads with the words 'best', greatest, most awesome, etc. since i dont care what you think about that.

if it was listen to this song, you might like it, then maybe i will.

[PITTM]

i guess i just dont get tom petty. my housemate saw him last weekened and her boyfriend had given her tickets like 6 months before and it was pretty much her lifelong dream to see him. i think hes kind of boring. saying that he made the best rock song of all time is just so crazy i dont even know what to say.

rj

[samjjones]

You think for the "greatest rock and roll song of all time", you would at least get the title correct...

[BWebb]

Not the best, but I have been listening to this song a lot recently.

[TheBlueMonster]

I prefer "Best Thing I ever Had"...or whatever the hell the song is called.