3/27/2023 0 Comments Tom petty i need to know![]() ![]() I loved him since I saw him on the Hootenanny television show in 1962, filmed in Gainesville, Florida. “I was fortunate enough to know the great Johnny Cash. Jack Nicholson made really shitty Boris Karloff movies before he put the glasses on.’ Well, I’m putting my glasses on. Lou Adler had Johnny Rivers and the Mamas and the Papas before he put them glasses on. Like Jimmy Keltner, he has his.’ He said, ‘Wearing sunglasses at night is an honor you earn. Leon said, ‘What the hell you doing with dark glasses, man?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. “We were hanging out and I found myself slipping my sunglasses on. The first session, in comes George Harrison, Ringo and Jim Keltner, and they didn’t need any words because those cats are so cool. He liked the songs I’d done He said, ‘If it comes to a thing where we need some words I need you to be here, and I’ll pay you for it. I got into town in 1974 and I was signed by Denny Cordell to Leon Russell’s Shelter Records. I got my wife who’s here, my daughter Adria… I’m on my best behavior tonight. And I said, ‘Wow, my record company won’t put it out.’ And Mo said, ‘I’ll fuckin’ put it out.’ And Lenny Waronker is sitting there and he said ‘That’s a hit.’ With two acoustic guitars. So we had a kind of Wilbury arrangement of harmony and we did it. “And we were at Mo’s house at dinner and George said ‘Let’s get the guitars out and sing a little bit.’ And George said ‘Let’s get that ‘Free Fallin’, Tom. ![]() I was like ‘Wow, what do I do?’ So, we forgot about it. And that had never happened to me before. I had written this song, ‘Free Falling’, and done the record and taken it to my label, MCA, and they rejected the record. Me and George Harrison and Jeff Lynne, one night, were at Mo Ostin’s house. We were just working on the idea of the Traveling Wilburys. The first one was Roger McGuinn and the Byrds who was there right away, it was my first record. They just showed up and we played together and we became friends. For some cosmic reason, so many of the artists that I adore came into my world without me calling. “This is kind of a surreal moment and a surreal life. There ain’t nothing like a good rock ‘n’ roll band, people. In 1964, the Beatles came, I had my eyes opened like so many others and I joined the conspiracy to put black music on the popular white radio. But it was too late… the music had reached England. Things calmed down for a couple of years. They put Elvis in the Army, they put Chuck Berry in jail. The government got very nervous… especially the Republicans. The music became popular and it empowered the youth of America. I was collecting records… rock ‘n’ roll records… the ‘roll’ designates there’s a swing in the roll. And I realized I may be in one of the two or three best rock ‘n’ roll bands there is. We got together last week and rehearsed for this thing. “It’s been about two years since I played with the Heartbreakers honestly, I’ve been producing records. ![]() To be here in the presence of so many great American songwriters is amazing… Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Cassandra, Randy Newman. I’d also, right off the band, like to thank my band, the Heartbreakers. The music has been wonderful and I think all these artists for coming. “Twenty years ago I would’ve been way too cynical to do this. Here is the complete text of Petty’s speech (You can also watch it below):
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