Tom Petty has died from a heart attack at the age of 66. I was waiting for my history class to start when I saw that a local band I follow had just posted a photo on Instagram. Since I like to stay up to date on what they’re up to, I immediately opened my phone to see what they posted, and my heart sunk.
It was a rest in peace post for Tom Petty. Though I came to realize an hour or two later, he wasn’t quite dead yet. There was some false news of his death going around, even though we was in the hospital on life support. I was with most of the general public thinking that he was gone, but after reading some articles a couple days later I read about the false reports and found that he died Monday evening around 8:40 pm.
While my grief was premature, it was still real as hell. I got so nostalgic that day, I started watching old music videos of his, and listening to his old music on Spotify. I remembered back to when I listened to Free Fallin’, and American Girl for the first time. I don’t remember how I was introduced to him, but I remember back when I was young (maybe 8 or 9) and visiting my Grandma in Davis with my mom and younger sister. My sister and I were probably going through a bunch of my mom’s old stuff; reading old comic books, listening to CD’s, and looking at old photos. One of those CD’s must have been by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. I remember my sister and I listening to American Girl and Free Fallin’ for days.
When I got older and started to appreciate his genre and listen to more of his music, I heard the song Wildflowers. I loved it so much and I related to the lyrics on such a level, that I was inspired to get a tattoo of wildflowers just last month. I felt that they belonged on my body to let my inner spirit shine. Tom Petty’s music made me feel a special sort of way, and I knew I had to honor that. These three songs of his had a definite and significant impact during certain points in my life. He is an artist that I will forever be inspired by.
“You belong among the wildflowers. You belong somewhere you feel free.”