I'm still so very impressed with Tom's work as I dive deeper into his catalogue. There is definitely a huge contingent of us out here that may have had a greatest hits or a few choice albums like Wildflowers but thats just scratching the surface.
I caught Story Tellers this weekend someone had posted the broadcast on You Tube. It wasn't a bad capture seeing that it was an old VH-1 tape with German subtitles and I was struck by a tune from an album called Echo.
Echo is the album where Howie missed the photo shoot. It only went gold and was a top ten album so it begs the question - what in good gods blazes was I paying attention to at the time to have missed this album.
The tune I heard was "Swingin" and I just shook my head. How did I miss this? What stupid conceit was I under or lame ass distraction?
It's just so inconceivable and phenomenal to me that Tom channeled all this great music, lyrical poetry, driving rock n roll and sweet, sweet, ballads in such an amazing outpouring of vital, swagger, and frailty. Its an historic revelation of immense creativity.
Tom had a helluva of a lot of heart. He poured it all out for us every last drop of his passion, enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. He consistently time in and time out painted beautiful landscapes some stark some brightly full and others of humor, pain, hope, the mundane. His music was down to earth and flying heavenly all at once and within each refrain. There is an honest complexity to it all as it is with our very own lives.
Tom Petty put it all into words and sang it back to us and we understood every last bit of it as each of us gets up and climbs that hill again.
What a bittersweet affair his music, his life and his passing. The very damn definition of the word. I'm in awe of the man and the band and will be forever grateful. It's with a heavy heart that we have to say goodbye. Totally out of our control we feel ripped off but if we embrace the music just as hard as we are gutted by the suddenness of it all we'll get through it. After all we have the sound of his voice and all of his everything to embrace in each and every stanza.
It's manna from Heaven - believe that. Tom Petty gave expression to our very core from deep inside his and thats why it hits home to all of us so completely. He exhausted his whole being into his craft and it shows with every syllable, every note, every verse, every chorus.
And I thought I wasn't going to write anything today..then I put his music on and the feeling was unstoppable.
Maybe he felt the same way too....
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