The creepy song Tom Petty that flirts with necrophilia: “You can make a joke about it”
There was always a human element to every song that Tom Petty wrote. Although Petty might not have known where his inspiration came from, listeners can see a clear picture of the heart of America. Amid those who belong among the wildflowers and free falling out into nothing, Petty got much more macabre on one of his most famous hits.
When you see a title like ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’, it’s easy to think that Petty was writing about marijuana. Petty was always known for his drug intake and even went on to praise the ganja later in his career on songs like ‘Don’t Pull Me Over’. Mary Jane is actually a person in the video, and that dance might be a bit of a one-way affair.
Set in a minor key, Petty plays a coroner in the video for this song. After going out to the morgue to work, he becomes infatuated with the corpse of Mary Jane. Throughout the song, this deranged version of Petty plays with the woman as if she were still alive, taking her back to his house and having dinner alongside her.
By the time the song reaches its climax, Petty is dancing with the corpse and trying to court her affection. By the end of the track, Petty realises that he can’t stay with her forever and relinquishes her to the sea as she floats across the waves. When looking for actresses for the video, Petty mentioned getting actress Kim Basinger to play the titular role, saying: “I said, ‘She’s got to look really good, or why would he keep her around after she’s dead?’ I thought, ‘Kim Basinger would be good. I’d probably keep her for a day or two, let’s go see if she would do it’. You can make a joke about it, but you have to act a bit to be dead. It’s not easy”.
If it isn’t about marijuana, though, who is Mary Jane?
Petty was always coy about who the song is actually about, but he has mentioned that there were parallels between Mary Jane and the free spirit at the heart of ‘American Girl’. While the track was also written around the time of Petty’s crumbling marriage to his wife Jane, it reads like a goodbye love song, as he hopes to get one more moment of bliss. Fans wouldn’t hear the fallout of Petty’s relationship until years later when he released the emotionally raw Echo, with songs centred around his marriage.
At the same time, the breakup may have had to do with the Heartbreakers as well. Since most of the band was working on Petty’s solo album Wildflowers, the relationship between Petty and drummer Stan Lynch was on the rocks. Lynch didn’t like the direction Petty was going creatively and only signed on to play on this song because of its inclusion on a greatest hits album of the Heartbreakers’ work.
Though the band played nice in the studio, Lynch was only in town for a few days before moving back to Florida. By the time Petty finished Wildflowers, his manager had called Lynch to let him know he had been fired from the band. ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ might be one of the last huge hits that the Heartbreakers had, but it’s almost poetic that Lynch’s time with the band began with hit ‘American Girl’ and ended with one last dance.
