"Tom left us a vast songbook which is forever expansive with poignancy, power, and purity. It's a source that is never depleted, which we can all return to for sustenance through the rest of our days, because it can take rhino skin (as he wrote) to get through this world unhurt. However, having his soul, spirit, and love injected into these songs sure helps a lot. His songbook now lives in the unbound mystic, like an entire America, coast to coast, of wildflowers." - Paul Zollo, 2017
tom petty is someone that has always been a figure in my life. so many times has his music been in my life, but it wasn’t until one year ago today that he became one of the most important figures in it. it all started because i wanted to listen to “something new” in class, and chose tom petty, and cried. from that moment on it felt like i’d gained something in a way.
if i could tell myself one year ago one thing , it would be that it will be okay as long as you let someone help you. i had one of the most difficult, stressful years of my life. one in which i never seemed to feel myself, feeling like i was on autopilot for months on end. but in his own way, tom petty was there.
if anyone’s read the book for good omens, then you know the joke that when crowley is in the car, freddie mercury will speak to him and say exactly what he needs to hear. well, tom petty is like that for me. if i feel like shit, he comes on. in the grocery store and overwhelmed, he’s plays over the shitty speakers. sobbing in the car, he’s comes on the radio. when you feel absolutely terrible in school and your teacher put on random music and it’s tom petty, and you start crying, and you text your mom, and her response? “Think of it that TP is trying to make you feel better!”
at some point it felt like tom was speaking to me when i needed him too. it was odd, i wasn’t looking for anything to help me in those situations, but something was. regardless of if i knew it, i was letting someone help me. tom coming on at points in which i needed him was me allowing help, though i didn’t realize then. i just saw it as something good when i couldn’t see the world as any better then horrific.
tom petty was one of the most positive people i think i’ve ever heard of. he made me wanna see my life in a different way, and did. his realistic positivity was one of the most important things in me healing myself from a time when i almost didn’t feel it was possible too.
“You knew him well. Because that was really him. It was not a pose, nor was it a way of concealing his real self. It was truly Tom, on record and in concert. He poured the full measure of who he was into his songs. All of it- the full rainbow of the human journey, from refugee to hero and beyond, the love, romance, fear, humor, anguish, worry, sorrow, faith, rage, gratitude, redemption, and always hope was there in his songs, every aspect of who he was." - Zollo, [again], 2017
i hope more than anything that tom knew how much not only his music, but he as person helped people. there are times where when it feels like nothing else will help i know that just turning on tom will, because something there will be positive. and that it will help.
i will never be able to form all the words i’d like to about tom petty and impact he’s made of my life. all i can point to is showing where i was and where i am now.
im not as afraid of things anymore. for once the pain of loss, even a stupid one, is quelled not because i sought something that would, but because that thing comes to me in times of trouble. after all, his music is like the wildflowers, and you can never really escape those.
"Tom left us a vast songbook which is forever expansive with poignancy, power, and purity. It's a source that is never depleted, which we can all return to for sustenance through the rest of our days, because it can take rhino skin (as he wrote) to get through this world unhurt. However, having his soul, spirit, and love injected into these songs sure helps a lot. His songbook now lives in the unbound mystic, like an entire America, coast to coast, of wildflowers." - Paul Zollo, 2017
tom petty is someone that has always been a figure in my life. so many times has his music been in my life, but it wasn’t until one year ago today that he became one of the most important figures in it. it all started because i wanted to listen to “something new” in class, and chose tom petty, and cried. from that moment on it felt like i’d gained something in a way.
if i could tell myself one year ago one thing , it would be that it will be okay as long as you let someone help you. i had one of the most difficult, stressful years of my life. one in which i never seemed to feel myself, feeling like i was on autopilot for months on end. but in his own way, tom petty was there.
if anyone’s read the book for good omens, then you know the joke that when crowley is in the car, freddie mercury will speak to him and say exactly what he needs to hear. well, tom petty is like that for me. if i feel like shit, he comes on. in the grocery store and overwhelmed, he’s plays over the shitty speakers. sobbing in the car, he’s comes on the radio. when you feel absolutely terrible in school and your teacher put on random music and it’s tom petty, and you start crying, and you text your mom, and her response? “Think of it that TP is trying to make you feel better!”
at some point it felt like tom was speaking to me when i needed him too. it was odd, i wasn’t looking for anything to help me in those situations, but something was. regardless of if i knew it, i was letting someone help me. tom coming on at points in which i needed him was me allowing help, though i didn’t realize then. i just saw it as something good when i couldn’t see the world as any better then horrific.
tom petty was one of the most positive people i think i’ve ever heard of. he made me wanna see my life in a different way, and did. his realistic positivity was one of the most important things in me healing myself from a time when i almost didn’t feel it was possible too.
“You knew him well. Because that was really him. It was not a pose, nor was it a way of concealing his real self. It was truly Tom, on record and in concert. He poured the full measure of who he was into his songs. All of it- the full rainbow of the human journey, from refugee to hero and beyond, the love, romance, fear, humor, anguish, worry, sorrow, faith, rage, gratitude, redemption, and always hope was there in his songs, every aspect of who he was." - Zollo, [again], 2017
i hope more than anything that tom knew how much not only his music, but he as person helped people. there are times where when it feels like nothing else will help i know that just turning on tom will, because something there will be positive. and that it will help.
i will never be able to form all the words i’d like to about tom petty and impact he’s made of my life. all i can point to is showing where i was and where i am now.
im not as afraid of things anymore. for once the pain of loss, even a stupid one, is quelled not because i sought something that would, but because that thing comes to me in times of trouble. after all, his music is like the wildflowers, and you can never really escape those.
