Mary Jane's Last Dance

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"Mary Jane's Last Dance" is a song by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was recorded while Petty was recording his Wildflowers album, and was produced by Rick Rubin. This song was first released as part of the Greatest Hits album in 1993. [1]

1 Lyrics
2 Controversy
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Lyrics

Asked if the song was about drugs, Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell said, "My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it's a drug reference, and if that's what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song."

[edit] Controversy

On 17 May 2006, Dan Gaffney of WGMD in Delaware alleged that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had in fact used exactly the same chord progressions in their new hit single "Dani California" from the album Stadium Arcadium, which was also produced by Rick Rubin. There is a slight pitch shift, and in parts the lyrics (notably, the use of "Indiana" in both songs) mirror each other. Petty denied rumors that he planned to sue over the song and said "The truth is, I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock & roll songs sound alike." [2]

Petty's song has also endured some criticism for borrowing the same progresson from a Jayhawks song called Waiting on the Sun. The problem with this criticism is it is historically inaccurate. Tom Petty, in fact composed "Mary Jane's Last Dance" in 1989 during the sessions for his "Full Moon Fever" album. The song was originally called "Indiana Girl" and featured different lyrics but the familiar chord structure was already in place. Footage of this session can be viewed in several documentaries on the band.

[edit] Trivia

The video for the song featured Kim Basinger as a corpse stolen by Petty which he dresses as a bride.
The song is recorded in G and has a harmonica solo played in third position with 4 draw as the note of resolution.
The first title should have been "Indiana Girl", but it was then converted into "Mary Jane's Last Dance". [3]