Free Fallin'

"Free Fallin'" is the opening track from Tom Petty's 1989 solo album, Full Moon Fever. The song was written by Petty and his writing partner for the album, Jeff Lynne (and also features Lynne on backing vocals). The duo wrote and recorded the single in two days, making it the first song completed for Full Moon Fever.

"Free Fallin'" is one of Petty's most famous tracks, as well as his longest charter. Petty and The Heartbreakers performed the song at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1989 with Axl Rose and at the February 2008 Super Bowl XLII Halftime Show.^[1] The song is ranked #177 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was featured in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire.

1 Los Angeles-area references
2 Track listings
3 Chart History
- 3.1 Peak positions
- 3.2 End of year charts
4 Cover versions
5 References
6 External links

Los Angeles-area references

References to the Los Angeles area appear in the lyrics of the song, including:

"Mulholland" – a reference to Mulholland Drive, an arterial road which traverses the San Fernando Valley, in the vicinity of Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills
Reseda – the song mentions a freeway in the backyard of the subject's house, referring to the 101 "Hollywood" freeway, which has an exit for Reseda Boulevard, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles
"The Valley" – the San Fernando Valley, in which Reseda is located
Ventura Boulevard – a primary east-west thoroughfare in the San Fernando Valley

Track listings

U.S. 7" / Cassette
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Free Fallin'"	Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne	4:14
2.	"Down the Line"	Buddy Holly, Bob Montgomery, Norman Petty	2:54
Total length:			7:08

UK 7"
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Free Fallin'"	Petty, Lynne	4:14
2.	"Love Is A Long Road"	Petty, Mike Campbell	4:06
Total length:			8:20

UK 12" / CD
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Free Fallin'"	Petty, Lynne	4:14
2.	"Love Is A Long Road"	Petty, Mike Campbell	4:06
3.	"Free Fallin'" (live)	Petty, Lynne

Chart History

The song topped Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart the week ending August 26, 1989 and spent 33 weeks on the chart, making it Petty's longest charting track. The single peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January, 1990. Later in 2008, "Free Fallin'" made a brief appearance in the Ireland Singles Top 50, hitting #49.^[2]

Peak positions

Chart (1989/90)	Peak position
Dutch Singles Chart^[3]	61
Canadian Singles Chart^[4]	5
New Zealand Singles Chart^[5]	4
UK Singles Chart^[6]	64
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	7
U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks	1
Chart (2008)	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart^[2]	49

End of year charts

End of year chart (1990)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[7]	64

Cover versions

In 1991 David Tyler CKBE-FM
In 1996 In the film Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise sings along in the car.
In 1998 Stevie Nicks did a studio cover on her album Enchanted.
In 1999 Deana Carter sang a version of the song that played in the Season 3 finale's ending credits of Mike Judge's animated comedy King of The Hill that aired on May 14, 1999. This version was later included on the series soundtrack which was released later that year.
In 2001 the Kings of Convenience EP Failure includes a live version of "Free Fallin'".
In 2002 YG Family's 97-YG-02 album includes a Korean version of "Free Fallin'".
In 2003 Tony Hadley, lead singer of new romantic band Spandau Ballet, released a cover of "Free Fallin" on his compilation True Ballads.
In 2005 Keith Urban's live cover appears on his DVD Livin' Right Now.
In 2006 rapper Pimp C sampled the song for "I'm Free," off his album Pimpalation.
In 2008 American singer-songwriter John Mayer included a live cover version of "Free Fallin'" on his live album/DVD Where the Light Is.
In 2008 in Episode 119 – "Triple Threat" of Cold Case, the song was covered with the second verse replaced with "Va Pensiero" from Verdi's Nabucco, sung in Italian by Russian singer-songwriter Elena Satine.
In 2008 the song was covered by German singer/songwriter Willer on his album The Only Way.
In 2009 Chamillionaire sampled the song for his track "Good Morning".
In 2009 Ben Rector covered the song for his album Into the Morning.
In 2009 Jonas Brothers did a cover of it at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
In 2010 the alternative rock band The Almost recorded a cover for the compilation Punk Goes Classic Rock.
Since 2010 Three Days Grace has been playing a cover of this song on their tour.
In 2011, Umphrey's Mcgee covered this song in Ashbury Park, NJ

References

^ Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-04-halftimefeb04,1,6574257.story.
^ ^a ^b "Tom Petty – Free Fallin' – Music Charts". Acharts.us. http://acharts.us/song/33722. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
^ Steffen Hung. "Tom Petty – Free Fallin'". dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Tom+Petty&titel=Free+Fallin%27&cat=s. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
^ RPM Canada. "Tom Petty – Free Fallin'". Canadian RPM magazine. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.6644&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=se74naiuh91fchgupv273069o5. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
^ Steffen Hung. "Tom Petty – Free Fallin'". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Tom+Petty&titel=Free+Fallin%27&cat=s. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
^ "Tom Petty – Free Fallin'". Chart Stats. 1989-11-18. http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=17037. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
^ "Billboard Top 100 – 1990". http://longboredsurfer.com/charts.php?year=1990. Retrieved 2009-09-15.

External links

SongFacts information page on "Free Fallin'"

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Tom Petty Mike Campbell Benmont Tench Ron Blair Scott Thurston Steve Ferrone Stan Lynch Howie Epstein

Studio albums	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers You're Gonna Get It! Damn the Torpedoes Hard Promises Long After Dark Southern Accents Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) Into the Great Wide Open Songs and Music from "She's the One" Echo The Last DJ Mojo

Tom Petty solo	Full Moon Fever Wildflowers Highway Companion

Mudcrutch	Mudcrutch Extended Play Live

Live albums	Official Live 'Leg Pack Up the Plantation: Live! The Live Anthology Mojo Tour 2010

Compilations	Greatest Hits Playback Anthology: Through the Years

Videography	Pack Up the Plantation: Live! Take the Highway Live Playback High Grass Dogs: Live at the Fillmore Live at the Olympic: The Last DJ Runnin' Down a Dream

Production	Denny Cordell Jimmy Iovine David A. Stewart Robbie Robertson Jeff Lynne Rick Rubin George Drakoulias

Related articles	Discography Awards Traveling Wilburys