Free Fallin'

12 tracks
"Free Fallin'" "I Won't Back Down" "Love Is a Long Road" "A Face in the Crowd" "Runnin' Down a Dream" "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" "Yer So Bad" "Depending on You" "The Apartment Song" "Alright for Now" "A Mind with a Heart of Its Own" "Zombie Zoo"

"Free Fallin'" is the opening track from Tom Petty's 1989 solo debut 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 and bass guitar). 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-charting. It peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in January 1990. Petty and The Heartbreakers performed the song at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1989 with Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin 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 and The Sopranos episode 2.13, "Funhouse" (2000). Lou Reed selected the song as one of his 'picks of 1989'.^[2]

The song is featured in the video game Lego Rock Band.

Los Angeles-area references

Multiple references to Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley appear in the lyrics of the song, including:

"The Valley" – the name the San Fernando Valley is known as colloquially
Reseda – a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley
101 "Ventura" Freeway - the lyrics mention "a freeway runnin' through the yard" of the subject's Reseda home - putatively the 101 Freeway, which has an exit for Reseda Boulevard, albeit in the higher-income neighborhood of Tarzana
Ventura Boulevard – a primary east-west thoroughfare in the San Fernando Valley
"Mulholland" – a reference to Mulholland Drive, a road that follows the ridgeline of the eastern Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills between the Valley and Hollywood.

Meaning

In his Full Moon Fever review published in BBC Music in 2009, Chris Jones explained that "Free Fallin'" was one of the album's tracks that "addressed nostalgia while explaining how he'd reached this level of success. Hit single Free Fallin' mistily looked back at a childhood sweetheart ("She's a good girl, crazy 'bout Elvis... I'm a bad boy for breakin' her heart") left in his wake as he left Florida for the West Coast in search of stardom".^[3]

Personnel

Tom Petty – lead vocals, guitar
Mike Campbell – guitar
Jeff Lynne – backing vocals, bass guitar
Phil Jones – drums

Track listings

US 7" / Cassette
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Free Fallin'"	Tom Petty Jeff Lynne	4:14
2.	"Down the Line"	Petty Lynne Mike Campbell	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 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 Campbell	4:06
3.	"Free Fallin'" (live)	Petty Lynne

Charts

Chart (1989-1990)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA Singles Chart)^[4]	155
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)^[5]	5
Germany (Official German Charts)^[6]	66
Netherlands (Single Top 100)^[7]	61
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[8]	4
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)^[9]	59
US Billboard Hot 100^[10]	7
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)^[11]	29

Cover versions

	"Free Fallin'" excerpt From the album Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles.
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In 1993 - De La Soul and Teenage Fanclub sampled the song for "Fallin'", which appeared on the Judgement Night soundtrack
In 1996 - In the film Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise sings along in the car
In 1996 - Stevie Nicks covered the song for the Party of Five soundtrack, and the song was later included on her album Enchanted
In 1996 - The improvisational comedy troupe The Dead Alewives recorded a parody of the song, titled "Total Recallin'"
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 (airdate May 14, 1999); this version was later included on the series soundtrack released later that year
In 2001 - the Kings of Convenience EP Failure includes a live version
In 2002 - YG Family's 97-YG-02 album includes a Korean version
In 2003 - Tony Hadley, lead singer of new romantic band Spandau Ballet, released a cover version on his compilation True Ballads
Since 2003 - Mýa covered the song which was released from her Moodring album; the song uses different lyrics and arrangements.
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 2007 - American recording artist John Mayer included a live cover version on his live album Where the Light Is
In 2008 - In episode 119 of Cold Case, titled "Triple Threat", the song was covered with the second verse replaced with "Va Pensiero" from Verdi's Nabucco, sung in Italian by Russian recording artist Elena Satine
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 2010 - 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
In 2011 - Alejandro Fuentes covered the song at Allsång På Grensen
In 2011 - American Hard Rock band BulletBoys included a version on their Rocked and Ripped cover album
In 2012 - Max Milner performed the song on The Voice UK
In 2013 - Katey Sagal covered the song on her album Covered
In 2014 - Kesha performed the song at Best Fest's Petty Fest April 3, 2014, making it her first performance since her treatment for an eating disorder
In 2014 - twin duo Megan and Liz covered the song in a YouTube video.^[12]
In 2014 - CJ Harris covered John Mayer's version on the thirteenth season of American Idol.
In 2014 - Matoma used the vocals of John Mayer's version for Free Fallin Tropical Mojito Remix (John Mayer Tribute)
In 2015 - Kimberly Nichole performed the song on the The Voice in honor of Mother's Day

References

↑ "Topic Galleries". Chicago Tribune.
↑ Rolling Stone, March 8, 1990
↑ Chris Jones (2009). "Tom Petty Full Moon Fever Review". BBC Music.
↑ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 15 July 2015". Imgur. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
↑ "Tom Petty – Chart history" Canadian Hot 100 for Tom Petty.
↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Tom Petty – Free Fallin'". GfK Entertainment Charts.
↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Tom Petty – Free Fallin'" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
↑ "Charts.org.nz – Tom Petty – Free Fallin'". Top 40 Singles.
↑ "Tom Petty: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company.
↑ "Tom Petty – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Tom Petty.
↑ "Tom Petty – Chart history" Billboard Alternative Songs for Tom Petty.
↑ "Tom Petty "Free Fallin" by Megan and Liz". Retrieved 19 May 2014.

External links

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 Hypnotic Eye

Tom Petty solo albums	Full Moon Fever Wildflowers Highway Companion

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

Compilations	Greatest Hits Playback Anthology: Through the Years

Videography	Pack Up the Plantation: Live! Playback Live at the Olympic: The Last DJ Runnin' Down a Dream

Songs	"Breakdown" "American Girl" "Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll" "I Need to Know" "Listen to Her Heart" "Don't Do Me Like That" "Refugee" "Here Comes My Girl" "The Waiting" "A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)" "You Got Lucky" "Change of Heart" "Don't Come Around Here No More" "Rebels" "Make It Better (Forget About Me)" "Jammin' Me" "I Won't Back Down" "Runnin' Down a Dream" "Free Fallin'" "A Face in the Crowd" "Yer So Bad" "Learning to Fly" "Into the Great Wide Open" "Mary Jane's Last Dance" "You Don't Know How It Feels" "Christmas All Over Again" "Walls (Circus)" "The Last DJ" "Square One" "Saving Grace"

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

Related articles	Discography Awards Mudcrutch Traveling Wilburys "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

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