Mary Jane's Last Dance

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"Mary Jane's Last Dance"
Tom Petty - MJ Last Dance single.png
Single by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
from the album Greatest Hits
ReleasedNovember 1993 (1993-11)
RecordedJuly 22, 1993
GenreRock[1]
Length4:35
LabelMCA
Songwriter(s)Tom Petty
Producer(s)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singles chronology
"Into the Great Wide Open"
(1991) 		"Mary Jane's Last Dance"
(1993) 		"Something in the Air"
(1993)

"Mary Jane's Last Dance" is a song written by Tom Petty and recorded by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was recorded on July 22, 1993, while Petty was recording his Wildflowers album, and was produced by Rick Rubin, guitarist Mike Campbell, and Tom Petty.[2] The sessions would prove to be the last to include drummer Stan Lynch before his eventual departure in 1994. This song was first released as part of the Greatest Hits album in 1993.[3] It rose to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first Billboard Top 20 hit of the 1990s,[4] and also topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart for two weeks.[5]

Content[]

Asked if the song was about drugs, Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell said, "In the verse there is still the thing about an Indiana girl on an Indiana night, just when it gets to the chorus he had the presence of mind to give it a deeper meaning. 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." In the rest of the interview, Campbell said that the song was originally titled "Indiana Girl" and the first chorus "Hey, Indiana Girl, go out and find the world." He added that Petty 'just couldn't get behind singing about "hey, Indiana Girl,"' so he changed the chorus a week later.[6]

Personnel[]

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Music video[]

The music video, which won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1994, features Petty as a morgue assistant[7] who takes home a beautiful dead woman (played by Kim Basinger[8]). He then tries to bring her back to life by acting as if she were alive, putting her in front of a television set and then dressing her as a bride,[9] sitting her at the dinner table and dancing with her with no effect. A scene in the video featuring the dead woman wearing a wedding dress in a room full of wax candles is loosely based on a passage from the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations.[10] The plot also has similarities with the French movie Cold Moon, itself inspired by a Charles Bukowski short story ("The Copulating Mermaid of Venice"[11]). Later, Petty is shown carrying her to a rocky shore and gently releasing her into the sea.[12] At the end of the video, Basinger, who is seen floating in the water, opens her eyes.

During the final scenes of the video, Petty is seen carrying Basinger through a cave before placing her in the water. The cave is located at Leo Carrillo State Park, California, where many movies and television shows were filmed.

I said, "She's got to look really good, or why would he keep her around after she's dead?" I thought, "Kim Basinger[13][14] 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.

— Tom Petty[15] on what made him decide that Kim Basinger would be a good choice for the corpse

Now that was one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life. It was classic, wasn't it? He was a doll, and he was so sweet and asked me to do it, and both of us are extremely shy so we just said three words to each other the whole time. I'll never forget how heavy that dress was! And I had to be dead the whole time. You know, it's really one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, because I had to be completely weightless to be in his arms the way I was. It won all those awards, and the kids love it—even today!

— Kim Basinger[16]

I did the "Mary Jane's Last Dance" video [in 1993] for one reason: Tom Petty.[17] I didn't even care what it was about -- I was just blown away when he called. Then I heard the music, and I was so in love with the song. The director [Keir McFarlane] was a gruff guy; it was kind of like, his way or the highway. And I always found Tom to be incredibly sensitive and sort of a backseat guy. He was just very humble, beautifully shy. I'm not the most outgoing human being in the world, and I thought, "I'm shy; he's shy." But as the story really unfolded and this director kept saying, "Look, you have got to really play dead--all your weight," we laughed so hard. I just honestly couldn't keep it together sometimes! Tom had a great sense of humor. I remember getting out of the pool that day and just being so glad it was over, but so proud that I had worked with him.

— Kim Basinger[18]

Besides Cold Moon and Great Expectations, the plot of the video also bears some semblance to the final segment of the 1987 Belgian film Crazy Love (which in itself, is like Cold Moon, also inspired by the writings of Charles Bukowski, in particular "The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, California"). However, only in the video for "Mary Jane's Last Dance" was any sexual contact between Tom Petty and Kim Basinger ("the corpse") not shown despite being implied. Also unlike in the later music video, there was no "gotcha ending" in Crazy Love.

Charts[]

Plagiarism allegations[]

In 2006, a US radio station claimed that Red Hot Chili Peppers hit single, "Dani California" had plagiarized "Mary Jane's Last Dance", even calling for Petty to sue the band. Longtime Petty and Chili Peppers producer Rick Rubin produced both songs. Petty responded by saying that he was not going to sue the Chili Peppers and felt that there was no negative intent and that a lot of rock and roll songs sound alike.[28] The main riff in Petty's song, however, resembles the main riff in another song called "Waiting for the Sun" which was released in 1992 by The Jayhawks. The Jayhawks were the opening act for Petty's tour in 1992 and keyboardist Benmont Tench played on both "Waiting for the Sun" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance".[29]

References[]

  1. ^ Lewis, Randy (October 4, 2017). "Tom Petty's final interview: There was supposed to have been so much more". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 27, 2019. Classic-rock staples including “Breakdown,” “American Girl,” “Refugee,” “Even the Losers,” “Learning to Fly,” “Listen to Her Heart,” “Here Comes My Girl,” “Walls,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance."
  2. ^ Greatest Hits 2008 Reissue Liner Notes Pg. 12
  3. ^ Allmusic:Mary Jane's Last Dance
  4. ^ Billboard.com Artist Chart History
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 490.
  6. ^ "Mike Campbell : Songwriter Interviews". songfacts.com.
  7. ^ Willman, Chris (February 20, 1994). "Battle of the Sexes: The Video Game". Los Angeles Times.
  8. ^ Beebe, Middleton, Roger, Jason (26 September 2007). Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones. p. 97. ISBN 9780822341628.
  9. ^ "Top 10 Songs About Necrophilia". OH NO THEY DIDN'T. October 30, 2011.
  10. ^ Turcotte, Matthew W. "Last Dance With Mary Jane..." A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life.
  11. ^ Rivieccio, Genna (October 3, 2017). "Better Off Dead: "Mary Jane's Last Dance" & What It Says About Projecting Expectations Onto A Lover". Culled Culture.
  12. ^ Cinquemani, Gonzalez, Sal, Ed (June 30, 2003). "The 100 Greatest Music Videos". Slant Magazine.
  13. ^ "CELEBS WHO PLAYED DEAD". Wonderwall.com. October 19, 2010.
  14. ^ Russell, Deborah (January 15, 1994). "Dead Beat". Billboard.
  15. ^ Newman, Melinda (December 5, 2005). "Tom Petty – BILLBOARD'S 2005 CENTURY AWARD HONOREE: A Portrait of the Artist". Billboard.
  16. ^ Stern, Marlow (June 5, 2015). "Kim Basinger on 'The 11th Hour,' Why the First 'Batman' Is Best, and Her Wild Time Dating Prince". The Daily Beast.
  17. ^ Bliss, Karen (October 23, 2017). "Kim Basinger Reflects On Playing Dead For 'Mary Jane's Last Dance' Video: 'I Did It Because Of Tom Petty'". Billboard.
  18. ^ "Tom Cruise, Liz Phair, Lucinda Williams, Kim Basinger & More Remember Tom Petty". Billboard. October 6, 2017.
  19. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2375." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  20. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane's Last Dance" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
  21. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane's Last Dance" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  22. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  23. ^ "Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  24. ^ "Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard.
  25. ^ "RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1994". RPM. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  26. ^ "Billboard Top 100 – 1994". Archived from the original on 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  27. ^ "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  28. ^ "Petty Won't Sue Chili Peppers". MTV UK.
  29. ^ "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Mary Jane's Last Dance sounds like The Jayhawks: Waiting for the Sun – Sounds Just Like". soundsjustlike.com.

External links[]


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