“Free Fallin’” is about men who leave women brokenhearted and the desire to disconnect from everything.
Musical Comedy
What started out as something of a joke for Petty’s songwriting partner resulted in a hit song.
Tom Petty was hanging out with Jeff Lynne, Petty on keyboard, and they had a vague idea about a song they wanted to write. As he told Billboard, “Jeff Lynne and I were sitting around with the idea of writing a song and I was playing the keyboard, and I just happened to hit on that main riff, the intro of the song. And I think Jeff said something like, ‘That’s a really good riff, but there’s one chord too many.’ So I think I cut it back a chord then, really just to amuse Jeff, honestly. I just sang that first verse. Then he starts laughing. Honestly, I thought I was just amusing Jeff, but then I got to the chorus of the song and he leaned over to me and said the word, ‘freefalling.’ And I went to sing that and he said, ‘No, take your voice up and see how that feels.’ So I took my voice up an octave or two, but I couldn’t get the whole word in. So I sang ‘freeee,’ then ‘free falling.’ And we both knew at that moment that I’d hit on something pretty good. It was that fast.”
Fast and Casual
Petty continued, “He had to go somewhere, and I wrote the last verse and kind of just polished the rest of the song and when I saw him the next day I played him the song and he was like, ‘Wow, you did that last night?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he said. ‘We’ve got to go cut this,’ and we just took off to Mike Campbell’s studio where we knew we could get in and get it done that day. So we went in and made the record that day.”
Phil Jones put it, honorary Heartbreaker, explained, “Tom and Jeff had this song that they wanted to demo or work on. They knew and heard what Mike and I were doing so they decided let’s just record it over at Mike’s. They came over and we did the track. They played the track to a drum machine at first with acoustic guitars. And then I played drums over that. I actually played it before I heard the vocal. And that was ‘Free Fallin’.’ That was the first thing we did, actually. It was very casual and pretty simple. It was just awesome, the track sound and everything.”
Whose Heart Did He Break?
Many believe that the opening lines of “Free Fallin’” are about Pamela des Barres, the world’s most famous groupie. She’s even been called the Queen of the Groupies, and she does indeed hail from Reseda.
In the third verse, things take a turn for the poetic:
“All the vampires walkin’ through the valley / Move west down Ventura Boulevard / And all the bad boys / Are standing in the shadows / And the good girls are home with broken hearts”
The vampires he refers to are people – specifically men or boys, and bad boys in particular – who have spent the night partying and drinking. They’re now nursing their hangovers and making their way home, leaving their lovers to deal with their heartbreak on their own.
“I’m gonna free fall out into nothin’ / Gonna leave this world for a while”
Petty makes a reference to the title here. He wants to disconnect from life’s struggles, but in expressing this desire, he shows his true feelings: He clearly has strong feelings for this girl even if he won’t allow himself to show it.
Lyrics
She’s a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She’s a good girl, is crazy ’bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too
And it’s a long day livin’ in Reseda
There’s a freeway runnin’ through the yard
And I’m a bad boy, ’cause I don’t even miss her
I’m a bad boy for breakin’ her heart
And I’m free
Free fallin’
Yeah, I’m free
Free fallin’
And all the vampires walkin’ through the valley
Move west down Ventura Boulevard (Ventura Boulevard)
And all the bad boys are standin’ in the shadows
And the good girls are home with broken hearts
And I’m free
I’m free fallin’
Yeah, I’m free
Free fallin’
Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m
Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m
I wanna glide down over Mulholland (oh-ah)
I wanna write her name in the sky (oh-ah)
I’m gonna free fall out into nothin’ (oh-ah)
Gonna leave this world for awhile (oh-ah)
And I’m free (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
Free fallin’ (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
Yeah, I’m free (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
Free fallin’ (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m
Yeah, I’m free
Free fallin’
Oh! (Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
Free fallin’ (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
And I’m free (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’) oh! (Now I’m)
Free fallin’ (free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m)
Free fallin’, now I’m free fallin’, now I’m
Free fallin’ (free fallin’, now I’m free…)
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Tom Petty / Jeff Lynne
Free Fallin’ lyrics © Emi April Music Inc., Gone Gator Music
