‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’: Tom Petty’s Finale

Sometimes lifetime artists have different periods of their careers. Paul McCartney is known for being cheery, but some of his back pages show a another side to the ‘Cute Beatle’. Most people can identify Pink Floyd’s eras. Tom Petty began changing his style in the early 1990s, but “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” was the Heartbreakers’ turning point.

The group’s primary focus was capturing that one amazing studio take. Petty worked the group to the bone to acquire the perfect sound for songs like “Refugee” on Damn the Torpedoes, recording over 100 takes before settling on a radio-friendly version.

That may be foolish, but Bob Dylan helped the ensemble improve. They could change song styles quickly, but when Petty started collaborating with Jeff Lynne to make Into the Great Wide Open, something unusual happened. The band enjoyed working on the songs, but having greater textures made them feel like they took a backseat.

Petty didn’t want to soften his sound. He wanted to go deeper, and Rick Rubin was the perfect middle ground for the ensemble. They needed one more single for a Greatest Hits album, so Petty had to deal with drummer Stan Lynch.

Lynch had grown tired of taking a backseat since Full Moon Fever, so when he was urged to play mellow music, he didn’t want to. Lynch finally appeared, playing ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’, as this was their best-of collection.

Lynch’s playing on the record seems foreboding, as if they knew their time together was almost ending, given the lyrics about returning to an old passion. Lynch left against everyone’s pride, heading back to Florida and being fired when Steve Ferrone played Wildflowers’ music.

‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ virtually foreshadowed the band’s collapse as the beloved heartland rock gang. Much of their innocent exuberance was gone without Lynch, even though they would still play with many original members.

That doesn’t mean their later records suffered. Many Heartbreakers albums after 1994 are better, but Lynch left, removing some of their uniqueness. Greatest Hits felt like more than a reflection after years together, even though they had to let him go to be sane. It ended one Heartbreakers era.