It could be about Petty’s divorce from his wife Jane, which happened a year before this was recorded. Petty has not said what this is about, but there are two common interpretations. We cut the song and Tom was singing the chorus, and he decided he just couldn’t get behind singing about ‘Hey, Indiana Girl,’ so we went back and about a week later he came in and said ‘I’ve got a better idea,’ so he changed the chorus to ‘Last dance with Mary Jane.’ 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.” It had actually been around for a while, just the basic riff and that chorus. It was called ‘Indiana Girl,’ the first chorus was ‘Hey, Indiana Girl, go out and find the world.’ We liked the song and Rick Rubin suggested we cut it. I didn’t write it, but we were jamming in the garage and Tom was playing one of my guitars. Mike Campbell : “That song took on a few shapes. It won all those awards, and the kids love it even today! 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. I’ll never forget how heavy that dress was! And I had to be dead the whole time. 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. Kim Bassinger: Now that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life. The song was released as part of the band’s 1993 Greatest Hits compilation The song peaked at #14 in the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #52 in the UK in 1994.

It won Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Then he puts her in a pickup truck and throws her into the ocean, and she opens her eyes as she sinks. When he gets her home, he puts her in a wedding dress and dances with her. Tom played a mortician who takes home a corpse played by Kim Basinger. Petty made some strange videos, and this was no exception. To tell you the truth…I always thought the title was Last Dance of Mary Jane. This would be the last song Stan Lynch played drums on for the Heartbreakers. Mary Jane’s Last Dance is one of Tom’s most successful songs. Tom was making his second solo album Wildflowers but the record company wanted a couple of tracks to go on the greatest hits album. I like the rawness of the song and the lyrics are fun.

Tom petty last dance with mary jane