Best Song Lyrics (Part XVI)

Last week I noticed the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced its new inductees.  Along with the songwriter I wrote about way back in Part V of this anthology (Yusaf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens) was the name Tom Petty.

Awesome.

Tom Petty led his band The Heartbreakers onto the rock scene in the late 1970s with a distinctive sound and cool, easygoing lyrics.  Some of the best known songs included The Waiting, Free Fallin’ and , You Don't Know How It Feels (To Be Me).

All of those songs are lyrically terrific, but I'm going with Learning To Fly as my example.  While there is certainly a drug double-meaning, Petty himself said it was really about failing and trying and failing and trying again.  I highly recommend listening to it in its slower, acoustic form:

Well I started out, down a dirty road
Started out, all alone
And the sun went down, as I crossed the hill
And the town lit up, the world got still

I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down, is the hardest thing

Well, the good ol' days, may not return
And the rocks might melt, and the sea may burn

I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down, is the hardest thing

Well, some say life, will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out, for God-knows-where
I guess I'll know, when I get there

I'm learning to fly, around the clouds
But what goes up, must come down
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down, is the hardest thing