WCSX Classic Cuts : Mary Jane’s Last Dance
WCSX Classic Cuts
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
The Hook: Drummer Stan Lynch’s last hurrah with the Heartbreakers. Keyboardist Benmont Tench calls his playing on it “astounding.”
Album: Greatest Hits
Year: 1993
Writer: Tom Petty
Stats: Topped Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number-14 on its Hot 100 singles chart.
Background: Before recording his second solo album, Wildflowers, Tom Petty laid down a bunch of tracks with The Heartbreakers, including “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” It became the single from the band’s 1993 Greatest Hits album. Keyboardist Benmont Tench tells why drummer Stan Lynch looms large in the story of that song.
Keyboardist Benmont Tench on how drummer Stan Lynch elevated Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” OC:…so fine. :28
“I was told that Stan and Tom had just been jamming together and Tom had come up with that riff and Stan had locked into that rhythm. So Tom said, ‘Look, I think we can make a song out of this.’ We went in with Rick Rubin before the Wildflowers record was made. It was actually the last stuff we recorded with Stan and he went out with a bang. He’s astounding on that track. The groove on that track is really swampy and just so fine.”
