The rock that shaped me
I’ve heard that country descended from gospel and church music and that’s what makes it so hopeful. Rock descended from the blues.
I’ve been driving scared on I-70 in Kansas City heading from Lenexa towards the place where the Kansas River meets the Mighty Mo forming the state line. In 2 months I’d be leaving my career and my friends to go back to school in Ohio. And I was probably thinking about a girl.
I’ve been driving anxious on 670 in Columbus, Ohio with Grandview in my rear view mirror and downtown emerging ahead. The Scioto mumbling beneath her as I make the hour long trip back to Athens. I didn’t think I could finish school. I didn’t know where I’d go next. I did know that door was closing, Knoxville I guess? And I was probably thinking about a girl.
I’ve been joy-riding the connector bridge ferrying beach-goers from the Isle of Palms in South Carolina across the glowing marshes to the mainland — Mount Pleasant with Charleston across the harbor. This time I was definitely thinking about a girl. She was in the passenger seat and this was her first time in Charleston. I was falling in love with that girl — part of me was pretty sure I’d marry her.
All of these scenes have the same soundtrack: “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty. It’s my favorite song.
I guess I just liked the message of the song was that sometimes in life we’re being asked to do something we’re not ready for and it’s ok to be figuring it out.
I’ve heard that country descended from gospel music and that’s what makes it so hopeful. It came from songs that look at the world and see something worth believing in be that red dirt roads, getting to Amarillo by morning or loving someone forever and ever, amen. I’ve got some of that.
Rock descended from the blues. It came from mournful cries at a world that didn’t make sense and wasn’t no use trying to make sense of it. So I’ll just sit here and mess around in E-minor on this old guitar. Rock is angry. I’ve got some of that too.
And then there’s Tom Petty caught somewhere in-between, like me. He was an angry rock singer coming-of-age in the wreckage of America in the 70’s but you can hear his country sensibilities in his 4-chords and the need to write a redemptive song every now and then:
Some say life
Will beat you down
Break you heart
Steal your crown.
So I started out
For God knows where
I guess I’ll know
When I get there.
Me too, Tom, me too.