Wildflowers (Tom Petty song)

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"Wildflowers"
Single by Tom Petty
from the album Wildflowers
Released1994 (1994)
August 2020 (home recording)
Recorded1994
GenreFolk rock[1]
Length3:10
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Tom Petty
Producer(s)Rick Rubin
Tom Petty singles chronology
"You Don't Know How It Feels (Home Recording)"
(2020)
"Wildflowers"
(2020)
"Leave Virginia Alone"
(2020)

"Wildflowers" is a song by Tom Petty and the opening track from the album of the same name. The song became very popular in concerts. Even though it was not released as a single, it charted at #16 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart,[2] at #11 on the Billboard Rock Digital Song Sales[3] and at #3 on the Billboard Lyric Find.[4] AllMusic said that the song was "simple" and sounded like folk-country music.[5][6]

It has become a very popular song of Petty's. He also stated "Wildflowers" was easy to write and compose.[7] He said that it took three and a half minutes to write the song, without any revisions needed.[8] He said he took "a deep breath and it came out. The whole song. Stream of consciousness: words, music, chords. Finished it. I mean, I just played it into a tape recorder and I played the whole song and I never played it again."[8]

The title of the November 2020 book Somewhere You Feel Free: Tom Petty and Los Angeles comes from a lyric in the song.[9]

"Wildflowers" is also Tom Petty's fourth most streamed solo song (and seventh overall) on Spotify, even passing the same album's big hit "You Don't Know How It Feels".[10]

References[change | change source]

  1. "You Wreck Me - Tom Petty, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers | Song Info | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  2. "Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Chart History". Billboard.
  3. "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers". Billboard.
  4. "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers". Billboard.
  5. "Wildflowers - Tom Petty | Song Info". AllMusic.
  6. "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tour Statistics | setlist.fm". setlist.fm.
  7. Kelly, Sean. "Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers' Turns 25: The Stories Behind the Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Tom Petty Tells The Stories Behind His Songs". Performing Songwriter Ent., LLC. October 20, 2014.
  9. "Exclusive: Interview With Author of New Tom Petty Book". Best Classic Bands. 17 November 2020.
  10. "Tom Petty". Spotify.