Last Updated on April 26, 2024
The late musician Tom Petty (October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was born and grew up in Gainesville, Florida. Throughout his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide.
In 2002, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Two years later, Petty was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame.
Several Tom Petty songs showcase his Florida roots!
The early influence of his home state rings through most of his work, including the following Tom Petty songs:
Five Tom Petty Songs Featuring Florida
“Gainesville”
A wistful look back at his early years in his hometown of Gainesville, FL. Released in the posthumous box set, An American Treasure, the song is from the recording sessions for Petty’s 1999 album, Echo.
“Crystal River”
Mudcrutch is a band best known as the beginning of Tom Petty’s rise to fame in the early 1970s in Gainesville and across Florida.
Most of the original band reformed in 2007 to record their first album as a group, the eponymous Mudcrutch.
A tribute to the area known as “The Soul of Florida,” Crystal River, is a fan favorite.
“Casa Dega”
Released as the B-side of the hit single “Don’t Do Me Like That,” Tom Petty said that although he never actually visited the mystical Florida town, he “… wrote that by putting myself in the mind of someone who went to Cassadaga.”
“Southern Accents”
The title song from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ sixth studio album, released on March 26, 1985, mentions picking oranges in Orlando, “ff them orange groves don’t freeze.”
Johnny Cash, who recorded the song on his 1996 album, Unchained, called it “a Southern anthem, and … it’s a better one than Dixie.”
“American Girl”
The rumor is that this song tells the story of a UF student who leaped off her dorm room balcony. The song mentions Highway U.S. 441, which runs past the Beaty Towers in Gainesville.
But, as pointed out in this fact-checking article on Snopes.com, those towers don’t have balconies.
Petty himself said: “Urban legend. It’s a huge urban myth down in Florida. That’s just not at all true.”
Bonus song: “Won’t Back Down”
It has become a tradition for the crowd at the University of Florida Gators home games to sing the 1989 song from his solo album Full Moon Fever en masse.
Four years following his death, Tom Petty was awarded an honorary Ph.D. in Music from the University of Florida.
He never attended UF, but he once worked as a groundskeeper while he was trying to launch his music career.
Go Gators!
These are other Tom Petty songs that fall under his Greatest Hits:
- Refugee
- Breakdown
- Listen to Her Heart
- I Need to Know
- Don’t Do Me Like That
- Even the Losers
- Here Comes My Girl
- The Waiting
- You Got Lucky
- Running Down A Dream
- Free Fallin’
- Learning to Fly
- Into the Great Wide Open
- Mary Jane’s Last Dance
In 2008, Tom Petty’s Greatest Hits was reissued by Geffen Records. This edition replaced “Something In The Air” with “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Petty’s duet with Stevie Nicks from her 1981 album Bella Donna.
Tom Petty Documentary
Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free is an award-winning documentary that showcases never-before-seen 16mm footage.
Filmed in the ‘90s, the doc focuses on his personal masterpiece, “Wildflowers”. It also includes present-day interviews with those closest to Petty.
You can stream it for free on YouTube and Amazon Prime. We highly recommend it.
Do you have a favorite Tom Petty song? Let us know in the comments.
While in the Gainesville area, don’t miss:
- Ten Awesome Things To Do in Gainesville
- 10 Best Restaurants in Gainesville
- Top 5 Things to Do Near Gainesville FL
- Micanopy: The Town that Time Forgot
- 5 Things to Do in Devil’s Den for the Perfect Trip
- Visiting the Historical Town of Cross Creek
- Top Places to Eat, Stay, & Shop Near Florida’s Unique Attractions
Y’all missed “U.S. 41” from his album, Mojo.
FYI: We mentioned U.S. Highway 441 in the article.
U.S. 41, in the song with the same title on the “Mojo” album, is not the same as U.S. 441, mentioned in “American Girl”. U.S 41 and U.S 441 are combined until they split in High Springs, Florida, which is North West of Gainesville, Florida where Petty grew up. U.S. 41 then travels down the West side of I-75 towards Tampa and Naples area, then turns east through the Everglades. U.S 441 travels towards, then through, Gainesville, it continues on the east side of I-75 in the Central part of Florida into Ocala, Orlando, Kissimmee, and then more towards the east side of Florida. They cross each other in Miami.
A fantastic fact filled tribute to a genuine musical treasure!