Day Twenty-Nine: Tomboy's Been Hanging Out with Some Petty Heartbreakers

Day 29 - A song from your childhood

So many choices! As an MTV kid with two elder siblings, I was literally inundated with aural and visual stimulation of, at times, questionable standards (as any longtime reader of this blog could attest). Be that as it may, it stands to reason that today's challenge would be difficult insomuch that there are just so many songs from which to choose; an equally arduous task was to select a song that people wouldn't expect. I mean, if one were to ask my sister, for example, she'd probably suggest Sammy Hagar's 'I Can't Drive 55' on account of the fact that there was a period in which I was convinced that anything the Red Rocker touched turned to solid gold (red gold!) and while true -the part about my feelings, not Hagar's abilities- it's simply too obvious. Similarly, my brother would probably shrug and propose Weird Al Yankovic's parody of The Kinks' 'Lola' entitled 'Yoda' but it's pretty stupid (well that, and I don't have the song to upload).

As stated before, my preoccupation with MTV colored my musical preferences at the time and so, if anything, today's song had to be one that was a part of my childhood with regards to both sight and sound. Along those lines, I contemplated the Greg Kihn Band's 'Jeopardy' since, really, the video creeped me out as a child and had lasting effects on my view of marriage but the thing is that I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this on PK before, so that's old news, you know?

Yeah, that song was out, sure, but it did get me thinking about other videos that poked and prodded my impressionable mind, and while not frightening per se, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1985 hit 'Don't Come Around Here No More' is one of those addling experiences. The video itself (and you can find it on YouTube) consisted of, amongst other things, Tom Petty as the Mad Hatter and Alice being eaten as cake. Tell me that's not surreal to a kid and I'll tell you that you're surreal as a person. Half-facietiously, of course.

Speaking of surreal, here is the song's origin, courtesy of Wikipedia:
The original inspiration was a romantic encounter that Stewart had with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. On The Howard Stern Show, Dave Stewart explained that the title's phrase was actually uttered by Stevie. She had broken up with Joe Walsh the night before, and invited Dave Stewart to her place for a party after an early Eurythmics show in Los Angeles. Dave didn't know who she was at the time, but went anyway. When the party goers all disappeared to a bathroom for a couple of hours to snort cocaine, he decided to go upstairs to bed. He woke up at 5am to find Stevie Nicks in his room trying on Victorian clothing and described the entire scenario as very much reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. Later that morning, she told Walsh, "Don't come around here no more". (link)

Tom Petty? David Stewart? Stevie Nicks? Joe Walsh? Victorian clothing? Cocaine? I mean come on! That's a recipe for pure strangeness.

Anyway, here's the song.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Don't Come Around Here No More