Tom Petty: Free Fallin Meaning

Song Released: 1989

Free Fallin Lyrics

She’s a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She’s a good girl, crazy ’bout elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too

It’s a long day living in Reseda
There’s a freeway runnin’ through the yard
And I’m a bad boy cause I don’t...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Dec 22nd 2010 !⃝

   I think it's about a guy who breaks up with a girl, breaks her heart, and tells himself he doesn't even miss her. He thinks he's free, but then he's realizes he's just falling. Free falling with nothing to hold no to. Because he really does love her. He want's to write her name in the sky, he wants to leave this world for awhile.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 14th 2006 !⃝

   Whether or not this song was written for any particular reason... It has meaning for me.
   
   Basically, the guy in this song is from "the wrong side of the tracks", and he fell in love with a "good girl" (the person who mentioned Grease was right, she sounds like Sandy or someone very like her), but, like Danny in Grease, he didn't know how to act and treated her badly, or broke her heart, or whatever, and so now he doesn't have her anymore. And he sees this happening all around him, guys going after naive "good girls" who don't know any better or have enough experience to know that they're bad news, and then leaving them for various reasons and they get their hearts broken, while the "bad boys" slink off (some ashamed and some not) to go find someone else. But he still has feelings for her, he's still in love, and he wishes he could "write her name in the sky", and show everybody (especially her) that he really DOES care care about her, and just how far he's willing to go to prove it.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 1st 2011 !⃝

   "Free Falling" is, of course, a metaphor.
   
   It's a way of understanding 'no longer being in a relationship.' Free falling is jumping without deploying a parachute. So Petty is writing about the emotional state of being without someone you've established ties to...like the lines to ones 'chute -- the person that keeps you from spinning out of control in a free fall.
   
   I don't think you want to be too literal on the particulars.
4. anonymous

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   Dec 28th 2022 !⃝

   Get the lyrics right. It's "ride through the name in the sky" not "write her name in the sky". The song is about Mulholland Drive and the Hollywood sign.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
5. anonymous

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   Dec 9th 2019 !⃝

   I always thought the vampires were meth addicts(they stay awake all night). A good girl fell in love with him,he hurts her and doesn't care. When he leaves this world for awhile, he is getting high, his real love.
6. anonymous

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   Jan 24th 2019 !⃝

   It's for a movie that explains the vampire bit lol.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   Oct 3rd 2017 !⃝

   You get to a to a point in life where it doesn't matter what anyone tells you, you are going to do your own thing, and it is great!
8. onionlady

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   Jul 14th 2017 !⃝

   He is talking about jumping out of an airplane! If you have ever jumped out into the sky without an open chute, you are free-falling. It is the best feeling you will ever experience!!

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
9. anonymous

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   Aug 22nd 2014 !⃝

   She is a beautiful young woman. Some think Tom's not the right guy for her. He is saying he just looks bad because he wants her and she wants him but he can't be there for her like he should be. He sees this type of thing a lot. There are a lot of “bad boys” out there and a lot of beautiful young girls. But the reality is, Tom has obligations and situations that take him far away from her. His priorities conflict with what she truly deserves. He really thinks a lot of her: "name in the sky". But the way his life is, its probably not going to work out because he can’t give a girl like that what she needs. To survive in his world, Tom has to let a lot of things go... and it is probably going to include her. He points out that it is that way for a lot of people. He believes and is content with whatever happens. The reality is, there is nothing much he can do to change things. He feels a bit helpless but accepts that this is the way things are in his life. He's freefallin'.
10. anonymous

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    Jun 22nd 2012 !⃝

    I'm pretty sure that there's a reference to drugs here... Tragedy struck with the girl...didn't go well. Oh well, who cares. Now I'm gonna go "trippin" and thus the FREE FALLING chorus rides on with no attachment to any of the rest of the song.
11. anonymous

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    May 4th 2012 !⃝

    There is also a socio-economic side to this song. Reseda is where poor people live. Up far above are the mansions on Mulholland. The guy "used" the good, poor girl and didn't even miss her, broke her heart, but he is consumed with guilt that he did so.
12. anonymous

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    Mar 5th 2012 !⃝

    For me it is about a guy who finds the girl of his life, but he thought he is missing something... so he broke her heard for being free. And know he is on his own and realizes that losing her means losing ground.
13. anonymous

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    Jan 19th 2012 !⃝

    Its about how a guy feels after dumps a girl, he's pretty much cold hearted but hes happy to be single again
14. anonymous

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    Oct 30th 2011 !⃝

    I feel he fell in love with her. She was simple, easy to understand, but he wanted adventure, freedom, no connections. He breaks her heart and claims not to miss her, but he wants to write her name in the sky. And free fallin, wouldn't that hint at falling in love with her. The vampire verse is confusing to me but perhaps it's his way of saying you can't change where you belong, the girls belong in homes, not houses, but homes, and bad boys like him in shadows and regret for using the girls for "blood". And at the end leaving the world maybe he just wants to escape the regret and the confusion and he wants freedom of falling with nothing stopping him
15. anonymous

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    May 31st 2011 !⃝

    Anyone who's ever wrote a song knows there usually is a simpler answer...and the people that listen to songs basically take it and transform it to fit into their own realities. Thought Tom Petty might know why he wrote it...see the link below
    
    
    http://www.shmoop.com/free-fallin/meaning.html
16. anonymous

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    Apr 22nd 2011 !⃝

    I appreciate the above interps but what about the song being about a father who is estranged from his daughter? It's written in a way that sounds like a father talking about his daughter, there is even the line "she's a good girl crazy 'bout Elvis, loves horses and her boyfriend too" as if he's not her boyfriend but rather her father. He's worried (as most fathers are) of the big bad world (ie LA) corrupting his darling little girl.
17. anonymous

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    Dec 13th 2010 !⃝

    I always took vampires in this song to be the name of a gang, supporting the popular interpretation of the song that he is a bad boy who regretfully broke up with a good girl.
18. m320753

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    Nov 30th 2010 !⃝

    i've stopped trying to read between the lines of songs a while ago, maybe i'm getting old for i don't recall ever hearing most of the songs on the list every week. or maybe it's my time to stop and smell the roses. what does free fallin mean to me? it great music good lyrics and petty has always amused me with his stage presence. he's been a pro for many years, and it shows

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