Song #49: Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down a Dream"

Song #49: Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down a Dream" (1989)

Full Moon Fever

Working on a mystery, going wherever it leads."

I suppose it's only fitting that, after providing you guys with my writeup and interpretation of Kansas's "Carry on Wayward Son," I dive into another song that's not only bent on some interpretation, but also exists as more of a showcase for instrumentation than lyricism. As I said in my writeup of Kansas's hit song (number fifty-one in "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski"), I would rather have lyricism than a minute to a minute-and-a-half long solo, but certain songs' solos speak louder to me than lyrics could, and one of them is Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream."

"Runnin' Down a Dream" is another song I found in the extensive and unabashedly beautiful library of music brought forth by the bestselling video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Petty's hit song was on K-DST, the radio station dedicated to classic rock, alongside Grand Funk Railroad's "Some Kind of Wonderful (number seventy-seven on "The One-Hundred Songs of Steve Pulaski"), and that was the station in the game my friend and I would always have on, for it was the only radio station in the game that had a consistently excellent line of songs.

"Runnin' Down a Dream" has everything a great classic rock ballad should have - intense visualizations, an infectious and hummable flow, lyricism that's equal parts poetic as it is contemplative, and silky-smooth vocals, this time, provided by one of the genre's greatest. The song makes for a fantastic song to play while you're driving rather aimlessly, trying to come to terms with a strange situation, or simply trying to further understand the world around you and embrace its offerings, which is what our character seems to be wanting to do. There have been many covers of the song, but none can match the sheer beauty of Petty's vocals, nor can they ever hope or succeed in soaring past the original song's instrumentals, which come in at the right times and, while staying for over a minute, never exceed their welcome.

Give "Runnin' Down a Dream" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXYl5NrHPb4