Tom Petty and His Southern Accent

By Sam Burnham
@C_SamBurnham

​I still remember the first time I heard a Tom Petty song. I was 10 years old and it was Don't Come Around Here No More. The newly released song aired on television as a music video. That is one of the most bizarre and seemingly unsouthern videos out there. But it was captivating, if at least slightly troubling, and I was hooked. Over the next 32 years I don't recall ever hearing Tom Petty singing a song that I just didn't like. Not one. And that is despite the fact that I've listened to his music well beyond the mainstream tracks that find a lot of airplay on radio. 

But what is found throughout so much of his music is those deeps Southern roots that took root in the sandy soil beneath the Spanish Moss draped Live Oaks of Gainesville, Florida back in the 1950's. What his music broadcast to the masses was that independent streak and homegrown sound that is Southern music. There was never an attempt to conceal that accent that developed among lime pits and spongy palm trees. He even wrote and performed a song about it. 

​There's a southern accent, where I come from
The young 'uns call it country, the yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talking, but everything gets done
With a southern accent, where I come from

Now that drunk tank in Atlanta, is just a motel room to me
Think I might go work Orlando, if them orange groves don't freeze
Got my own way of working, but everything is run
With a southern accent, where I come from

For just a minute there I was dreaming
For just a minute it was all so real
For just a minute she was standing there, with me

There's a dream I keep having, where my momma comes to me
And kneels down over by the window, and says a prayer for me
Got my own way of praying, but everyone's begun
With a southern accent, where I come from

Got my own way of living, but everything gets done
With a southern accent, where I come from

Tom Petty - Southern Accents, 1985

That's about as Southern as it gets. Dreaming about momma praying over you as you sleep in your bedroom back home, feeling the disdain for your accent by folks who can't get it, that independent streak that gets it done your way and without forgetting where you came from. It just can't get much more Southern than that. Folks who grew up in the truly Southern areas of Florida know of the long nights of lighting smudge pots and praying that "them orange groves don't freeze."

Through adolescence, my teen years, and into adulthood, Tom Petty songs were always around. They made us laugh, dream, and even think. We sang along and offered raucous toasts. We listened in moments of sadness and celebration.

Last night as the news hung on the edge of the announcement and Twitter abuzz over Petty standing his ground, part of me hoped for a miracle but experience was telling me it was a matter of time. My youngest son and I watched several of his videos online and talked about his music. This morning he told me "I had a really weird dream last night. I was going to get a drink of orange juice and I went to pour it but then I noticed there was a huge wasp nest in the glass." "Did you watch too many Tom Petty videos last night?" "I think so. Think I should write a song about it?" "Of course you should. That's the only right answer in this situation."

Just do it with a Southern accent.

I'm sad that this is where the story and the music ends. We have so much to listen to in his extensive library of music. But there won't be new stuff. There won't be any more live performances. And that is sad. But it is easy for us to see that we lost a favorite singer-songwriter and a cultural icon when we lost Tom Petty. What takes a bit more thought and concern is the fact that his friends and family lost "Dad" and "Tom." Those who knew him best really lost the most. Their families are irrevocably changed. We must not overlook that fact. They could use our prayers in a difficult time. ​

Thanks, Tom Petty. We will always remember you in that place you came from.