Free Fallin'
By: Tom Petty

Written by: Tom Petty

Live Versions:
  1. Free Fallin'
 
Lyrics:
Free Fallin' [Live version (a)]:

[From Tom Petty's original]

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 livin' in Reseda
There's a freeway runnin' through the yard
And I'm a bad boy 'cause I don't even miss her
I'm a bad boy for breakin' her heart

And I'm free! Free fallin'!
Yea I'm free... free fallin'!

All the vampires walkin' through the valley
Move west down Ventura Boulevard
And all the bad boys are standin' in the shadows
And the good girls are home with broken hearts

And I'm free! Free fallin'!
Yea I'm free... free fallin'!

I wanna glide down over Mulholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
I wanna free fall out into nothin'
Gonna leave this world for awhile

And I'm free! Free fallin'!
Yea I'm free... free fallin'!
 
The Song:

Beck has referred to this Tom Petty classic a number of times on stage. Beck has gotten some mileage from the fact that "Pay No Mind" has similar chords to "Free Fallin'," so he sometimes would start the first and go into the latter. Mostly he did this during his solo gigs/sets of 2002, though in 2013, he did it again a couple of times.

Tom Petty once covered "Asshole" on one of his records, as well as played on Johnny Cash's cover of "Rowboat."
 
Live:

Played live 12 times:
Earliest known live version: February 24, 2002
Latest known live version: July 2, 2013

Besides tossing the chorus into his "Pay No Mind" stories of August, 2002, Beck also played "Free Fallin'" at the end of a long medley of his own songs on Star 98.7 in Los Angeles on November 25, 2002. Interestingly, "Pay No Mind" was not one of them!
 
Notes: