August 2021: Somewhere in the DC Suburbs
You belong among the wildflowers…
Sometimes you find a song. But sometimes the song finds you. And like special people in your life, you wonder how you ever lived without it.
It becomes a part of your ethos. A part of your sense of self. Occupies a little bit of your soul.
Such is the case with Tom Petty’s title track Wildflowers. Released in 1994, I didn’t discover it — or rather, it didn’t discover me — until Summer 2021.
You belong somewhere you feel free…
As a history teacher. I spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to be free. Who has had freedom, who has not, degrees of freedom, realms of freedom. The ongoing quest for freedom; and the tragic results when freedom is denied.
Inevitably, when you spend your waking hours thinking and teaching about what it means to be free, you think about your own freedom. Not always in a literal or political sense, but in the ability to let your mind wander, to dream big, to imagine the unimagined.
Life in 2020-21 was the opposite of “free.” As a teacher whose school was closed, my basement became my classroom. Instead of bright young faces, I now looked at circles on a laptop screen — each one representing a student with a camera turned off. Surreal.
At the same time, I was parenting two kids. One was entering teenagehood.The pandemic catapulted his emotions into constant emotional turbulence.
None of it was easy. But compared to so many others that had it far worse, my family was lucky.
For that, I was grateful. But restless and anxious as hell.
So, in an effort to keep my sanity, I found solace in the outdoors. I took walks in the woods behind my home; I discovered gardening; I took pictures of sunsets; I soaked up sunshine whenever I could; I noticed the smell and the color of spring like I never had.
Outdoors I felt free. Like I could breathe.
So, as weeks of quarantine rolled into months, I found myself turning anew to music. Rediscovering it. Letting it saturate me like I once had as a teenager. And Tom Petty’s songwriting alchemy of hope and realism, of a search for refuge, spoke truth to me. So I dug deeper. Delved beyond his radio cuts. What was this album Wildflowers diehards spoke of? Was it really that amazing?
Wildflowers arrived with a humble brown cover. What to expect, I didn’t know. But I heard those opening acoustic notes on the title track, and was instantly entranced. Petty was speaking my language: Of finding peace amidst the chaos, of discovering tranquility in nature, of wanting to protect your loved one from turmoil, of deserving a place—and space—for freedom.
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong somewhere close to me
Far away from your trouble and worry
You belong somewhere you feel free..
This song? Love at first listen. My anthem. Just the call for sanctuary was enough to provide tranquility on some of those crazy mornings. I wasn’t alone.
How I missed this song in its prime, I’ll never understand. But somehow this song found me when I needed to hear it. Finding peace in a song about solace — while the outside world remains ablaze so many days—has been a beautiful find, much like a wildflower itself.
Thank you, TP.
Stereo Story #681
See also Learning To Fly. Story by Lauren Alex O’Hagan
Discover more from Stereo Stories
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Thanks for your beautiful words linking Tom Petty and nature. Lockdowns had us appreciating nature every day, in our neighbourhoods, and taking endless sunset photos. In Melbourne we were locked down for an extraordinarily long time, so I turned to YouTube and especially Springsteen live videos form the 1970s and 1980s. Music and nature are balms for the soul.
Absolutely balms for the soul – thank goodness, right?! Thank you for your kind words and for reading my piece. -MBD
Another beautiful piece, Mary. The whole of Wildflowers is a masterpiece and my favourite album of all time. The title track has so many special meanings to so many people. To me, it helped me cope when Tom passed away just knowing that he was “free” now and no longer in pain. Thank you for sharing your own experience x
Thank you so much, Lauren. So many of Tom Petty’s songs have to do with being free, finding sanctuary and safety. When you learn about his childhood, you can understand why that was so important. Sadly ironic that the bard who gave us so many songs about finding freedom had so little for himself until his later years, and so sad that those later years were so short. I hope he is free and at peace, knowing the solace he provided for so many of us.
Your feedback means a lot – thank you for taking the time to read.
Thanks for the reminder of this great track.
When the album “Wildflowers” was first released, I played it non-stop.
And thanks for this story.
There is just something about discovering a song that grabs you, years after its release.
Thank you so much and I totally agree. Finding an old song after its release is like discovering an antique at a thrift store or maybe like finding an old photograph in a pile of junk. It’s just totally unexpected, in the most beautiful way.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply & for reading this.
Thanks for rediscovering Tom Petty at this most crucial hour. The world needs his words now more than ever. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words with us! -J
Thank you, John. A good find at a good time, indeed. Thanks for listening alongside me.