It was with a long and rolling anecdote that we finally approached the issue that was bugging Tom Petty – the thing that was the very crux of the matter. Seems that this time around the big music tour had got bigger, the ticket prices were through the roof, and although Johnny gave it his all he was failing to connect. It wasn’t just that the almighty dollar had won the argument but more the existential angst of the once relevant music idol being reduced to the question: “Could that man on stage with everything somehow need some more ?“.
The getting of wealth replacing a commitment to art, wow, if we had a nickel for every time that came up we’d be able to give up the advice game forever and retire to a private island in the Hebrides. We certainly had enough advisers to call on for that one but finally we found that it was agony aunt and uncle duo The Mastersons that summed it up the best “How much money would make you happy? Would a pile so high push your worry away?” Chase as much as you like it’s never a big enough pile to calm your internal pain – ‘cos “you never learn nothing and you’re never gonna change.” Agony uncle Roger Waters looked over the top of his paper at that thought and nodded his agreement.
