Transcribing Notes From John Neil (Head Transcriber)
Mary Jane’s Last Dance – Tom Petty – Song Breakdown
This recording is either slowed down from Bbm, or sped up from Am. I chose Am, as that’s where the guitar positioning makes the most sense (well, it could have been capo-ed, but I’m going with sped up). It started out as a song called “Indiana Girl”, but Tom Petty wanted more depth to it, so re-wrote it, keeping the “Indiana girl” in the lyrics. From what I’ve read, Tom Petty never really said what the song’s about … some say marijuana, some say his divorce from his wife Jane a year prior. Guitarist Mike Campbell says it’s whatever you want.
Melody
A Bob Dylan-esque vocal melody with some words more spoken than sung, which I signified by an “x” notehead. The range is D3 to D4.
Download the Melody Sheet Music Here
Keyboard
Benmont Tench does his signature organ on this one. It’s more of a “thin” sounding organ, except for verse 4, where it’s his normal Hammond organ sound, with the following chorus adding piano (with the organ sounding like it switches back to the “thin” sound). The “thin” sound could just be that it’s going through the Leslie cabinet in “stop” mode, where the speakers don’t spin, or it could be going through another amp all-together, and/or it could be a different organ. The entire song could work with Hammond organ through Leslie cabinet of course.
Download the Keyboard Sheet Music Here
Lead Guitar
Looking at Mike Campbell in live performances, he plays in the open chord area as well as higher on the neck. It sort of depends on what licks he is playing. I wrote it out based on the licks and slides etc. Plus sometimes I hear the low B of the G chord signifying open chord etc. This can of course be played to your liking. When playing barre chords with the root on the low E string, it looks like he uses his thumb to play the root.
Tom Petty takes the outro guitar solo (which was suggested by Mike Campbell), but I still had the lead guitar part play it.
Download the Lead Guitar Tab Here
Rhythm Guitar
This is basically Tom Petty’s part, though I did a couple switches here and there. This one lives more in the open chord area.
Download the Rhythm Guitar Tab Here
Strum Guitar & Ukulele
There isn’t really a strumming part in this recording, though some strumming is going on in the electric guitar parts. I wrote new parts for strum guitar and ukulele.
Download the Strum Tab Here
Download the Ukulele Tab Here
Bass Guitar
A lively part that locks in with the bass drum nicely. In at least 1 live recording, it’s played with a pick.
Download the Bass Tab Here
Drums
A pretty basic part with lots of open hi-hats and drags. There is a shaker playing throughout the recording, on 16th notes, which sometimes made it hard to discern from the hi-hats, which seem to just be on 8th notes. When the offbeat 16th notes were more prominent, I made them hi-hats.
Download the Drum Music Here
Download the Lead Sheet Here
