RIP Tom Petty

Here’s what I’ll remember about Petty:

1.  The Heartbreakers were a genuinely great band–the closest American equivalent to the Rolling Stones.  They could play anything, and loved doing it.
2.  Petty was a horribly underrated songwriter.  Among other things, he crafted the best, most succinct definition of middle age I’ve ever heard:  I woke up/In between/Memory/ And the dream.
3.  He managed to write passionately about life in the South without being sentimental about bigotry.  In that, he has much to teach the Democratic Party, and the whole nation.