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Tom Petty – You don’t Know How It Feels
This is Tom Petty’s last Top 40 charted single.
Released in 1994 as the lead single from his solo album, ‘Wildflowers’, Tom wrote and produced a simple, yet poignant song about wanting more control over his public life as well as his artistic freedom.
“You Don’t Know How It Feels” says to the listener, “You have no idea what it’s like being a famous and beloved artist. It can be very draining! Also, the big record companies think they own you, therefore own your art!”
MTV, VH1 and many radio stations edited or censored the song because of the lyrics, “Let’s roll another joint.” The lyric is meant as, “Hey man! Chill! It’s cool if we just talk like friends or neighbors… Forget about all the ‘celebrity’ hype and let’s just share this, man!”
The lyrics were changed to “Let’s hit another joint” (supposedly meaning another club or bar) but is easily construed as smoking it. OR, joint was reversed and heard backwards, meaning nothing.
The video on MTV (even after messing with the integrity of the song) won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1995.
Also, for a laugh, search for the “B-side” track, “Girl On LSD”.
