This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
She grew up in an Indiana town
Had a good lookin' mama who never was around
But she grew up tall and she grew up right
With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night
Well, she moved down here at the age of eighteen
She blew the boys away, it was more than they'd seen
I was introduced and we both started groovin'
She said, "I dig you, baby, but I got to keep movin' on, keep movin' on"
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
Well, I don't know but I've been told
You never slow down, you never grow old
I'm tired of screwing up, tired of goin' down
Tired of myself, tired of this town
Oh, my, my, oh, hell yes
Honey, put on that party dress
Buy me a drink, sing me a song
Take me as I come 'cause I can't stay long
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
There's pigeons down on Market Square
She's standin' in her underwear
Lookin' down from a hotel room
The nightfall will be comin' soon
Oh, my, my, oh, hell yes
You've got to put on that party dress
It was too cold to cry when I woke up alone
I hit the last number, I walked to the road
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
Had a good lookin' mama who never was around
But she grew up tall and she grew up right
With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night
Well, she moved down here at the age of eighteen
She blew the boys away, it was more than they'd seen
I was introduced and we both started groovin'
She said, "I dig you, baby, but I got to keep movin' on, keep movin' on"
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
Well, I don't know but I've been told
You never slow down, you never grow old
I'm tired of screwing up, tired of goin' down
Tired of myself, tired of this town
Oh, my, my, oh, hell yes
Honey, put on that party dress
Buy me a drink, sing me a song
Take me as I come 'cause I can't stay long
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
There's pigeons down on Market Square
She's standin' in her underwear
Lookin' down from a hotel room
The nightfall will be comin' soon
Oh, my, my, oh, hell yes
You've got to put on that party dress
It was too cold to cry when I woke up alone
I hit the last number, I walked to the road
Last dance with Mary Jane
One more time to kill the pain
I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
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Just A Little Lovin'
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I haven't read all 100+ posts here, but my take on the song is that "Mary Jane" refers to the girl and to the smoke. Whatever Tom Petty meant by it, I've always interpreted it a bit like this -
He's singing point of view of a guy in a small town, going nowhere. The girl, Mary Jane, is a girl who grew up in a similar small town in Indiana with a waste case of a mother who pretty much left her to her own. With no parental guidance, she became prey to the "Indiana boys", so she learned to be tough and take care of herself (she grew up tall and she grew up right).
When she was 18, she left her podunk town and hit the road, looking for something better. She pulled into our Hero's town - another small town, not unlike the one she left behind. She knew she wouldn't be staying long, but our Hero was smitten with her, and she kind of liked him too, and they started hanging out together (groovin') - and she stayed longer than she expected.
The verse "i don't know, but I been told" is Mary Jane talking - she's realizing that no matter where she goes, she can't escape her past - she doesn't want to be tied down to one place because it all comes creeping back - but she's tired of running, too.
The chorus "last dance with Mary jane" is a literal last dance with her, and a figurative one more bowl of weed. They're both trying to numb their pain - her shitty life, his shitty life PLUS the knowledge he's losing her.
He passes out in their hotel room, but she's overcome with the hopelessness of her life - and goes out the window and jumps ("night fall" will be coming soon) - falls to her death in the square below.
He wakes up alone - finds out what's happened, and is just numb, not surprised (too cold to cry when I woke up alone). Smokes a bowl for the road and heads out (hit my last number), hoping to find a better life than she did.
It's like, she was the only good thing that ever happened to him in that town, trying to keep her there killed her. He wasn't going to let the small town kill him too.
But that's just the way I see it. :)
@fnnkybutt I know this comment is old but I'm gonna reply anyway, because I very much agree. I've always been annoyed with people who think the song is ONLY about drugs, purely because of the name "Mary Jane"--they're clearly not paying attention to the rest of the lyrics. There's a story.<br /> <br /> I've always gotten something similar from the song, except I'm not sure whether she actually jumped to her death from the hotel room or if she only contemplated it, then snuck out to hit the road again, leaving our hero alone. I think it's pretty ambiguous and I kind of like that.
@fnnkybutt Small towns don't have hotels tall enough to kill yourself by jumping.
@fnnkybutt Excellent technical analysis from nullportal!
@fnnkybutt I have no idea if this was what Tom Petty had in mind, but it should have been. You just added a depth to the song. Thank you.