Swingin'

I have always found this song to be a little haunting and sad. The lyrics conjure a young woman who is trying to escape an environment she can't live in anymore. She runs, and breaks free even with the obstacles in her path. Her "swingin'" could be taken as she will fight for a new life.

i took this song literaly a young women hitchhiking to get away

The first time I heard this song, it was really emotional to me because I thought it could be taken as the girl actually trying to hitchhike away, and then she is murdered by the guy that picks her up. However, that is just the movie that played in my head upon first hearing the lyrics...if you look at them written out it seems more logical that the girl worked in Vegas or something and always wanted out of her situation, and then finally does something about it. However, the last verse saying how she went down swingin' made me think that maybe she did die, just not without a fight. If you put that into context, then the line "And she said I'm never goin' back, she said at last I'm free, I wish ma could see me now, she'd be so proud of me" could kinda bring tears to your eyes. Great song with simple chords. A Tom Petty classic. CRAFT AND CONSISTENCY!

wonderful background vocals by Howie Epstein, former bass player of the Heartbreakers who died of a heroin overdose in 2003. RIP Howie

I think it's also Petty's ode to some great musicians: Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey.

Outstanding and simple guitar solo.

Tough nut to crack. I think the song is ultimately about the loss of a dream because life happens sometimes. The girl in the song is trying to make something of herself, probably as a performer or singer of some kind due to all the swing-band name drops in the song. She begins hitchhiking near a highway, probably because her car broke down, which puts her at a very low point. She's been knocked down once already. But she didn't give up. If she can't drive to where she's going (to take her shot at her dream) then she'll hitch.

The young woman has been through some trying times already, despite her young age. Some kind of "hell" she experienced in Vegas... it doesn't matter what it is, just that in that case, she didn't go through it alone, her mother in law was with her. That's a bit representative too, because sometimes, our bad times are on display for others to see.

The woman finally gets to where she's going and takes her shot. But it doesn't work out how she wants. We know that because of the last name that's dropped: Sonny Liston. All the other name drops were swing band leaders or musicians. This is how we are supposed to understand that she's trying to get into some kind of performing arts as a singer or musician, even though that's just symbolic of whatever it is that's in your dreams. "She went down swingin'" like all these famous swing band leaders, most of whom died doing what they loved. Except for Sonny Liston.

Liston was a boxer, and famously got his *** handed to him by a young Muhammad Ali (when he was still going by the name Cassius Clay). Ali knocked Liston out cold with one punch. So if this young woman went down swinging like all these swing band leaders, that just means she was dedicated to her art like they were. But to go down swingin' like Sonny Liston means you lost pretty hard, which is what Liston is now famous for. You didn't accomplish what you set out to do. But you get up, and you try again, or you move on to something else.

So she took her shot, and she went down... swingin'.

Swinging with the swing band conductors before the last two words, Sonny Liston; she was never heard from again, just like Sonny Liston. She went down Swinging at her killer in the Cadillac. Great Petty tune.