When I was a kid, I regularly told people that the Tom Petty’s classic “Free Fallin’” perfectly defined my life. In response, those very same people would rightly point out that it did not.
In reality, I was raised in rural Pennsylvania, while the woman in the song is clearly a native of the greater Los Angeles area. As for the opening lines, I may have been a “good girl,” but my critics correctly noted I was not overly religious, patriotic, or “crazy ‘bout Elvis.”
What the naysayers did not appreciate was that none of those details mattered. My connection with the song boiled down to just one lyric: “loves horses.” That was enough for me!
Now, thanks to the lyrical stylings of Jimmy Fallon and Kevin Bacon, there is finally a version of the song, entitled “Free Horses,” which is exclusively about equestrian women everywhere.
In this The Tonight Show’s recurring segment—First Drafts of Rock on Monday—Bacon and Fallon channel Petty and Jeff Lynne (Petty’s co-writer) respectively, exhibiting an astute understanding of horse obsessed women everywhere. They croon lyrics like: “She loves flowers/ And horses too/ She likes football/ But she really loves horses,” and “If there’s one thing she loves most about horses / It’s that they’re horses / That’s the one thing.”
This reworked version of “Free Fallin'” is unmistakably about one thing, and one thing only: loving horses. It’s just as I had always imagined it, and I bet I’m not alone!
About the Author
Marjorie Wilkinson is the co-founder and co-editor of Counter-Canter Culture—a revolutionary online publication intended to unite the equestrians and equestrian-enthusiasts who aren’t afraid to kick up the dust that has settled on the conventional equine lifestyle. She is also a real-life Hollywood music supervisor and the official curator of Counter-Canter Culture’s musical column, 100% Sound.