"..the Press really kind of messed up our friendship."
 

I've always meant to ask, does anyone know what Stevie is talking about in this snippet from some Rolling Stone online thing?:

"As God is my witness, Tom [Petty] and I are very good friends. I just talked to Tom the night that we found out about Princess Diana, talked to him on the phone for an hour. He lives very close to here, he lives right down there. So Tom and I are, like, neighbors. And it's great because he really is my good friend. He's my best guy friend... Tom and I have been really good friends since he gave me Stop Draggin' My Heart Around. A hundred years ago, the press really kind of messed up our friendship [so when] Tom did all those shows up in San Francisco, he really didn't want me to come up. Because of the press. And I was very hurt because of this. That is what the press does. So the press did manage to get in and destroy my ability to go and see my favorite rock star play at my favorite place, The Fillmore. I didn't get to go because of the press."

I never knew she and Tom had a rift/rifts in their friendship :shrug:

I think she is refering to how the press may have implied, spread rumours, falsely reported, etc; that the two of them were in a relationship, when they were really just friends.

Yeah, that's what she is referring to. Apparently Tom's wife wasn't too happy with that particular rumour so Tom asked Stevie to stay away...at least, that's the story I heard.

http://i41.tinypic.com/97r491.jpg
:rolleyes:

Oh, I've been waiting for this topic to come up- 'the press' re: the alleged Tom-Stevie romance. The only 'press' who reported this was 'The Star'-- I thought the 'story' had been written by Janet Charlton, but maybe I'm wrong about that. What I do know is that the story didn't go very far- it wasn't picked up by any mainstream news outlets that I know of, and didn't even warrant a mention in the 'Random Notes' gossip column in Rolling Stone.
I think everyone knew it was just tabloid filler. It amused me then that Stevie referred to a tabloid as 'the press', 'cause it sure wasn't in any respectable publication, this Petty-Stevie would-be romance.
It was dismissed at the time. Unless,of course, anyone here happened to be an eye-witness to any grimy amour in bloom between them. I bet 'The Star' loved being referred to with such reverence- I don't think they ever bothered Stevie again, probably out of gratitude!
'The Star' just had a 'little space to fill' that week.
Thanks for the photo, Sanne. 60 pounds. Really :)

The above photo was also in The Globe which reports fairly regularly on Stevie. Anyway, that article was from 1996, after Stevie had lost the weight (not 60 lbs, though), and it said that, with Tom's marriage breaking up (which it did in 1996), that Stevie & Tom were finally together after all these years.

First off, I believe Stevie did fall in love with Tom in 1980. She basically says so in the Bay Area Music interview in 1981 when she talks about writing "If You Were My Love" after recording "Outside the Rain" "last year" with Tom & the Heartbreakers. Listen to the lyrics, it's not another LB song: it's forbidden love! With ~ possibly~ a married man!!! "Now, now, if I were the one who watched over your sleeping, you would never have been frightened at all... at all..."

Looks like there was no romance, but Stevie fell in love once again, "however momentarily". IMO.

I also think "Violet and Blue" is about Tom, with her intoning, "He said, 'I need to know'!"

But I'm one of those rare guys who actually thinks Stevie's written more than one song about someone other than LB. And Stevie being in love with Tom for awhile does not mean they had an affair. Or maybe it was a short secret one. I don't know or claim to know. But Stevie falls for talented rock and roll men. Her romantic history is littered with them, many more we don't even know about.

And maybe they did hook up for a bit in 1996. The Enquirer, Star, The Globe, etc., get more stories right than they get wrong. It's been proven hundreds of times over. Just ask Tiger Woods, David Boreanaz... ask OJ about his shoes!!! ;)

I think that you can tell by the way she used to look at him that there was more there than just a friendship...at least in the early days. ;)

Thanks for the info, Mike. I completely bow to your knowledge about Stevie's recording career, and really, anything Stevie, without question. You know much more than I, hands down.
By the way, I tend to agree with you about The Enquirer- it is generally regarded as a more-reliable than not publication, they even got recognition from Newsweek for having some of the best investigative reporters in all of journalism. Plus, they pay a fortune to their sources!
I can't say that 'The Star' or 'The Globe' can claim any such reliability, unless they've changed a lot in recent years. But if it's in The Enquirer, it usually can be relied upon, they've come a long way since the Carol Burnett lawsuit they lost 3 decades ago.
Did the Stevie-Tom 'news' make The Enquirer? I thought for sure it was 'an article' in only one tabloid, and the photo in this thread does seem to be from The Globe, so I was confused. Janet Charlton just had a small mention of it in her Star column, I believe.
Tom had said of Stevie that she was like the little sister to him that he didn't want to hear anyone say salacious things about. I'm sure they must love each other. But I never bought into a romance, I think they're friends and colleagues who love each other. I don't think Tom would or could make the jump from the little sister analogy to being her lover. Just my opinion, and Mike, if you know otherwise, then you know it, and I'm wrong!

Other than Lindsey has she ever been interested in an attractive and/or talented guy? sheesh.


maybe all of the attractive and/or talented guys are gay?

I have zero inside knowledge.

But "If You Were My Love".... Stevie says in print that she wrote it after recording "Outside the Rain" with TP & the Heartbreakers. She was inspired to write this new song. The lyrics imply it's a new love, one that could never be.

Stevie fell in love with Tom. IMO.

Stevie's songs lend more credence for me than a married man saying he thought of Stevie as a little sister. Until 1991, no one had any idea that all those many songs were written about Joe Walsh, and that Stevie considered him her greatest love of all! she wouldn't even admit it in 1989 when talking about "Long Way To Go", but she sure opened up 2 years later with that BBC interview.

Stevie lives on secrets and unrequited love and hidden meanings. I think they lied to protect his marriage and family. Just going on Stevie's song lyrics and when she wrote them.

And I could be 100% wrong. No big deal.

Well, I heard that the mysterious waiter Stevie says she had a relationship with sometime in the last decade (or so) was totally attractive and very talented, heh-heh, in the way that Janis Joplin used to refer to a really good-in-bed guy as 'a real talent!'
Yet, I 'd always thought all of the attractive and 'talented' waiters were gay!
Live and learn

You're not. If You Were My love seems to be clearly about her and Tom.

I do think Stevie fell in love with Tom, but I don't think they had an affair. It is called If You Were My Love, meaning that he was not, because he was married and everyone must remain faithful.

I also have always connected Violet & Blue to Tom Petty. In addition to "He said, 'I Need To Know" in V & B, she used to end INTK with "Take your violet and blue mornings with you." I always liked how she cross-referenced those two songs.

Also I think the verse "So we both play, it gets under your skin, and we both love the road, but the roads are different" is literally about how they both love touring, but are touring apart from one another.

Didn't this supposed relationship rumour hit the late night shows too... I seem to recall Conan doing his bit where he used to morph peoples heads together - and used Tom and Stevie - with the outcome being what their kid would look like... or something like that. It was a long time ago, could have been around '96