U Get Me High shares verse with Don't Fade on Me

[TwoGunslingers 146]

Like the title says... has this been posted here before?

 

U Get Me High (Hypnotic Eye, 2014):

I remember feeling this way

You can lose it without knowing

You wake up and you don't know

Which way the wind is blowing

 

Don't Fade on Me (Wildflowers, 1994):

I remember feeling this way

You can lose it without knowing

You wake up and you don't notice

Which way the wind is blowing

 

Open for discussion: Is this a coincidence? Did Petty draw from the same source of inspiration twice, twenty years apart? Or is U Get Me High a much older song than we knew, maybe stemming from the Wildflowers sessions? Maybe the "All The Rest"-album can shed some light here. Or did Tom try to connect the two songs with this verse, giving us a clue what got him "high" in 2014? Same thing he lost in 1994?

[nurktwin 2,143]

^  That's the luxury of writing songs, you can steal from yourself without getting sued!!!!!!!!

[Shelter 1,219]

^

Sure thing.

If you know your TP lyrics, those lines should've been like a ringing bell in your mind upon first listen..

It also has been posted before..

As for the origin of U Get Me High, one can only speculate really, but the title itself is listed among the Wildflowers outtakes, and has been mentioned in those discussions lately:

 

Then we have the outtakes that are not officially released:

*Wake up Time (alternative take)

*Time to Move On (alternative take)

*Leave Virginia Alone (Rod Stewart realeased it in 1995)

*Confusion Wheel

*Something Could Happen

*Lonesome Dave

*Somewhere Under Heaven

*U Get Me High (original version)

If that means it's exactly the same song as was then re-recorded for Hypnotic Eye (the shared lyrics then being part of the reason it was unconsidered for the final Wildflowers cut), or if it actually predates Don't Fade On Me, but was shelved when TP come up with the latter instead.. or what's up, who knows? I think it's fair to say there is a connection. Maybe we will know how it used to sound soon enough..?

One can speculate: perhaps it was deciding on giving U Get Me High a belated chance on HE, that had them realize what they had, thus initiating the very idea of a Wildflowers anniversary release (the anniversary part now scratched, but still). Or it was early stages of planning such release, going through the vaults, that had them finding the song and deciding to lift it from oblivion unto the then soon to be done HE?

I suppose, even if it was to be just a little nod to his own past, it would be a cool move on TP's behalf though.

[TwoGunslingers 146]

If you know your TP lyrics, those lines should've been like a ringing bell in your mind upon first listen..

Well, I don't always pay that much attention to lyrics, especially when the song does not really grab my by the throat (which U Get Me High for sure didn't). But today I listened to the lyrics for the first time and, yeah, the bell rung! 

 

It also has been posted before..

Yeah, sorry for double-posting this. Was not aware of Dan's and your earlier posts.

 

And I think you already nailed it: That U Get Me High (original version) is in the list of outtakes from Wildflowers means (I guess) it's just an old song they tried again for HE and liked it better this time around. Maybe they fooled around with the arrangement a little, who knows. But reading your list of outtakes (I fondly remember the thread and our discussions), I thought of You Get Me High from the Playback box set... well, confusion all around.

[Shelter 1,219]

^ that's alright! not sure if the first time around had much insights to offer anyway, other than pointing out the fact. basically I'm just glad the bell finally rung over there..

[Magnolia 171]

Yeah it has been discussed, but it's very interesting, and vexing! I'd love to know what was in Tom 's head. I still think maybe he just wanted to see if we're all paying attention!

[TwoGunslingers 146]

And we are, of course! Some of us sooner, some of us ( = me) later, but anyway!  What I think could be frustrating for Tom is when you get interviewed and asked about the new record but none of the interviewers gets things like these. And even if they do, I bet their magazines would cut stuff like that from the issue, probably arguing: Who cares? And instead they let Tom tell the old familiar stories over and over again and ask a tiny little bit about the new record. How it was recorded, that it's a return to the earlier sound etc.

[nurktwin 2,143]

We'll probably never know what is in the heads of these superstars unless we talk to them alone and ask our own questions. The media goes into an interview with preplanned questions and already have the answers in their own heads as if they are the stars!! They turn all the answers into what they believe is right. No wonder George, Tom, Roy, Bob and Jeff hated doing interviews, let alone The Beatles, Stones, Zep, and countless other bands. Why do interviews when they fall on cloth ears and the stories come out wrong? Even video interviews are cut and spliced to make up whatever the producer wants, which is a false statement of the person or band and they should be put in jail.

[SingsInFrench 262]

I love that Tom referenced himself in U Get Me High by using the lyrics from Don't Fade on Me. I don't think it was a coincidence, but a very deliberate writing strategy. I like that he revisits a theme he has used before to tie the two songs together.