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After decades in the music industry, Tom Petty had an extensive catalog of songs, more than one person could possibly be expected to remember. As it turned out, Petty didn’t always remember the words to the songs he wrote. He recalled an “embarrassing moment” at a concert when he began playing “Learning to Fly.” The song is a classic, and the audience knew every word. Very quickly after starting the song, though, Petty blanked on the lyrics.

Tom Petty wears a striped shirt and plays the guitar.
Tom Petty | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Tom Petty said his most ‘evergreen’ songs were on the album ‘Into the Great Wide Open’

In 1991, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open. The band released it at a time of interpersonal tension — there were fears that Petty would break up the band after the success of his debut solo album, and Petty’s relationship with drummer Stan Lynch was at a low point. 

“That record gave us some of our most evergreen songs,” Petty said, per the book Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes. “It’s our biggest album in Europe. But suddenly we were in a business where you could feel bad about selling only a few million records and recording some songs that live forever.” 

Tom Petty forgot the words to one of his songs during a concert

One of the most well-known songs on Into the Great Wide Open was “Learning to Fly,” which peaked at Number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to Zanes, “Learning to Fly” quickly became “one of the songs that an arena could sing.” Petty noted that the audience sometimes knew the words better than him.

“It’s mostly that way in the arenas with lots and lots of people,” he told Mojo in 1999, per The Petty Archives. “That’s kind of an overwhelming thing. You sit back and go, ‘Gee, it’s louder than us.’ But it’s nice. No, it’s great that the songs mean that much to them that they know them better than I do.”

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The audience proved they knew the words better than Petty after a slightly embarrassing moment at a concert.

“I had an embarrassing moment last night,” he said. “For some reason I decided I was going to play — we’d gone way off the set list, way off; six or seven songs off it — and I decided I’m going to play ‘Learning To Fly.’ I start it, and the whole room starts to sing it, and midway through the first verse I realize I don’t know it. And I just stopped and said, ‘I’m sorry I don’t remember it.’ And I just went into another song. But they all knew it, but I’d forgotten it. [Laughs.] I thought I knew it.”

Luckily, the audience wasn’t upset at Petty’s forgetfulness.

“There’s so many songs and that was one I probably hadn’t played in five years,” he explained. “I thought I knew it because I’d done it so many times. But I didn’t really know it. And them singing it actually put me off a little bit, because I knew they knew it. Then it was, ‘Oh hell, I’m going to do something else.’ And they were OK with it.”

Bob Dylan covered ‘Learning to Fly’ after Petty’s death

After Petty’s death in 2017, his longtime friend Bob Dylan covered “Learning to Fly” in concert. He also offered a rare public statement in honor of Petty.

“It’s shocking, crushing news,” he said, per Pitchfork. “I thought the world of Tom. He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”

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