A Thousand Miles from Kansas

In 1999, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released an album entitled “Echo”. Melissa and I were living in Japan at the time.  A huge Tom Petty fan, I had to have it and I remember being very excited when I found the CD at my local Tsutaya media store in Kurashiki. Although not the best received Petty album, only reaching the number 10 spot  on the Billboard album charts, I was really digging what this album was belting out. Especially the tracks “Room at the Top” and “Swingin’”. Although I instantly think of my time in Kurashiki when I listen to this album, it has cast a light on a different phase of my life. Recently, it is the title track, “Echo” that has caught my attention and become, somewhat, the soundtrack of my current situation. 

A few months ago, Melissa and I returned from the States after living in Asia for several years. Coming back to the States meant a reunion with boxes that were packed and stored many years ago. As the movers carried box after box into our current home, it became a bit overwhelming. Maybe even daunting. Haunting. Every box that was opened housed an echo of a memory from another lifetime. I found myself surrounded by boxes whispering echoes of a life from long ago. Tiptoeing through these memories can be exhausting and comforting all at the same time. These lines from Petty’s “Echo” sum it up pretty well:

“Put down your things and rest awhile

You know we’ve both nowhere to go…

… halfway there you know

And no, I don’t pretend there’s any more of that

They say one day, you’ll look up and laugh and hear

The same sad echo when you walk

Yeah, the same sad echo when you talk loud and clear

It’s the same as the same sad echo around here”

It was during a moment of exhaustion, still surrounded, that “Echo” randomly wafted to my ears. I remember thinking, “How does Tom always know how I am feeling?” It still saddens me that Tom Petty is no longer with us and that there will be no new music from him. He was such a great songwriter. Thankfully, we still have those echoes to comfort us.