Kevin Bacon Sounds Exactly Like Tom Petty Singing "Free Fallin'" with Jimmy Fallon
Turns out the classic rock ballad was originally about... horse girls?
Kevin Bacon's transformations for "First Drafts of Rock" on The Tonight Show have always struck the right chord.
The actor and musician — who is one half of The Bacon Brothers duo with sibling Michael Bacon — sounded exactly like Tom Petty when he dressed as the iconic late American rocker in this August 2016 performance.
Bacon donned the long blond wig to sing an alleged "early version" of Petty's 1980s hit, "Free Fallin.'" And it turns out the first draft was about... horse girls?
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Kevin Bacon perfectly mimics Tom Petty singing "Free Fallin'" with alternate lyrics
This installment of "First Drafts of Rock" opened with some Behind the Music-style history.
"In 1989, Tom Petty released his critically acclaimed solo album, Full Moon Fever," a voice-over explained over a montage of archival photos. "Petty teamed up with ELO frontman Jeff Lynne to write the album's opening track, "Free Fallin'."
"It would become Petty's longest-charting and most famous song to date, and one he could play at sold out shows for years to come," the voiceover continued. And that's all true, except for this last part: "...but America never heard its first draft — until now."
Cue Bacon standing in a pitch-perfect Tom Petty guitar stance, dressed in his classic look: long blond hair, bandana around his forehead, and a free-flowing scarf to pull the outfit together. Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon was dressed as guitarist Mike Campbell, a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, wearing a tall brown wig while playing a double-neck guitar.
The opening chords and lyrics of the "First Draft" are same as the classic track we all know and sing along to. But when Bacon's Petty keeps bringing up the girl's love for horses, you realize the song was still a work in progress.
"She digs horses, yeah she’s nuts about horses / She enjoys horses, yeah she does / She loves horse hair, horse teeth, and horse noses / She loves horseshoes, and horses too," sings Bacon.
Throughout the number, Fallon's Campbell keeps trying to join in with Bacon to sing the chorus. Alas, the actor is busy listing other animals the girl doesn't like, including goats, llamas, and kangaroos.
Fallon and Bacon finally align to belt the chorus, now revealed to be "Free horses" instead of "Free Fallin.'" Does their early version get a yay or neigh?
Watch "First Drafts of Rock: Free Fallin' by Tom Petty above, and watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon weeknights at 11:35/10:5c on NBC, next-day on Peacock.
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Tom Petty explained the meaning of "Free Fallin'"
According to Petty himself, there was no real "good girl" — nor horse girl — who inspired the actual "Free Fallin,'" just the general atmosphere of southern California's Ventura Boulevard at the time.
“I don’t know the girl in ‘Free Fallin’ is. I was having to make this drive every day. The studio was in the Valley and I was driving from Beverly Hills to the Valley and back every day and on that drive I just used to look at Ventura Boulevard, and just life’s great pageant was going in up and down that street," Petty — who died in 2017 — told Billboard in 2016.
"I tried to grab a little bit of these characters on the road and it was kind of how I saw it," Petty recalled. "It’s pretty true of that time and that era, I remember… maybe it’s still that way, I don’t know."
