Watch: A touching new video for the late Tom Petty’s ‘For Real’ has been released
The Collage of Clips pays homage to Petty's life
Last year, Tom Petty’s daughter Adria was reviewing some of the songs her father left behind with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, when she first heard “For Real,” and today we’ve been gifted with a touching new video for the heartwrenching ballad.
The track explores why Petty was a musician for a living, as he croons lyrics like, “I didn’t do it for no magazine/ Didn’t do it for no video/ Never did it for no CEO/ But I did it for real.” The accompanying clip sees collected vintage photographs, home-movie footage, and clips from the studio and live performances collaging into a chronological ode to Petty’s life.
“It hit me pretty hard the first time I heard it,” Adria explained to the Rolling Stone. “I was told he wrote in his hotel room the night before, and it feels very raw and sincere. It really stood out as something pretty profound, sort of from the grave, right? Just a real assessment of his strange reality of being a living legend. It touches on the things my dad believed in, his core values, like being authentic and not just being part of the pastiche of pop culture.”
Watch the video for “For Real” below.
