Synopsis

Tom Petty plays a morgue attendant who becomes fascinated by a beautiful dead woman, portrayed by Kim Basinger. He brings her home and treats her as a living companion, placing her before the television, dressing her in a wedding gown, and sharing a candlelit dinner and dance. Eventually, he carries her to a rocky shoreline and releases her into the ocean. The eerie story ends on an ambiguous note when the woman rises to the surface and opens her eyes.

Factoids & Trivia

• Kim Basinger agreed to appear largely because she was a fan of Tom Petty. She later recalled that she and Petty struggled to keep from laughing while filming scenes in which she had to remain completely limp.

• The wedding-dress sequence, surrounded by candles, has been linked to a passage in Charles Dickens' *Great Expectations*, particularly the image of the abandoned bride Miss Havisham.

• The closing shoreline scenes were filmed at Leo Carrillo State Park in California.

• The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1994.

• "Mary Jane's Last Dance" was recorded during the sessions for Petty's *Wildflowers* album, but it was released first as the only newly recorded song on the 1993 *Greatest Hits* collection.

• The recording marked the final Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sessions involving drummer Stan Lynch before his departure from the band in 1994.