Tom Petty Influenced Rock, New Wave - on Writing

Petty explained to Mojo magazine January 2010 what it was like co-writing a song with Bob Dylan. "There's nobody I've ever met who knows more about the craft of how to put a song together than [Dylan] does. I learned so much from just watching him work. He has an artist's mind and can find in a line the key word and think how to embellish it to bring the line out. I had never written more words than I needed, but he tended to write lots and lots of verses, then he'll say, this verse is better than that, or this line. Slowly this great picture emerges. He was very good in The Traveling Wilbury's: when somebody had a line, he could make it a lot better in big ways."
   "The music comes first; lyrics are harder. I don't know why that is."
   "Free Falling came all at once. I played a lick and Jeff  liked it. To make Jeff laugh, I made up the rest, but I couldn't come up with the title. Free Falling, Jeff said."

              Petty performed with folk and rock greats like Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Stevie Nicks, but also New Wave's Annie Lennox.  He collaborated with Dave Stewart, cofounder (with Lennox) of Eurythmics (New Wave Punk):  most well-known of these - "Don't Come Round Here No More." 
      A recent New York Times popcast  touches on Tom's Punk connection: Tom Petty: Secret Punk on Rock's Mount Rushmore.
      Petty not only influenced genres, but also current musicians. Most remarkable, though, is how profoundly he inspired Love in fans and fellow musicians. (Not a word I use in any context, yet there has been a seemingly universal expression of Love for him in response to his death.) Bruce Springsteen: Dedication to Tom Petty