American musician Tom Petty, who died yesterday at age 66 from cardiac arrest, leaves a legacy that will be rooted in his storytelling. A brilliant instrumentalist and adept actor (check out his cameo in Kevin Costner's The Postman), Petty's greatest gift was arguably his ability to reflect the best of Americana with simple lyrics that are easy to sing along to ("I put the pedal down to make some time") as well as clever turns of phrase ("You tangle my emotions") that pull the listening experience deeper. Petty, along with frequent songwriting partners Jeff Lynne and Mike Campbell, interpreted stories in a way that made the mundane extraordinary and turned common folk into heroes. Here we look at five such stories.
American Girl, 1976
“She couldn’t help thinking that there was a little more to life somewhere else.”
You know, the one where Petty adroitly translates the thoughts of a young woman and punctuates her deepest feelings with a smooth blues-rock riff that makes you want to drive down a long road into the sunset. The protagonist feels trapped in her life and the song suggests that she thinks the cars "out on 441", a deep-south highway that runs from Miami to Knoxville through rural towns, sound like "waves crashing on a beach". Notably, the song makes key appearances in Silence of the Lambs (1991) and The Handmaid's Tale (2017), both films about women in desperate situations.
Free Fallin’, 1989
“She’s a good girl, crazy about Elvis, loves horses and her boyfriend too.”
Petty again touches on the feelings and aspirations of a young woman in a first-person story about a "bad boy" who doesn't even regret letting her go. The lyrics are specific to Los Angeles geographically, but are vague enough to indicate any time period from the 1950s onward; while the video is a time capsule that spans a post-war suburban poolside birthday party to 1980s mall scenes and skateboarder fashion. The tale being told is that there will always be good girls who deserve better than the bad boys who let them go. In a scene in Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise chooses the song after scanning a number of radio stations, clearly looking for a powerful song that resonates with his mood.
Runnin’ Down a Dream, 1989
“It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down, I had the radio on, I was flying”
From beginning to end, we follow the storyteller on a road trip – a prevalent theme in Petty's songs as well as in references to Petty's songs – that suggests a longing for the elusive American dream: the pursuit of happiness. The line "working on a mystery" indicates a willingness to accept fate as part of the adventure. Petty's storyteller is singing along to Runaway by Del Shannon as he makes his way towards a new beginning. In both songs, there is an element of the unknown and feelings of anticipation. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed the song at the 2008 Super Bowl halftime show and it has been frequently used in American sports imagery as professional teams vie for championships.
Into the Great Wide Open, 1991
“Eddie waited till he finished high school / He went to Hollywood, got a tattoo”
Rock 'n' roll is rife with songs that tell stories of performers who shoot to stardom and fall hard as their stars fade (Shooting Star by Bad Company, Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh). But the story of Eddie Rebel comes with a quirky, celebrity-studded video featuring numerous cameos by Petty himself as well as the Heartbreakers, who appear in miniature as the Mad-Hatted narrator (Petty) tells the story. Eddie (Johnny Depp) is "a rebel without a clue" who moves to LA, learns to play guitar, gets an agent ("and a roadie named Bart"), finds stardom, develops a demanding ego, and loses the love of the public and his girl. However, while the video is visually appealing, it's not needed to capture the highs and lows of Eddie's rags-to-riches-to-rags story thanks to Petty's informative and detailed lyrics ("their A&R man said 'I don't hear a single'").
Mary Jane’s Last Dance, 1993
“She grew up in an Indiana town, had a good lookin’ mama who never was around…”
The song leaves itself open to interpretation, but on the surface a fickle young woman named Mary Jane makes an impression on a young man. He attempts to savour the time he has with her, which seems to be his impetus to expect more from life. The macabre video tells a different story with Petty, an assistant in a morgue, falling in love with an attractive corpse (Kim Basinger) and taking her home, where he treats her to a special evening complete with dinner and a makeover, before releasing her into the sea.
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Read more:
Musicians and celebrities pay tribute to rocker Tom Petty
American music legend Tom Petty dies at age 66 after heart attack
A history of the Super Bowl half-time show
Guns N’ Roses' Appetite for Destruction turns 30
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UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Fixture
Friday, March 29, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, The Sevens, Dubai
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
