10 Rock Music Songs That Aren't About What You Think
5. American Girl - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
Anyone who ever went to high school will know about the power of rumours.
They can ruin a person's life if they're not kept in check, or at the very least get them kicked off the basketball team.
Music has had its fair share of rumours over the years, including one about the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song American Girl.
Tin foil hat-wearers latched on to one particular part of the song when trying to decipher what it was actually about.
The line in questions goes "Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by, out on 441".
Using their best Sherlock Holmes powers, some people took this to mean that the song was about a girl who committed suicide by jumping off a balcony at the University of Florida.
The institution is right on U.S. Route 441 and just a stone's throw from where Petty grew up.
So, is this really what American Girl is about? Nope.
Petty himself commented on this myth, saying that "It's become a huge urban myth down in Florida. That's just not at all true."
In fact, Petty would go on to say he doesn't even remember where he wrote the song!