In a 2020 interview with Vulture, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell explained why he feels "Mary Jane's Last Dance" is the band's most "misunderstood" song. He said that over time, people have had different interpretations of the song, with some seeing it as a literal tune about a dance and others positing that the "Mary Jane" in the title is an ode to marijuana. He did, however, offer an interesting story about the origins of "Mary Jane's Last Dance," telling the publication that he and his bandmates disliked it at first due to the clunky chorus Petty wrote for it.
"What's funny is that when Tom wrote this song, when he first showed it to me, the chorus was, 'Hey Indiana girl, go out and find the world,'" Campbell recalled. "It was a completely different chorus and we all hated it."
Given the multiple references to the Hoosier State in "Mary Jane's Last Dance," we kind of agree with Campbell; aside from being repetitive (we get it, the song's subject is from Indiana), it arguably lacks a good hook. Fortunately, Petty returned to the studio a few days later and sang the now-familiar chorus of "last dance with Mary Jane/one more time to kill the pain." Now that's more like it.
