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Back From That Soul Vacation: The Meaning Behind “Drops of Jupiter”

Pat Monahan wrote Train’s hit song “Drops of Jupiter” after an inspiration came to him in a dream following his mother’s death.

Drops of Jupiter Meaning Like most people, I loved Train’s song “Drops of Jupiter” when it came out in 2001. I ran out and bought the CD of the same name, playing the CD over and over again, but especially repeating the title track. And then, like most people, I got a little tired of hearing it played everywhere.

But recently, I heard an interview with Train’s Pat Monahan, explaining how he came to write the song. It may have been that I had missed his earlier interviews about the meaning of the song. Or maybe I had heard the explanation but had not connected with the explanation as I did now around a time when I had lost two people very close to me. But hearing his explanation made the song make a lot of sense to me.

Now that she’s back in the atmosphere,
With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey, hey.

Monahan wrote “Drops of Jupiter” soon after his mom had passed away following a battle with cancer. In the song, he imagines that after dying his mom’s spirit could go anywhere, and so a person would be likely to go explore the universe.

As Monahan explained in a Buzzfeed News interview, “It’s a story about my mother coming back after like swimming through the planets and finding her way through the universe, and coming back to tell me that heaven was overrated and [to] love this life, you know?”

She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that there’s a time to change, hey, hey, hey

Thus, his mother returned to visit him with “drops of Jupiter” in her hair. Pretty cool.

Monahan wrote the song in less than an hour. The song came to him in a dream, and after he woke up, the song was in his head. When he woke up, he took about thirty minutes to write it down and sing the words into a Dictaphone. The next night before bed he finished it up, and the song that was a conversation with his late mom was complete.

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?
Was it everything you wanted to find?
And did you miss me
While you were looking for yourself out there?

After the song was recorded, it propelled the band’s popularity into the universe. “Drops of Jupiter” went on to win the Grammy for Best Rock Song. Monahan thanked his mom when he accepted the award.

Of course, the great thing about songs is that you can always interpret them in your own way to find something for your own life. So if you hear something else or another thing in the song, that is cool too. But it is also great to know the story behind the song. (For a short video about the story, check out this video on YouTube.)

Leave your two cents in the comments.

“Soul” Songs That Aren’t Soul Music: Hey, Soul Sister

Lisa Marie Presley and Elvis: “I Love You Because”

The Inspiration for Jason Isbell’s “Elephant” (Song of the Day)

What Is the Murder Ballad That Holly Hunter Sings to Nathan Jr. in “Raising Arizona”?

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“Last Train to Clarksville” as a Protest Song?

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

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The Music Is You, John Denver

A John Denver Tribute album, The Music is You, is being released April 2. The album features such artists as Train (“Sunshine on My Shoulder”), Dave Matthews (“Take Me to Tomorrow”), Kathleen Edwards (“All of My Memories”), Lucinda Williams (“This Old Guitar”), Mary Chapin Carpenter (“I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado”), Amos Lee (“Some Days are Diamonds”), Allen Stone (“Rocky Mountain High”), and Emmylou Harris with Brandi Carlile (“Take Me Home, Country Roads”), among several others. The new album is a nice combination of Denver’s hits with some of his lesser known songs.

It is hard to believe that John Denver’s death in a plane crash occurred 15 years ago. If he were still around to hear the new album, he would be 69 years old right now. Although I doubt anyone else can record the definitive version of a John Denver song besides Denver (although Peter, Paul, and Mary came close many years ago), the new album is an interesting collection and it is great that today’s artists are making Denver’s music relevant for a new generation. Among the tracks, I particularly like the version of “Darcy Farrow” by Josh Ritter and Barnstar! If you wish to hear more, for now you can listen to the whole album streaming on NPR.

What is your favorite John Denver song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmylou Harris Pay Tribute to Joan Baez

Duet of the Day: Cass Elliot and John Denver “Leaving on a Jet Plane”

The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell On “The Traveling Kind”

The First Farm Aid

The “Other” Wrecking Ball: Emmylou Harris

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

Super Bowl Songs: “Save Me, San Francisco”

It was not that long ago when for our World Series songs we featured “San Francisco Bay Blues.” Now, we find ourselves again having to come up with a song for a San Francisco team. With the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl this year, we feature a song with a title that fans in the city by the Bay will be screaming come Sunday. “Save Me, San Francisco” is the title track off of the 2009 Train album that also featured their huge hit “Hey, Soul Sister,” thus setting the record for songs on an album with unnecessary commas.

I have a love-hate relationship with Train. Some of their songs get overplayed on the radio, so I end up with them stuck in my head. But I cannot deny they can produce some excellent pop songs with great hooks. And lead singer Pat Monahan — who co-wrote the catchy “Save Me, San Francisco” — has a great voice.

The video for “Save Me, San Francisco” is a play on the Dustin Hoffman classic movie, The Graduate (1967). But in the Train video, when the man chasing his beloved gets to the alter, he finds a twist ending that plays on a political issue that has been in the news in California and elsewhere. And in case you were wondering, the members of Train have been outspoken in support of the type of marriage that occurs at the end of the video.

You can check out the ending to The Graduate on YouTube. Or check out the funny Wayne’s World 2 (1993) spoof on the same race-to-the-church segment. But this Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers hope they will not be left standing at the alter of victory.

What is your favorite song about San Francisco or your favorite nod to “The Graduate” ending? Leave your two cents in the comments.

The Last Simon & Garfunkel Concert

Back From That Soul Vacation: The Meaning Behind “Drops of Jupiter”

Dustin Hoffman’s Connection to McCartney’s “Picasso’s Last Words”

Little Big Horn and “Little Big Man”

Christopher Walken’s Movie Dance Montage

Football Song: “At My Weakest Moment”

(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

“Soul” Songs That Aren’t Soul Music: Hey, Soul Sister

Happy April Fool’s Day. Today, we consider the prank played by Train’s song, “Hey, Soul Sister,” where upon hearing the title you expect the song to be some type of soul song. Train’s joke is revealed from the moment you hear the strumming of the ukelele and you soon realize instead that “Hey, Soul Sister” is a boy band song. And a darn good one at that.

I liked Train since they released their first self-titled album in 1998. And when they later released “Drops of Jupiter” in 2001 on the album of the same name, I loved the song even as it was played endlessly on the radio. But then I did not hear about them for years, and suddenly there was this big hit I saw referenced several times before I actually heard it, “Hey, Soul Sister” from Save Me, San Francisco (2009).

According to Wikipedia, “it is the 8th most downloaded song in history, the most downloaded song of all time for Columbia Records, the top-selling song on iTunes in 2010.” Eighth in history? And I realize that it may not be fair to compare songs that were not released for the first time in the age of the Internet, but if it is the most downloaded song of all time for Columbia, it has been downloaded more times than Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” It was huge.

While “Hey, Soul Sister” is a good song, I must admit I never understood why it became such a gigantic hit for Train. According to Train lead singer Patrick Monahan, who co-wrote the song, he was inspired by imagining what it would be like to attend Burning Man, a party in the desert with naked people running around. But for some reason, I doubt they listen to “Mr. Mister” at Burning Man, so I do not know what he was thinking. Here’s the acoustic ukelele-only version.

Monahan has an excellent voice, and you cannot help but sing along, but it seems odd that a man of Monahan’s age (40 the year the song was released) sings the cheesy line, “You’re so gangsta, I’m so thug.” Yet, the line works when someone young sings the song, as a young man might be so naive — and sincere — to make such a silly claim to the object of his affection. The rest of the lyrics fit better for a naive young singer too.

You gave my life direction, a game show love connection we can’t deny;
I’m so obsessed, my heart is bound to beat right out my untrimmed chest;
I believe in you, like a virgin, you’re Madonna, and I’m always gonna wanna blow your mind.

“My untrimmed chest”?

That is why the song works so much better as a boy band song, and why I never particularly “got” the song until I heard it performed by singers on Glee on one of the few episodes of the TV show I have seen. While I am not a fan of of the boy band era of music, I am not so snooty that I can resist a good pop song. And if you are going to do a boy band song, it should be left to the boy bands. And the song works much better for Darren Criss and the Warblers, who make the hit song their own on Glee.