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.

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    Sturgill Simpson Covers Nirvana’s “In Bloom”

    A Sailor's Guide to Earth Sturgill Simpson’s upcoming album A Sailor’s Guide To Earth has been receiving positive reviews even before the CD has been released. As he did earlier for When in Rome’s “The Promise,” Simpson once again surprises listeners with a unique cover song, this time covering Nirvana’s “In Bloom” on the new album.

    Simpson found inspiration for the album A Sailor’s Guide To Earth from two sources, his grandfather’s letters from the South Pacific during World War II and the birth of Simpson’s own son. While Simpson struggled with watching his own son grow up fast while he was on tour, he turned to creating this album, which Mojo describes in a 4-star review as ruminating “on the transformative powers of parenthood, the weight and ecstasy of love.”

    Considering the conceptual context of Simpson’s new album, it may at first appear an odd selection to include a cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom.’ The song was the fourth and final single from the band’s 1991 album Nevermind (1991) and was the band’s message to those who did not understand their music: “And he likes to sing along / And he likes to shoot his gun / But he knows not what it means.”

    But in the context of the album, “In Bloom” does seem to fit as part of a parent’s message to a child as perhaps a warning against ignorance. Similarly, Simpson closes the album with “Call to Arms,” a diatribe against authority and in particular the military. “Bullshit on the TV/ Bullshit on the radio/ Hollywood telling me how to be/ Bullshit’s got to go.”

    In this context, Simpson takes a great Nirvana song and explores the hidden love behind the song as not so much a message to the ignorant but as a warning to the ones we love. Check it out.

    A Sailor’s Guide To Earth hits stores and the Internet on April 15, 2016.

    What is your favorite cover of a Nirvana song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Johnny Cash Imitating Elvis

    Cash Presley

    In this video, Johnny Cash shows that he could have had another career as an Elvis impersonator. The clip is apparently from 1959 when Cash was 27 years old and touring as an opening act for Elvis Presley.

    Before his performance of “Heartbreak Hotel,” Cash clarifies that he is not impersonating Elvis directly. He explains it is “an impersonation of a rock and roll singer impersonating Elvis is what this really is.”

    Perhaps he wanted to add the extra layer of making fun of an impersonator rather than Elvis to somewhat insulate himself from making fun of his former colleague at Sun Records. In fact, the two men admired each other, and Elvis Presley even introduced Cash’s future wife June Carter to the wonder of Johnny Cash’s music.

    Who is your favorite Elvis impersonator? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Daniel Ellsberg: The Most Dangerous Man

    Most Dangerous Man On April 7, 1931, Daniel Ellsberg was born in Chicago. He would grow up to serve in the Marines and work at the Pentagon and for Rand Corporation, eventually becoming disillusioned with the Vietnam War and receiving notoriety as the man behind the release of government documents about the Vietnam War. After the New York Times began publishing the papers in June 1971, the actions prompted the wrath of President Richard M. Nixon and one of the most important Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment.

    The 2009 documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers tells the story of Ellsberg’s life and the Pentagon Papers. Directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, the film is required viewing for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. The movie reveals much about the controversies on the home front as well as the lies told by U.S. leaders.

    The documentary approaches the tale by letting Ellsberg and others report the story from first-hand accounts (while Nixon’s perspective only comes through in recordings made at the White House). As much as you think you might know about Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, you likely will learn new information from the film.

    For example, we see the role that Ellsberg’s wife played in his decisions. We also learn that Egil Krogh — one of the “White House Plumbers” involved in breaking into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist — came to see Ellsberg as a principled man.

    The Most Dangerous Man in America takes the position that Ellsberg is an American hero who was willing to go to prison if necessary to try to end an unjust war. While some may disagree with the admiring portrayal, the lessons from the Pentagon Papers still resonate in modern times as we still face issues like Edward Snowden’s release of documents. Thus, the story of Daniel Ellsberg is just as relevant today as it was in the 1970s.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Merle Haggard: “Kern River”

    Kern River

    On April 6, 2016, Merle Haggard passed away from complications from pneumonia on his 79th birthday in the state where he was born, California. Along with the likes of Johnny Cash and George Jones, Haggard was one of real legends of country music.

    In my younger years, I learned of Haggard’s music through songs like 1969’s “Okie from Muskogee” and 1970’s “Fightin’ Side of Me,” which may have made me resistant at first due to the apparent political nature of those songs. But eventually as an adult, I fell in love with his music, his voice, and his Bakersfield influence. I found fondness for the above songs and fell in love with many others, like “Tulare Dust” and “They’re Tearing the Labor Camps Down.”

    Heck, the man not only did a tribute album to Jimmy Rodgers, he learned the fiddle just so he could do a tribute album to Bob Wills, The Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (1970). He was the real deal, both as a singer and as a songwriter.

    One of my favorite Merle Haggard songs is “Kern River.” The lyrics written by Haggard tell a mysterious and haunting tale about loss and regret. In it, the singer is an old man in the mountains looking back on his life and a river from his youth, Kern River, which he will never swim again. He recalls that “It was there I first met her / It was there that I lost my best friend.” And it is only later in the song where you realize that the “her” was also his best friend who got swept away by the river.

    The most beautiful line in the song, for me, is in the chorus. The singer now lives on a lake, and he laments, “And I may drown in still water / But I’ll never swim Kern River again.” Something about that line breaks my heart every time, just the way my heart is breaking today at the loss of the country great.

    In this video, Merle Haggard performs “Kern River” on a country talk show in 1984 before the song was even released the following year. Check it out.

    What is your favorite Merle Haggard song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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