Drops of Jupiter

"Drops of Jupiter" by Train, is my favorite song of all time. This song brought me into a lot of self reflection in the Summer of 2000. This song, and what I was going through at the time, changed my entire outlook on life and love. I've watched Pat's video on the song's inspiration, so I know that the lyrics were written in different context than the way in which I relate to them, but that’s a strong allure of music. Different people will get different things from a song.

For me, Drops of Jupiter’s lyrics are a metaphor for the process I went through in learning what is precious in life and love, and in learning the difference between what’s just sparkly, and what’s real. I spent a lot of time out of the atmosphere, falling for shooting stars, looking for myself... but in the end, all of the things that I thought would be heaven, were overrated. I didn’t find happiness in the Milky Way, or in the constellations, or in any of the things that had looked so inviting. I realized that the happiness I wanted was in the first dance, the five hour phone conversation, the best soy latte, and in my best friend — all the things that had been right in front of me all along.

In my eyes, this song gets a really strong handle on the truest form of love--because in the end, the purest love focuses on what makes the people you love happiest. I see Drops of Jupiter telling the story of two people, two good friends, who meant a lot to each other, and shared a special bond. Soulmates, in the non-commercialized sense of the term. Then, all of sudden, for reasons that seem almost inexplicable, the girl leaves the relationship and her best friend. She goes to explore the world without him, all these things that seem spectacular (spectacular in universal proportions...comparable to the sun or the milky way) because he can only watch from the outside, only look in on what she experiences. He questions how she can possibly just drop all the things that made their relationship so wonderful, wonders whether it really ever meant anything to her, if it still means anything to her now, if she misses him. But at the same time, he speaks these questions with the sentiment that he approves of whatever she chooses to do, because he loves her and anything that makes her happy makes him happy.

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

This girl went away for a while. She's come back now, and she still bears the evidence of her journey somehow.

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

She is now warm and bright and happy. He is reminded of rain because she is graceful and very beautiful. This change in her has now reminded him that it's not too late to be different.

"Since the return from her stay on the moon She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey"

Since she's come back, she's become a whole different person. She listens to everything he says dreamily and has amazing stories to tell.

"Tell me did you sail across the sun Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded And that heaven is overrated"

He is wondering if she went to the places that she'd dreamed of and realized that they weren't as amazing as she thought.

"Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star One without a permanent scar And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there"

He is wondering if she fell for a guy that would just be in and out of her life like a shooting star, that doesn't bear the emotional scars that he does.

"Now that she's back from that soul vacation Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey"

Now that's she back from her journey, trying to find herself, she's changed a lot. She has different interests. He's reminded a person can grow mentally and spiritually.

"Now that she's back in the atmosphere I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land"

He is afraid she might think he's boring now that he's been to so many cool places and met interesting people. He's afraid the whole time she was gone, she was telling people of this guy back home who is too afraid to actually do anything with his life so he just floats around, being no one special.

"Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day And head back to the milky way 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"

He's wondering if everything was as perfect as she thought it would be and if she missed him while she was looking for herself.

"Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance five-hour phone Conversation The best soy latte that you ever had, and me"

He wonders if she misses their friendship, his pride in her, little pieces of home. He wonders if he misses all the little things that happened between them. He's hopes she misses him.

"Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day And head back toward the Milky Way"

He is asking her if she was swept off her feet by the "amazing" places she went.

"And are you lonely looking for yourself out there?"

He wonders if she felt a little lonely without him around.

"Tell me did you sail across the sun Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded And that heaven is overrated Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star One without a permanent scar And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"

He wonders of she did all the things she wanted and if everything was as she expected. He hopes she missed him when she was exploring her great perhaps.

youtube.com/watch

This video explains the message of the song, which has nothing at all to do with love or friendship, but death.

He explains that the song is about someone dying, and then coming back to the atmosphere.

This song is a poetic masterpiece - the lyrics are so simple; yet so beautiful. I don't think there is any song that quites reaches the level of beauty and emotion that this song possesses. It has a special place in my heart.

i think this song is about a guy that is completely in love with this girl. but this girl just takes his love for granted not realizing how much in love with him she is. so she puts their friendship/relationship on the shelf and goes away to experience life. on this journey of hers she sees and does things he could only imagine because he knows that he'll never do them. not because he thinks they're dumb or anything it's just that he won't ever have the chance to. she is one of those "free spirited"types and he is too attached to the ground for that. BUT she comes back after realizing that all of this and that are fun but there is something missing. him. and she finally recognizes his/her love that they share(d). the line did you fall for a shooting star one without a permanent scar i think refers to her falling in love with either a;someone who has never had their heart broken, aka scarred, because they never get close enough to fall in love because they just use people, or b;someone who may be just like him in so many ways except they don't have a "scar" like his because his came from her when she left and broke his heart. that is just my take on the song. many of my friends told me that this was my song because for such a long time after my girl and i split i always said that she was coming back someday when she realized how much i loved her and how much she loved me back.

In an interview with VH1, lead singer Pat Monahan revealed that he wrote this song about the death of his mother. Train released their first album in 1998, and were touring that year when Monahan's mother was dying of lung cancer - she was a heavy smoker. This was before the widespread use of cell phones, and Monahan made many stops to pay phones on the tour to speak with his mom during this difficult time. In December of that year, his mother died, and in early 1999 Train was working on their next album when their record company started pressuring them for a hit. Monahan returned to his childhood home in Pennsylvania, and woke one morning with the words "back in the atmosphere" in his head. Beginning a time of healing, he started to compose the song. Said Monahan: "Loss of the most important person in my life was heavy on my mind, and the thought of 'what if no one ever really leaves? What if she's here but different. The idea was, she's back here in the atmosphere."

This is an absolutely beautiful and meaningful song!! The girl in the song has her "head in the clouds" and she is probably very intelligent. She wants to find herself by exploring the artistic and spiritual (Mozart, tae-bo) and great mysteries of science and philosophy (as in far away galaxies). She wants to transcend the everyday, mundane world, because that is boring and trivial to her, when she only is interested in the "big picture" and the meaning of life. The guy, who is probably in love with the girl, is down to earth, probably not as intellectual, but has strong emotions (love, pride) and appreciates the little things in life (fried chicken, freeze dried romance). He looks up to her, and feels a little intimidated by her "otherworldliness" of knowledge, since he is more practical and also less sure that he can ever know "the answers" (he's too afraid to fly so he never did land) He is able to understand one thing better than her, though: love! She is so wrapped up in the "Milky Way" (basically meaning mysteries of the universe) that she misses out on what is truly important, which is love and human togetherness. It may be thrilling to "dance along the light of day", but this only touches the surface of what are life's greatest gifts. Heaven, although fascinating, "is overrated" and true happiness is not "out there" but close, right before her eyes. Therefore he knowingly asks her, "And now are you lonely, looking for yourself out there?"

I think it's about me going home after being at college. Or, I want people to think of me that way when I go back. Yeah.

they were in love, she thought there was so much more out there so she wanted to be free, she then realized she had the best thing in life, LOVE, so now she wants to come back but too late, he's moved on . don't know but that's my view of this song anyway. i like it!