Train - Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) - Lyrics Meaning

Written by Train lead vocalist Pat Monahan, this song was the first single off of their second album, "Drops of Jupiter," released in 2001. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and had a 38-week run in the Top 40. The song was received two Grammy Awards, one for Best Rock Song and one for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).

In 1998, Monahan found out that his mother had cancer. Sadly, she passed away that December. Because the band was in the studio trying to get a second album ready for release, he had little time to come to terms with his loss.

The label was looking for Train's next great single, and weren't happy with the songs they'd been presented with to that point. A stressed and still-grieving Monahan journeyed back to Pennsylvania to do some soul-searching. That night, five minutes after going to bed, he awoke with the phrase "back in the atmosphere" stuck in his head. The lyrics quickly followed, and the song was completed within a week.

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey

She acts like summer and walks like rain

Reminds me that there's time to change, hey, hey

"It was an obvious connection between me and my mother," Monahan reflected, "Because Drops of Jupiter was as much about me being on a voyage trying to find out who I am too, through all of this. The best thing we can do by loss of love is find ourselves through it."