"What if no one ever
really leaves? What if you just kind of...you're here, but different? You know...and...and
the idea was...you know...she's back...here...in the atmosphere.” – Pat Monahan,
Lead singer of Train
These words, in public, came
years later. But for now, I take you back to the year 2001. That’s when Train’s
song, Drops of Jupiter, hit the charts. I was living and working in Calgary at
the time. The song was a constant on the radio then, and a particular favourite
of a work colleague of mine.
As I know it, there were two
music videos of the song recorded. My favourite by far was this one, where the
video was shot at Union Station, in Los Angeles. Showing great direction by its
simplicity, I like to think of it as almost produced in a “pre-Flash Mobesque”
style! As Pat Monahan starts singing,
he is joined progressively on stage by the rest of Train. A string ensemble
then files in; adding much, in my opinion, to the piece. They are followed by
the steady arrival of a small, but appreciative, audience.
I especially love the overhead
shot when, following the drums, the cymbals, cut in! What great product
placement for Sabian! I’m sure that must have been viewed with a good deal of disdain
at the time by those loyal to Zildjian. My ears still burn from the “cymbalic” lecture one such purist once gave me at a Fairview
Night of Artists!
As I have come to understand,
it was only in the years to follow, that Train’s Pat Monahan, publically revealed
the inspiration for the song. He said it was the death of his mother from
cancer in 1998. Monahan claimed the opening lines came to him in a dream when
back in Pennsylvania three years later.
Well, my own mother would
have been 89 today, March 13, 2013. But sadly, she passed away nearly three
years ago now. I often reflect that she never had the opportunity to find
herself. Instead she opted to make great personal sacrifices, time and again
out of love for, and dedication to, her children.
Had she been here to
celebrate her birthday today, without a doubt, the world as I know it would be
profoundly different. So this post, and related song, is in memory of my mother.
Because, I think “she’s back in the atmosphere, with drops of Jupiter in her
hair” after looking for herself out there!
