Song Lyrics of the Day

Today a tribute to Train, one of my favorite bands. I have a lot of emotional ties to them, mostly because I went through a long stint of listening to their Drops of Jupiter cd on my drives to and from Wimberley to visit Mom.

"Mississippi" was the inspiration for me to write one of my very best short stories, about a gay man who "comes out" to the one woman he thought he might have been able to make a life with, complete with the kids and the dog and the white picket fence. Only he's realized that isn't going to make either of them happy.

...She's the one that makes my dreams
They call her Mississippi
But she don't flow to me...

"Something More" is somber at first, about a relationship where one person is really into it and the other is ambivalent. Then at the end, the person who is more in love finds his strength and tires of being the one to keep it going. He decides to move on, to open himself to a new relationship where the other person will be as in love as he is.

...All the more I want
All the more I need
All the while you want something more...

And "Drops of Jupiter" is one of my all-time favorite songs. It is indeed "timeless", as someone said yesterday. The lyrics evoke positively brilliant visuals. In its entirety:

Now that she's back in the atmosphere
With drops of Jupiter in her hair
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that there's a time to change
Since the return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like June

But 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 for a shooting star?
One without a permanent scar
And then you missed me
While you were looking for yourself out there?

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

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 was too afraid to fly so he never did land

But 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 then you missed me
While you were looking for yourself out there

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?

But 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?

But 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?

And tell me, did you fall for a shooting star?
One without a permanent scar
And then you missed me
While you were looking for yourself?

And did you finally get the chance
To dance along the light of day?
And did you fall for a shooting star?
Fall for a shooting star?
And now you're lonely looking for yourself out there