Train • "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)"

NASA's Great Observatories examine the core of the Milky Way.

(Source: Smithsonian Institution)

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I thought it most fitting that my first discussion post revolve around my most passionate of passions, Train’s “Drops of Jupiter.” Absolutely no work of art cuts me closer in my heart. This song is the air I breathe, and it directs my life.
I first heard this song when I was 12 years old. Now, this may sound odd, but I swear I had something of a crush on it. It was so emotionally perfect for me that I found myself annoyed, actually. Kind of like when you’re a little kid and you really, really like someone… But goshdarnit, you don’t wanna admit it! So rather than being nice and doing sensible things like talking to them, you pull away from them. Or maybe that’s just me, haha. Regardless, that’s the way I reacted! I kept my fascination secret for so long because it was so intense.
Every lyric melted on my ears like golden drops of that beautiful alien dew, and sank into my heart.

I am an art critic who explains herself within the depths of analysis. To start with the general: I am entranced by the passion within the lyrics. Although the musical technique and originality may not be of the highest quality, I am enamored by the honesty and the freshness of the lyrical aspects and emotional direction. The song soars thanks to its bright, original and inventive storytelling.
Pat Monahan, lead singer of Train, claimed in an interview that the lyrics were inspired by his late mother's reappearance in a dream, but I feel that some of the most beautiful analysis comes from interpreting “Drops of Jupiter” as a love song.
Essentially, there are two characters within the plot of this piece. The male protagonist telling the story, and his fascination: the Drops of Jupiter girl. She is the true heroine here. She’s one-of-a-kind and extraordinary; nothing less than what I call the “crazy kind of beautiful.” She is has quirky, bizarre interests that seem at odds with her beauty, yet at the same time, define it. To give you some context, Nathan Rabin once termed the dim cousin of the Jupiter girl, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Comedian Mindy Kaling described the latter: “If she were from real life, people would think she was a homeless woman…, but she is essential to the male fantasy that even if a guy is boring, he deserves a woman who will find him fascinating and pull him out of himself by forcing him to go skinny-dipping in a stranger’s pool.”
But this Jupiter Woman is so much more than a Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype. She has intelligent attitude, a goal-oriented life and self-awareness. She glows, with or without a romantic interest in her background. She was unsatisfied with the life she had when she knew this boy, so she traveled far and away for self-discovery. One of the main themes arching over the song is that of “internal reflection and identity.”
For your benefit, I have provided the lyrics to the song, broken down in parts for easier analysis:

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

Since the return from her stay on the moon

She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey
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

She's returned from an extended vacation and it's implied she's grown much. Perhaps she was spontaneously enjoyable before, but now she's a sight for sore eyes and bored minds. "Listens like spring," "walks like rain"? What is this, somebody asks, a dime store romance novel? Frankly, I love the seemingly typical word choice Monahan uses to describe her movements. It allows the rest of the lyrics to provide the contrast between the Drops of Jupiter girl and her weaker cousin.
Then parade two of my favorite verses in all of musical history. I often receive the same confused facial expressions and questions: "How can heaven be overrated?" Conceptually, heaven is always presented as a perfect place, where there will be nothing to desire. People often spend their whole lives looking ahead for something good, and there's nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, I see many miss the process: life, the present. This idea of appreciating the gift of life resounded with me as a child. Like I said, I heard this song and I haven't been the same since. I knew what I had to do...
Why don't we all take a page from the Jupiter Woman's book? Maybe we can't travel the cosmos physically, but we can travel a million miles free... Courtesy of our imaginative minds! This world is an imperfect place, but we can make so much of it. When we've allowed our outside world to mirror our insides, and vice versa, "potential perfection" becomes overrated because the beauty of our world is now.

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 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

More of the crazy descriptions... And a fable about taking chances. The speaker becomes intimidated now that she can see through him and his constant indecision. She reads him like a book because she's been there herself.

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

I spent countless hours over the course of my life traipsing over some unknown moon, while the night fell away and the sun violently exposed its pristine body. I can assure you the journey's worth.
He still tenderly weighs Celestial Crystal hopes in his palms. He wants her to want him.

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

To many, the first line in this verse is the most enigmatic of all. Okay, picture this: an infinite field of small dots. One dot is the concept of beauty; another, joy in life. You begin to connect these concepts in your mind. The ideas start relating and developing and branching out and creating a thousand more dots... One day, long ago, the boy went to a fair, drank a soy latte and shared fried chicken with this mystical girl. They had conversations about pride, pain, love. He never forgot the taste of the chicken and the feeling in his heart when he heard her words. To this day, he's addicted to KFC. Quirky beauty.
It's that simple. If particular emotions or a work of art makes sense to you, and you have the evidence to explain your side, that's all that matters. All these "random" ideas only seem random because we can't find ourselves in the other person's mind! Emotions and ideas build on each other like an ever-expanding fractal.

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
And are you lonely looking for yourself out there?
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 did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Did I ever cross your mind while you were finding yourself? Maybe, just maybe, I can give you something you couldn't discover on your own.
Her reaction to his advances will remain a mystery. Such is the beauty of this unrequited love.

You've got to face yourself like she did. Look into a mirror and stare hard at those weak parts. It terrorizes all of us. You enter a dark room in fear and horror... You can't tell up from inside out. And then you wait because you don't have a choice. Some hit this stage older, some younger. I was seventeen. This song healed me when my teeth ground in pain. One day, your eyes adjust to the light and you never look back.
"Drops of Jupiter" taught there is "time for change." Change is felt: slow and metered for the protagonist now, even pre-meditated. Rather than spontaneity bringing a man's emotions out of a nervous body, she is aware that slow, careful attention can help an emotional convalescent face the sunshine.
I leave you with Karl Lagerfeld’s quote: “There is no beauty without strangeness.”