“Drops of Jupiter,” “Hey, Soul Sister” & Train’s Biggest Hits: Pat Monahan Interview

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So the day I was deleting some old files from my laptop and some hard drives, and I came upon an interview

that I did a long time ago as one of my first interviews, I must have gotten buried because I didn't even remember doing it until I started watching it.

But it's from a multi-platam hit-making singer who's written a few modern classics, including a dozen hits, and several that went to number one.

So even though I'm going to be cutting back on interviews, I thought what the hell, I'll throw it up.

Let's get this one out there because this guy's a great guy.

He talks about all the hits here, including the song that he says his mother sent to him from the afterlife, hit number one.

And the song where he referenced an old 80s band that had one big year in music, and I find out why he referenced that band in this song.

All the hits are here, let's do it.

Hey me, Mr. Juckies. It's time for another edition of Revelations where you get the stories of the greatest songs straight from the legends.

A lot of stuff you won't hear, but here.

Without further ado, we're going to get into a quick conversation on some of the best hits of the last 30 years with Pat Monahan of Train.

If you're not familiar with the band, you definitely know the music, you know the songs, you know the train.

They're one of those bands that they've had so many hits, you're like, oh, they sing that? Okay.

Anyway, let's do it.

So Pat, let's go back to the very beginning.

What was it for you, whether it was a song that you heard, something you saw, even on MTV, or even an album that you heard that kicked open the door to your mind, and made you want to pursue music?

Do you remember a moment?

Sort of. I was the last of seven kids, and my dad was a huge jazz guy, and so I think I was about...

I think I was about three or four when my dad wanted me to keep beat to Dave Brubeck's Take Five.

Yeah.

Because it switches time, and then you're off time, and when I was able to do that, he kind of put down his Manhattan and said,

what the hell, you weren't supposed to be able to do that?

And then every, you know, so on every year or so, I would get a little older and more interested in what my brothers and sisters were listening to, they were all older than me.

So, you know, I chose what was influencing me early on, like I went to James Taylor, not Bob Dylan.

I went to Led Zeppelin, and not Black Sabbath.

So there were those changes, and then when I finally had my own mark on myself, it was more Michael Jackson than it was Kurt Cobain.

You know, I love pop music.

Yeah.

You know, my manager and I talk about that, that in the 80s there was that time where kids either went, you know, alternative and listen to the Smiths, or they would follow, you know, listen into whatever was on pop radio, and I just love to sing along the things.

And you can tell that in your music, because you have so many different references, you know, to those songs and some of those artists.

You were in a Led Zeppelin cover band at first, tell me about that.

You know, I think everybody in train started playing Zeppelin early.

When I lived in Eerie, Pennsylvania, I was in a cover band that did three sets of music.

The first set, nobody was there, the second set, people would start to trickle in.

These are our long sets, and then the last set was an hour of Led Zeppelin.

That's when we were back in the house, and we never really got it through our heads to maybe do three hours of Led Zeppelin.

Well, tell me about Meet Virginia. Where did that come from?

Because it's such a, it's one of those songs, like everybody has, you know, O-Share, you know, the songs about women, but Meet Virginia was very distinct.

Meet Virginia wasn't about an American beauty. It was about a regular woman.

You know, someone that my friends or the people that I love could relate to.

And I got a great compliment from a good friend of mine, Jennifer Hayes, who she said, you know, that song makes me feel beautiful.

Because you can be beautiful for way more than looks.

You know, you can be beautiful for, you know, countless things.

So that just came from knowing a bunch of different women that I found to be unusual, but beautiful.

Well, another song that I love from that album is, if you leave.

You have a great vocal on that. I just love the falsetto on that.

That was the last thing at it. You know, when we recorded everything except that song, and when Matt Wallace came in on board through Columbia Records,

that's when he was like, maybe we got to cut a faster track, you know.

And so that's when we wrote, if you leave.

And the thing I like about when you, your albums, is that you make an album.

You don't just make a couple of singles. I mean, we live in a singles-generated world now.

It's kind of a gun back to the way it was in the 50s, you know, in a single.

But train, and even your solo album, you make, I mean, you put a lot of craft into those albums.

Every song, you remember how it was back in the day when you put a record on and you listen to every single song.

And you knew what they were.

Yeah, I think once you are in, once that's your generation, you kind of have to, you have to perform for your generation.

Like, I think John Lennon said it, you know, like, I understand that if I want to be competitive in today's music world,

I have to come up with a really great single.

But for the people who like train, I can't just come up with a single.

I have to make an album because that's what people who like my band are expecting.

And I have to try to always do my best work.

If you like me, if you like me, if you like me.

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Because a great trip starts with peace of mind.

And maybe a good playlist.

But we've got the peace of mind part covered.

Well, 2001 Drops of Jupiter, that symphonic, almost like that Beatles-esque, Beach Boys-esque sound.

You know, we didn't have that song.

The album was called Something More, and the president of Columbia Records called me to his office.

And he was like, Pat, I need you to come to New York. I need to talk to you.

And I was like, I know exactly what you're going to tell me.

You know, that I don't have the single.

And so that night, I fell asleep.

I woke up like five minutes later.

And I had lost my mom that year.

And I know that she just sent me this song.

Like, here's the one you need.

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

And I wrote half of it that night.

The next night I couldn't sleep, so I wrote the other half.

I went over to a friend of mine's house and asked him to.

I sang it for him, and he put some chords underneath it.

And I had it when I went to New York to see the president of Columbia Records.

And he was like, man, listen to this track and this track.

I mean, most of the album, he's like, you know, if this was these guys,

you could put this out as a single.

And then he played some other bands.

And he was like, these guys, this song would have been a hit for you.

And then I was like, well, I know what you're about to tell me.

And I don't think this is the song, but I just wrote it.

And I had it in a dream.

And he was like, this is where the magic ones come from.

And I played it for him.

And he shut his eyes the whole time.

And as soon as I hit the plain old Jane, he just went,

woo, call Paul Buckmaster, we got a song.

Like that was it, you know.

And it's funny because you talk about Meet Virginia

having been like a different alternative to what was on the radio.

That gave us a really big boost to young people, you know, in dorm rooms.

But Drop the Jupiter eliminated all of them immediately

because they were like, oh, they're two pop.

Now they're two, they're two whatever popular.

And nobody wants to, you know, you're only,

you're only exciting until you're not excited.

What do you think of the different versions?

I mean, Judy Collins.

It looks like summer and she walks like rain.

It reminds me that there's a time to change.

And Taylor Swift, I mean, that's pretty cool.

Now he's back from that so vacation.

Chasing his way through the castle.

Yeah, I mean, you know, anyone who would perform a song that I wrote

would be a great compliment.

Whoever, I carry Okie.

I don't care.

But yeah, both Judy and Taylor are great.

Yes.

Thank you.

Hit World Wide as well.

I mean, number one in Ireland and Canada.

But you also want a Grammy, you know, for that song.

A couple of Grammys for that album.

But that was an album that you started working with Brendan O'Brien.

Almost three times platinum now.

Big album.

Tell me about working with Brendan and that kind of that album coming together.

Well, no one thought that Brendan would make that album with us.

It was interesting because he was about to make a record with Fred Durst.

And he was our number one guy.

You know, can you, can you get Brendan O'Brien to make this record?

And the guys at our record label were like, no way.

But we'll ask, but no.

And so he said, yeah, it just happened to work out.

He heard us do a Zeppelin cover on 99X in Atlanta.

So he took us on and I really looked up to Brendan a lot.

I was just so proud to make a record with him.

And that was a great experience for all of us.

Well, it made a lot of sense too because I mean, you don't sound like Springsteen.

I'm a huge Springsteen fan, but you are similar to Springsteen in my mind

that I think it's because your songs are so personal.

You know, you say it in a way that it does sound like an average Joe

and that's why it translates to so many people.

And so it made sense when Brendan O'Brien was at Pearl Jam and Springsteen, Bob Dylan,

you know, that came together.

Something more is always been a favorite of mine.

You know, it's very Beatles-esque. Where did that come from?

You know, that was, I don't know.

You know, a couple of the guys in the band wrote some music

and I just really responded to it that, you know,

lyrically, it's not all that sophisticated, but it was, you know,

I consider the first half of my career as my apology time.

You know, I was in a relationship that wasn't good.

I was trying to be a decent person, you know,

wanting things to work out in so many ways with so many people, you know,

band and crew people and managers and everything and a relationship.

And so I figured if I apologize in all these songs,

then I could just everybody, you know, that's kind of how I was raised.

Just if you say you're sorry, we can all move on, you know.

But it didn't work that way.

But then the second half is like, I'm not really sorry for anything anymore.

I did the best I could and I have a great family and I met a girl

who just made me think that maybe I didn't have to say I'm sorry anymore

that maybe I could go ahead and think of myself as something better than I always did.

And that's when hey, Soul Sister was born and drive by

and all these other non-apologetic themes.

So something more was kind of an apology for stuff

that I don't even know that I did.

It just felt like in my family, if you say you're sorry,

shit gets better, so I didn't really get better.

What you say, you know, I've heard you say in interviews that you're not a religious person,

there's a lot of spirituality.

Yeah, like calling all angels is a big song for me,

but that has nothing to do with anything religious.

I have a great therapist in the Bay Area.

She told me because I was struggling with like, I'm not happy.

I have money now, I never did.

I have success now, I never did.

I'm still in the same relationship that's not good.

Here are my thoughts, I can't really wake up and be happy.

And so she was like, that's because we were made up of angels and traders.

And sometimes your angels become traders later in your life,

like they help you survive, but then become traders when you stay in a rut.

And that's the rut I was in was that some of these angels that were like,

you're not good enough, keep trying, you're not good enough, keep trying, took over.

But they were becoming traders and they were keeping me where this place,

this plane that wasn't exceeding to the next level was, you know.

And so I was like, I got to call my angels and that's what that song is about.

And so I love anyone who likes that song for whatever reason you want.

You can think about Jesus or Bruno or whoever you want.

As long as that song affects you in a positive way, I'm down.

Save me San Francisco, one of the great albums, Hey Soul Sister.

I've always wanted to ask you, where did the Mr. Mr. Reference come from?

Man, there ain't many rhymes with sister, you know what I mean?

You just say, but I loved, you know, carry on there.

All those songs were so good.

Well, biggest song in 2010 and yeah, three years later from your last album,

you guys, you kind of have that synatra comeback moment, you know.

You had this huge album, one of the biggest songs of the last decade.

How did the song come together?

Because ukulele, a little bit of a different sound there.

I mean, it's still very train-esque.

I wrote that song with some friends in New York.

They call themselves Espionage and they're from Norway.

And we wrote a bunch of things, but when we wrote this one, it was on guitar,

and we were all just kind of staring at it like, yeah, it's fine.

And so I sang on it and it was still fine.

And who is one of the two of that group picked up ukulele,

and it was just like, it's not fine anymore.

It's really, really good, you know.

And then we just made it better and better and better as the process went.

But it's crazy because drive-by on the next album,

it surpassed the success of Hey Soul Sister in Europe

in many in the UK and other countries.

It was very interesting.

Remember one on a couple of different charts in here in America.

And I think, you know, had we had the momentum with Soul Sister

because we came out of like, you're never going to hear from that band again to Hey Soul Sister.

So then the momentum of that and marry me.

Then you have drive-by, so you're, you know, that's, I think that plays a role in it.

So I'm glad you brought up marrying me.

I wanted to ask you about that song.

Just a very vulnerable and honest and just heartfelt.

This is a lovely song.

Tell me, tell me.

It was 55 seconds when I wrote it.

I wrote it to my wife on guitar in the kitchen in our house.

And she was like, wow, that's awesome.

I sent it to my manager and he was like, man, as soon as it's three minutes and 30 seconds,

it's going to be awesome.

And like, man, you can't make me do that.

It's a perfect way it is.

And he was like, this could be a really great song for a lot of people.

So you got to finish it.

Absolutely.

And marry me.

I got to ask you about this will be my year from California 37.

I've always loved that song and it kind of, it's almost kind of like a,

we didn't start the fire, but more personal.

That was the idea behind it too.

Yeah.

Because we didn't start the fires, just like a laundry list of things.

But yours has meaning about, you know, tell me about the meaning behind that.

Well, just, you know, I wanted to paint a picture or draw a line between what was happening in my life and what was happening in the world.

You know, that's basically what the song is about.

And we did it every night for a long time, but I would forget the words most nights.

In fact, that have to stop the show.

And it was, there's so many words there that it just got to be too intense.

But I love it.

Yeah.

We don't really do it anymore.

Yeah.

I don't know if you ever seen Billy Joel on YouTube where he,

he misses one lyric from, we didn't start the fire.

And he's like, okay, we gotta start over.

Yeah.

You know.

Well, you know, that's also part of the charm of like,

what your fans eventually want from you is just to see that you're a real person.

You know, that if everything's perfect all the time, I don't know.

Like, doesn't pop music need a little bit of heart?

Because I always know that you'll be here with me.

What would you consider if you look at your private life and your career,

your greatest achievement looking back at this point?

I don't know, man.

That's a greatest achievement that's surviving.

Yeah.

Like, surviving through, you know, through all of it,

not just life, but career, you know.

Like, this career is not for, you know, the meek.

And it certainly isn't for the young or the old.

But I don't think that that's, I don't think that that's something that needs to continue to be that way.

I want to be right.

I want to be on Z100 when I'm 65 because they have to play it.

How do we not play it?

Everybody wants us to play it.

That's what I want.

That's my goal and I don't know how to get rid of that goal.

If I start taking like, antidepressants or something, I might just be like,

I'm good.

But I have a fire that I don't know how to put out.

I love it.

And then last question.

If you were to gift a record to the world, a double A side,

a side one and a side two, two songs that, you know,

a kind of define you, what would they be?

Definitely drops a Jupiter.

Wow, man, the second one.

That'd be, that'd be hard.

That one is on its way.

All right.

That's awesome, man.

Yeah.

Pat, thank you so much, man.

You're great at this.

I'm glad I came.

Oh, thank you.

I appreciate it.

I should be on vocal rest right now.

But I had a feeling you were going to be real good at this.

Oh, thank you so much.

It means a lot.

Hey, leave us a comment about Pat Motahan and Train.

I think he's a great guy.

Let's have a great discussion about Train's music below.

If you'd like to see more interviews, I got a bunch of comments and really good ones.

But gosh, it just seems like my interviews are being blackballed on here.

I'm not trying to complain.

I'm just saying it's crazy because I'll put out an interview and it'll do a tenth of what my other stuff does.

And the numbers are all there.

But for some reason, the algorithm doesn't like him.

But I'd like to keep him going because I love doing these interviews.

Let me know if you'd like to see those.

Let's have a great discussion below.

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And until next time, records and the truth, my friends.