Switched on Pop - Learning to Love Train: "Drops of Jupiter" is back in the atmosphere

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Train is the kind of band that some people love to hate. Songs like "Meet Virginia" and "Hey Soul Sister" gave the band huge hits, and no small amount of snark. And then there's "Drops of Jupiter." Released in 2001, the song is almost impossible not to love, no matter how many lyrics about soy lattes and Tae Bo it includes. "Drops of Jupiter" was released 25 years ago, so there's no more perfect time to plumb the secrets of this celestial smash, and there's no more perfect guest than Train's lead singer and songwriter, Pat Monahan. Pat breaks down the origin of the song, why he thought it would flop, how Train is like a rom com, and why he'd rather his songs be more famous than him. By the end of our conversation, you might find yourself learning to love Train. Songs Discussed Train - Drops of Jupiter, Meet Virginia, Hey Soul Sister Taylor Swift - Drops of Jupiter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Charlie, I'm going to name some things and you tell me what they make you think of, okay? Okay, Mozart, Tai Bo, fried chicken. And the best soy latte that you've ever had. Powdered wigs?

Kickboxing. Gross. You're not a fan of fried chicken? Oh, fried chicken. No, no. I forgot the fried chicken. Scrumptious and disgusting. Soy latte.

Okay, well, I'm an almond guy. So you have an individual reaction to all this things, but when you put them together, what does it make, Charles? Drops of Jupiter. And today on the pod, we're going to talk to Trains lead singer and songwriter Pat Monaghan about why we can't stop listening to this song 25 years after its release. Welcome to Switchshop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And before we dive into my conversation with Pat, I want to give a quick crash course on this band.

Okay. Train. They form in San Francisco in 1993. And their first hit comes five years later. 1998. It's a song called Meet Virginia. Virginia. Virginia. Yeah, very good. Oh, yeah. She never compromises. Lums babies and surprises. Where's high heels when she exercises? Ain't that beautiful?

Some great specific lyric writing. Where's high heels while she exercises? If that doesn't give you 90s nostalgia, I don't know what will. It's good. That's why Gen Z yearns for the 90s, honestly, is everything contained in this song. But it was drops of Jupiter. that really put this band on the map when it came out in 2001. It's a timeless classic.

If I could play piano just like that and have strings support me, I'd be set for life. That pianist is none other than Chuck Lavelle, who's played with everyone from John Mayer to the Rolling Stones. We'll get into that a little later in the show. But yeah, this song was massive. It went diamond certified. But things weren't all Milky Way.

and shooting stars after the song for train. The band actually had a period of commercial and critical decline after this. And it wasn't until eight years later in 2009 that they reclaimed some kind of foothold in the music industry when they released a little song called Hey Soul Sister. That song single-handedly responsible for more ukulele sales and the 2010s than any other. Maybe except for Zoe de Chanel. You might throw Jason Maraz in there as well. Yeah. There was a little moment where the ukulele was a thing again.

And Hayes'L Sister was definitely a part of that. This became another massive hit for the band. And since then, 2009, they've released a string of albums. They've had additional hits, including drive-by, play that song. And right now they have a new single out. But even with all their success, they're also a band. that gets a lot of criticism. Yeah.

Which kind of fascinates me. Like, how do we square being at the top of your game, having some of the biggest commercial smashes of the 21st century, and also have people sipping on Haterade whenever you release a new song? You don't have to square it. You just skewer it. Everyone loves to take people down at the top. I mean, just look what's happening to Chalperon, you know,

just every moment people are looking at. for an opportunity to take down those who are right and high. I mean, I think that train appeared in our worst lyrics ever episode. People have made fun of lyrics like the best soy latte that you ever had. In a certain way, that song very much dates drops of Jupiter. Soy latte is very popular in the 90s. Now we have every kind of alternative milk, not just soy. And so oat milk, what, pea, pea protein.

Everything is possible. And yet, like, you know, I was probably talking about. talked about this many of times on the show, but like Taylor Swift got away with a misheard lyric about Starbucks lovers and everyone had a great time with that. I have no problem with highly specific lyrical content. In many ways, I think some of the ways that they were writing sort of presages the style of very diaristic songwriting that we have today. And you know what else is interesting is when we did that episode with Sam Sanders and we had listeners send in what they considered to be the lamest lyrics in pop history, I would say for every one,

one person who sent in a train lyric as an example of a bad lyric, there were three defenders saying, actually, this song is brilliant and here's why. So I think this polarizing reception of the band, it all comes back to this song, drops of Jupiter. And it's the 25th anniversary of the release of this track. So, I mean, there's no better time to sit down with the architect of all of this and talk about whether he knew this song would be a hit, what he thinks of a cover by, guess who, Taylor Swift? No, really? Yeah.

And, you know, ultimately, why this song hasn't left our ears for a quarter of a century. Let's learn to love train. Pat, welcome to Switch on Pop. Thanks, Nate. I appreciate you having me. I hear great things about you. So far, I haven't seen any of those great things, but I'm hoping that you're about to show up, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate it. I like having high expectations. Yeah. Speaking of high expectations, we're here in part to talk about a song that turns 25 years old this year. Yeah. It's your song with the band Train drops of Jupiter. Yeah. I want to rattle off a few impressive stats about this song, if I may.

Two Grammys approaching R-I-A-Diamon certification over... It's already... It's already. Already diamond, yeah. Diamond. I got the plaque at home to prove it. I'll sell it to you for 600 bucks. Oh, that's a good deal.

Excuse me, one billion Spotify streams. Is that right? More now, maybe? Yeah, it's more, but it's, but it doesn't matter. Here, I'll tell you exactly. 1.2 billion. Wow. It's all lies.

It remains a cultural touchstone with megastar fans from Miley Cyrus to Taylor Swift and Luke Combs, who have all covered the song on tour. Yeah, it's fun. It's cool. Yeah. So 25 years of this song. I wanted to put that in context a little bit. If drops of Jupiter was a young adult, the song could legally rent a car. Yeah. 25 years, that's a long time. If you can think back to 2001 when you wrote, recorded, release the song. Did you ever imagine it having this kind of longevity? No. No, not at all. I've never made anything that I saw

was a future movement in humanity. You know, like, because when you write songs, you try to touch something in yourself that makes you go like, oh, that feels something. Yeah. And I felt something,

but it was like a three and a half minute song with strings and like, nobody was, nobody cared. It was not the era for that. But people cared. It was a weird time. Performing the song for two and a half decades, do you have a sense of what that thing is, what that spark is that people connect with, or is it still kind of a mystery? You know, so I can go back to the history of the song, which was, we were on Columbia Records, I still am.

And at the time, we had recorded an album that was called Something More. And the president at the time was like, you don't have a first single. And a first single at that time was like a lead off single that would get you excited about the other singles perhaps, but it had to be a hit. Right. We didn't have any of those. And my mother had passed away. And so I was not in a good place to write the thing that they were looking for. And I worked for three months and one night I fell asleep and woke up with this dream basically now that she's back in the atmosphere. And it was my mother basically saying, you know, You don't have to worry about me.

Like, go do your thing. I can swim through the planets and come back here with drops of Jupiter in my hair if I want. And then I turned that into a love story, and it took 15 minutes. Then I went to New York with a demo of it because the record president was about to tell me, you got to go write songs with class songwriters, which was not a part of the rule in my band. At the time, it was like, we can only write together, which was not a good rule, and it kept us from being better. And before he told me anything, I handed him a disc at the time and said, this is probably nothing. I had a dream, but here's something I just wrote.

And by the time it went, plain old Jane told a story about him, he just goes, fucking song of the year. And then it was at a time when almost famous was out. Yeah. And so he was loving this movie and loved all of the Elton John stuff. And Paul Buckmaster was still alive. And Paul Buckmaster was the string arranger for Elton's music. So we got Paul through Columbia Records to write the string line. Wow.

And then my guy, Donnie Einer, who said you didn't have what it took. and then he said, now you do. He really made it happen and we became a band that could travel all over the world. So some artists might not like having that kind of pressure to deliver something. But was there something productive

about having that deadline? Of course. Deadline. I mean, my theory about music, that is not music theory like you teach, but my theory about music and musicians is that if you don't have a deadline, you'll never finish.

And if you do, you'll get it the shit done. Yeah. And we got it done. Yeah. Like, we got it done later than our deadline, but it got done because we were like, we have to keep going. Yeah. So, as you mentioned, I teach music theory. And one of the reasons I'm really excited to talk with you about this song is it makes some really clever musical choices.

I think that might be part of the reason. it's been so resonant for so long. So I'm really excited to have this chance to you to really unpack a lot of the... I'm not going to know nearly as much as you know about this song, but I'm happy to go down it with you. All right. Let's, we could start with the chord progression, maybe. There's a moment when we get to the chorus that I think is so effective.

We're in the key of C major. with this song. The people's key? The people's key, indeed. The white keys, as many pianists know it. And when we get to this line about being swept off your feet, we get this. Did the wind sweep you off your feet? Did the wind sweep you off your feet?

The wind is the second chorus. We got this harmonic chord that always takes me by surprise, even though I've heard this song so many times. I'm a drummer, so I know very little about music. You're going to have to teach me about this song. Well, this line gets us a chord that I wouldn't expect. It's a D major chord. In the KFC major, that doesn't really belong.

It's an odd chord, yeah. But it gives the song this lift that feels like you're sailing across the sun, out in the Milky Way. It's like literally sending you upwards because it's supposed to be a D minor chord according to the rules of music theory. But instead, it's a D major chord. Something I love about the song is, on one hand, it's pretty simple. It's like the chords just kind of rotate through a few different progressions.

But on the other hand, you're making these choices that really make the song unique. And as a listener, part of what keeps me coming back to it over and over again. Is that feeling a surprise. Chuck Lovell is the piano player on that track. We at the time didn't have a piano player. And Chuck was, and still plays in the Rolling Stones. Yeah. So Chuck came in just like Cowboy.

you know, and came in and he just put a bounce to it. Yeah. So he may have added a little bit of something to it without telling anyone. Yeah. Because he took it from ba-da-da-da-da to when the chorus comes and the bridge especially, he's like, boom, deck it, da. Because, you know, piano is a percussive instrument and Chuck plays it like it is. And we really needed that movement.

Yeah. And he created that. Oh, so is that syncopation that's so endemic to the track, we might have Chuck Lovell. I think Chuck was a huge part of that. Yeah. Some other details of the song that really draw me in. I mean, this is why I got confused actually with the choruses. Unlike a lot of pop songs, the choruses don't just repeat the same lyrics. Right.

It actually evolves. I say drops to Jupiter one time in the entire song. So this was another problem at the time of releasing a song. Yeah. That's why in the beginning for the first 15 years, it was called drops of Jupiter, tell me. Parentheses, yeah. Because the idea was, if someone goes in for this song, they're going to say, do you have the song, tell me? Yeah.

Because I say, tell me several times, but drops of Jupiter one time. But it's a pretty memorable lyric. And so I think that's why it was able to hold up. So that was a bit of a negotiation between you and? Oh, there were many negotiations. Like they didn't want soy latte in there There were other negotiations and I go I'll try I'll try different things everywhere

And I'm not trying anything What were their objections to those to those lyrics? The soy latte was at the time not very popular And it was said to me that it was a feminine drink And to me I was like It's kind of the only thing I don't even drink coffee at the time but I would drink a soy latte once in a while.

I feel like time has vindicated you. Those lyrics are some of the most indelible parts of the song today. I'm going to look up indelible, and I think it's going to be great when I find out what that means. Some of the most memorable parts of the song. There's also a lyric about Tai Bo, I feel, I think. Well, that's a really specific thing for me. Oh. So I am originally from Erie, Pennsylvania.

and Ty Bo was invented by a guy named Billy Blanks also from Erie Pennsylvania. And so it was a shout out to my hometown. So those lyrics like you said, they're very specific and they're very down to earth. I like that idea. Quarky. And quirky. And like, what? Is it fair to say that's a characteristic of your songwriting?

I hope so. You know, I've always thought of, there's always been two things. Like people ask, did you ever think? that you would last this long? And I was like, yeah. Because, and the reason was, is like, we knew in the first, you know, five to 10 years, we're not going to be the biggest band in the world.

But maybe we can outlast them all. That was always my goal. Like, outlast everybody, because the marathon's more fun than the sprint. And the second is in creating this music and seeing if it would last. It's like, it really depends on the people that this music touches.

And, you know, I'll play golf with 30-year-old kids that ask me about the music that I've made because they learn train music from a car seat. And that's cool. I love that. Their moms liked, you know, our music and without them even knowing, it affected them forever. Well, that combination of something specific and something universal, I feel like that's such a great formula. a successful song. Yeah. Oh, the other thing I was going to say is I've always felt that we are a romantic

comedy. Like, you should be able to laugh and cry while listening to what we do. Wow. Or come to a train concert and have a specific emotional moment and then laugh at 50 ways to say goodbye. Because it's so ridiculous. Without those two things, I don't think music is that fun. I've been going to a lot of heavy metal concerts because my 14-year-old son is obsessed with like Zach Wilde.

Okay. We went and saw a black label society and it's so great. Like I love it. Like such heavy guitar and such jam and singing and everything. But when Zach sits down and plays piano and he like dedicates a moment to old friends of his, that's a very meaningful moment.

Without that, then the rest doesn't make sense anymore. You know what else that? reminds me of is Mozart, who gets name checked in these lyrics. Very different from Zach Wild. I'm a big Mozart fan. Me too. Really? Oh, yeah.

But you would know so, like, if you start asking me for names of songs and, but the melodies that Mozart created were, I mean, how old are they? Yeah, he died in 1791, I think. So, yeah. That's insane. Yeah, it is. That's different than anybody. I think there's something about Mozart where, because it made me think of what,

you were just saying there's there's a lot of grief and pain but there's also a lot of joy and exaltation it's the Greek tragedy yeah it's the what is the sad face and the happy face oh the the Janus face yeah that's every song every mute every every every piece of art you see should be that to me you mentioned the string arrangement on drops of jupiter by paul buckmaster And I feel like that's another element that gives the song that's a huge, huge part of, I think, why the song was successful. Yeah. Just like, d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-in. He was a magical writer.

He won a Grammy for that song. Well, well-deserved. That. See the group. They tell me ban it. And he takes a breath. Yeah. What made you feel that Paul was the right person for this arrangement?

I don't have a choice. Oh, well, there you go. It was the president of Columbia Records. He was like, we're getting Paul Buckmaster. And I was like, okay. It's a very simple answer. There's something about hearing those. Maria, you have a podcast now and you need to start acting like it.

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Strings that gives the song, I don't know, a depth or like a gravitas, maybe. Gravitas is a really good word for that. Yeah. And when I think about other songs that came out in 2001, drops of Jupiter breaks the mold in a lot of ways. That's why for me it was like, this song's going nowhere. The first time I ever heard it, I was in Erie, Pennsylvania because when I was back and forth between there and San Francisco. Yeah.

And I heard on a college radio station at like 9 o'clock at night. And I just remember thinking, that thing took forever to finish. Yeah. Because it was longer than any song these kids were going to play the whole rest of the week. And I thought that was going to keep us from. Because a lot of times you'll have edits. And we never edited this song. Oh, wow.

So you're saying you heard it on the radio. And it was like almost four minutes long. when everything else is, you know, two minutes and 40 seconds, and I was like, this is going to be tough. Yeah. This song has been covered many times, and I think one of the really notable ones is from a pretty small, unknown artist named Taylor Swift.

When I mentioned to my students that I was speaking to you this morning in my class, they knew drops of Jupiter through her through Taylor Swift Yeah They didn't know Some of them didn't know She covered

Hayes Soul Sister as well Yeah She covered Hayes Soul Sister as well And then I performed Drive-by with her Years ago at the Barclays Center Yeah In New York

Could we listen to a little bit Of Taylor's version Of Yeah it's great Drops of Jupiter This is live from the 2011 Speak Now tour Pretty nice

I got a good ass Yeah. Did you fall for a shooting star? She got the lyric right too, fall for a shooting star. Oh, really? Is that a common blunder? Yeah, so there were two, there's two lyrics that people miss. One is fall from a shooting star when it's fall four.

Because it was like a love story. Did you fall for a shooting star? Somebody that's not going to make the distance with you. One without a permanent scar because I have so many scars all over me. And the other was I got a lot of heat because at the time the internet it was just starting to become a way to communicate. And I got a lot of grief from Van Halen fans because they thought I was saying, and Van Halen is overrated.

And they were like, I will kill you! And I was like, dude, I love Van Halen. What are you even talking about? Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Maybe not a fan base you want to cross necessarily. No. Or not one that I ever would.

I'm a huge fan. That's funny. I've never heard that one. Okay. I actually have a problem with Taylor's cover. Okay. I don't want to say anything bad about her. I wouldn't say this to your students tomorrow, by the way.

No, this is, I know, this is going to be controversial. But I talked about how much I love that D major chord. And when she covers it, she doesn't play that D major chord. Yeah. She plays a D minor chord instead. There can only be one original, Nate. Well, I'm being a little facetious. I think it's a beautiful cover.

But I guess what I really want to ask is what it's life is what it's live. like to write a song, release it into the world, and then you're not in control of it anymore. Yeah, you're not supposed to be. But is it, does that, I feel like that would give me some anxiety, honestly. I would, I would say, you're doing it wrong. You would get over it. You would, okay. Because it's also, that would be like holding on to what you wrote the song about and then

wanting everyone to interpret it the same way. Like, I don't want anyone to interpret it the way I interpret it. I want them to see their children and their lover and whoever they want to see when they sing the song, you know, in the shower at these concerts. It's not my story. And if she wants to not add the D like that, that's her way of expressing that. See, that surprises me because a song was such a personal and poignant backstory. Until you send it out, then it's not. It can always mean what it's.

means to me. But once you release it, you have no control and why would you? I don't want somebody to tell me why to like their music. Is that attitude something you try to foster in terms of the reception of the band in general to?

Something I came up when I was researching, there was a SNL skit a few years ago about Hesol's Sister. I guess there was a skit also on SNL 10 years ago. maybe. With Maroon 5.

With Maroon 5. When you are in the public like that and people are taking your work and, you know, doing comedic skits about it, what kind of attitude do you have to take to... You know, if you're young, you can get your feelings hurt. And if you're not, it's like, I, like, keep it going. Yeah. Like, I remember the first time I think I heard. someone speak negatively of us. It was Patton Oswald, the comedian. And I heard him do a live

performance and he talked about what a shitty band train was and everything. And it was like really bummed out because I was a Patton Oswald fan. And then I realized, you know, I'm just going to outlast it. And I promise you he wouldn't say that today. And so like, you know, I don't want to be mad at people for feeling the way they feel about certain things. And they should express themselves however they like and without me getting weird about it. Like I have opinions about people. And then, you know, I also, there are certain comedians that if they did like train, I'd be bummed out. You know what I mean?

That doesn't fit their profile. You're supposed to hate us. That's an interesting way to think about it. Like comedy wins in my band. It wins over music. Yeah. Like if somebody came in and like, dude, did you hear this song? Be like, who cares?

Yeah. You got any good jokes? Like, it's just like life is too short to not laugh all the time. Like you were saying earlier, it's the romantic comedy approach. Yeah. Is there a limit to that, though? Like, you're telling me people take your music. They do what they will with it.

But would you ever draw the line? What if there was a techno-refer? remix of drops of Jupiter. Oh, we've done techno remixes of like, hey, Soul Sister and stuff. That'd have been pretty fun and successful. So no, no objections. Yeah, there's no, there's, there's nothing off limits. I guess if someone created a train cover band and it did better than us, you know, and sold more tickets and more records, I'd be like, this is, this is a bummer. The lawyer's involved, yeah. Okay. I think that's a, that seems like a healthy philosophy to have. Well, you know, it's my philosophy. feet doesn't mean it's healthy.

There's so much shit to worry about. Yeah. Why worry about that? Well, that's good advice. I mean, I could talk about this song forever. So I want to go back to this idea of the song evolving over the course of it. Over the course of time? Or over the course of the song?

Great distinction. No, I think first over the course of the song. Like this line, tell me, did Venus blow your mind? There's something about that every time I hear it because when you've went in the first chorus It's tell me did you fall for a shooting star and then you're kind of I'm kind of expecting that line again But instead I get something new something that expands the narrative expands the world Well it's and it's you know it's to do with the planets and Venus can be a woman or a planet or whatever like did that person blow your mind or did that seeing Venus for the first time. It's all related. It's all related.

Well, there's like maybe a textbook way to write a song, which is the chorus just repeats as is every time. But something about drops of Jupiter, the chorus evolves. And then we get to the outro and we just have these wordless choruses, which I find. Nah, nah, nah, nah. Yeah. You know, it's funny when that song went to the radio, I'm a fan of Journey, and Steve Perry ended up calling Brendan O'Brien, who was the producer on it, just to

tell him how excited he was, that there was another na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ha-ha-ha-ha-a-na-ha. Because Steve Perry's got several of them, like, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. So that was pretty fun. And then it just, that's the sing-along. Like, it's hard not to end the night

with that song. There's not really something. you can follow it up with. Some artists might have a negative relationship with a song of this success. Maybe even a little resentment. You know, I have to play this over and over again. I'm trapped. But I don't sense that.

I sense a real, that you've a real love for this song. What a crazy thing to be upset about. I mean, you know, no one has ever claimed that I'm emotionally mature, but I got to tell you, it certainly feels like I am. Yeah. Because if I knew somebody who didn't want to sing that song because why should I? Like, I'm better than that song. Are you?

I mean, I'm not a famous guy, but I have famous songs. And that's way better life. Oh, tell me about that. That's a way better life. I can go wherever I want and no one cares at all. but if I start singing drops of Jupiter in the middle of the street they're like oh shit I knew it

but that's a great life wow that's the sweet spot I mean when you're young you're like oh I'm so sad I'm not famous and then you get to my age you're like oh what a brutal life some of these people have to live through

you're not resting on your laurels despite that success no I'm still competitive you've got I want to arm wrestle you right now so bad bad. That would be a first for the podcast.

I would lose, but it would be a real dozy. I might get a lot of views if we did that. But we'll keep it civil, I think. Yeah, it's for now. It's very brown, very ivy. Well, you know, I was well trained, Pat. Your new song is The Weekend. Yeah.

And I'm excited to talk about this. Let's listen together, from the opening. Cool. Oh, that's you singing? No way. That's a barn burner, Pat. It's a barn burner?

Yeah. What are you, 40? Yeah, almost. One more week. I'll wait a week, and maybe then I can start using that one. Barn burner, that's a, that's an old even goody. Yeah. I knew that when it was created.

It felt appropriate for this one. It's got a real bluesy, backwards field to it. We're trying to. Stay Rolling Stones. We have a deep rock roots, but you know, we also have a big pop roots. So we're trying to just be what we are naturally, and it's more guitar-driven rock. This album would be more guitar-driven rock. And the lyrics are very intriguing to me. Here's the opening verse. I don't talk about the weekend. You already know if you're a good friend, and I can't take enough other headline saying things are going to be fine, kind of defies your expectations.

The weekend, you're thinking like, oh, you know, what's that song? Coldplay? Him for the weekend. You know, the weekend has this form of release or freedom. That's exactly what that chorus is supposed to be is a release from all the other stuff. But the point in the entire song is, let's all go have the weekend and then keep that trap shut until next weekend. Yeah. Like, you know, there's a few things.

This song is mostly about social media. Oh. So I don't talk about the weekend because, and I know this is a wrong quote, right, but the lady doth protest too much. That's an incorrect quote, but it's close to that. Yeah. And what Shakespeare is saying is this overexitement is not real. So when you see social media and everyone's posting, you know, I'm on a jet and I'm on a, you

Yeah, and I have the best life ever. And then, you know, they're in a divorce two weeks later. It's all pretend. And what I'm saying is I don't have to talk about that shit. Yeah. You'd already know if you knew me. That's real. And so let's go have a beautiful time together.

Yeah. And then you don't have to post because we're living it. Well, the musical choices might support that. It's raw. it's mainly, I'm not sure, I'm not hearing any like electronic instruments. I might be wrong, but there's electric guitars. There's electric guitar, right, but no, no synthesizers. It's very, it feels very organic to me.

There's real piano, but not like sense and stuff, yeah. And then your voice has some distortion on it, maybe? Maybe, but it's mostly just me grinding it out. It's just, it's just, it's got that grit to it. So now I'm hearing those sounds in a different context. It's like, these are, real sounds, they're authentic sounds. They're not polished and face-tuned, I guess.

I might be stretching, but I wonder if there's not a few moments here that actually connect back to drops of Jupiter. We've got some wordless vocals in this song, which I really like. Some na-na-na-naz in the weekend. La-la-la. La-l-las. Don't ever get those mistaken. Oh, my God.

La-l-las and nana's totally different. Never the Twain shall meet. Yeah. No, that was a rookie mistake, Pat. I hope. We'll edit that out. What did you say? Never the Twain shall meet?

Yeah. I was trying to match your Shakespeare reference. It's so professor. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah, the La La La's, it's basically saying, here's some bad news. La la la.

Because it's so incredible what, you know, what the real truth of people are. It's, uh, the words are like, if you need the world to look at you, la, la, la, la, just remember what folks are going through. And then you're like, oh, shit. And they're like, la, la, la. So it's, it's comedy, but it's la la la. La, la. I can imagine, not, not, no, not, but la la la.

And I can imagine this just being so triumphant live. Is it another moment where people sing along? I'd love to see it on like ESPN. So, you know, this thing impacts at radio and, like, we'll really go after it in April. Yeah. And when we do private shows, before we play the song, I always teach the audience, Are you ready for the weekend? Yeah, yeah.

So by the time we get to the chorus, they already know it. And I think it's that a memorable chorus. But if you listen to the whole song, it's partly about the weekend, but it's more about just mind your own business. Mind your own business. Because it's cooler. It's cooler to mind your own business. In an age of oversharing.

I love the reference to Watergate in the second verse. If you're looking for controversy, go find something else. Watergate, that's another one of these references that keep coming up in your music, something so specific that as a listener, I latch on to that. And it draws me into the world of the song. I'm not saying it's the same as, you know, Tai Bo or something like that. But I love that you can always hear these anchors in your music. Yeah, I've always wanted to add proper nouns to music.

Because the proper noun is the thing you listen to. Yeah. You know, dear prudence. That's right. Like, you know, you hear one woman's name and you're already in. Like, that proper noun matters. But if it was like, hey, baby. You're like, eh.

I'm good. I suppose the flip side of that is do those references not age as well over time. I think that's the trick of songwriting. Yeah. So, Tybo should not have because no 12-year-old knows what that is. Soyalties have outlasted. Fried chicken has outlasted. Mozart has outlasted.

He's still going strong. So I'm getting lucky. I'm three for four. Three for four. Those are good odds. Pat, it's been such a pleasure to. get to talk with you about drops of Jupiter and your new song the weekend. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. You're a smart, lovely guy with great questions and the fact that you're

going to get me an honorary doctorate at USC. Okay. I might have to pull a few strings, but I'm sure how long have you been a doctor of music? I got my PhD in 2016, so 10 years. 10 years. Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. When you get a doctorate like that, do you feel like, you're validated? Well, I feel that for a long time when I was a grad student, I was looking up at my professors and I was thinking, how am I ever going to be as smart and wise as these people? And it felt significant to get that piece of paper, even though it's just a piece of paper that says you are the expert now. And I remember those classes where the professors couldn't connect and I always thought I

I want to learn from that. It's like tours. Like when I'm on tours, I remember who I learned how not to be and who I want to be more like. Oh really like you're watching backstage and all of it. Taking it all in. Yeah. Thanks again, Pat. Thank you. Thank you. Nice. All right. Appreciate it. All right, Nate, I got a question for you. If you were going to

write drops of Jupiter in 2026, what kind of alternative beverage would you include in your lyrics? Oh, wait. That's really good. But, you know, I've gotten into the flat white, like many hipsters, like many millennial hipsters. I think we're post-cambucha already, right? Yeah. Maybe I throw a quartado in there with, I mean, whole milk is back, you know.

Yeah, just going straight. We're living in the age of maha. Yeah, raw milk maybe. Oh, gross. Just a little hint of botulism with your latte. Okay, what's now? Credits, right? Yeah, credits.

All right. Switchedumpop is produced by Ranah Cruz, edited by Alyssa Soap, engineered by Brandon McFarland, illustrations by Arras Gottlieb, video by Nick Rips, and our theme music is by Jossie Adams and Zach Tenario of Ark Iris, remember of the Vox Media Podcast Network, and a production of Vulture, which is part of New York Magazine. You can subscribe to NYMag.com slash pod. Find us on socials.

Tell us what you love about Train. What are the deep cuts? You know, maybe are we talking about 50 ways to say goodbye? That's a, it's kind of an underrated train song, in my opinion. I don't know that one. Is it like a Paul Simon nod? Well, it's kind of a Paul Simon nod, but it's in the style of like a Western movie from the 50s. I would describe it.

It's a good one. It's definitely worth checking out. We didn't get into it in our conversation, but I needed to throw out some love. Okay, very cool. And yeah, you can find us at Switched on Pop. You can also subscribe to our substack and check out the lively chat there. Links in our show notes and on our website, Switchedonpop.com. Unusually, we'll be back this week on Friday.

I had a live conversation with Maggie Rogers, another major anniversary, the 10th anniversary of Alaska and her major moment with Farrell. And it's a really spectacular conversation. Dang, is she super smart and really thoughtful up music. So we'll be airing that on Friday. Come check it out. Until then, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.