This week's featured tune is another in a long list of artists/songs introduced to me by my lovely daughter. At one time, she was quite the aficionado of Brit Pop, and her sharing of her love of the genre led me to many a good tune and many a good band....
Travis had its beginnings in 1990 in Glasgow, Scotland, and by 1991 had all of the members who would form the core of the band. They had their first taste of success with their debut album, Good Feeling, in 1997, and with their second album (featuring this week's tune) in 1999 were well on their way to critical and commercial success. While the bulk of their success has been in their native U.K., they have had a modicum of success here in the States. Travis has won two Brit Awards and are considered by some as having set the stage for Keane and Coldplay (both of whom have also been blessed enough to be featured on Friday Night Jukebox). For their career, Travis have released nine studio albums (with two #1's on the U.K. Albums Chart and seven of the nine reaching the top five), and 24 singles (six of which have hit the top ten on the U.K. Singles Chart). They released their latest LP in 2020 and continue to tour and record. For those wondering, the band's name came from the character of Travis Henderson (portrayed by Harry Dean Stanton) in the critically acclaimed film, Paris, Texas.
"Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" was the third single released from Travis' career making second album, The Man Who. The song would hit #10 (with a bullet, or whatever the British equivalent of Billboard's bullet is) on the U.K. Singles Chart, while the album was their first #1 on the U.K. Albums Chart. Neither entered the top 100 in America.
Fun Fact: This is probably the coolest Fun Fact yet...When Travis played the Glastonbury Festival in support of the recently released The Man Who album, the album had already peaked on the album chart and was beginning to look like a sales disappointment. However, as the band broke into "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" it began to rain (after several hours of sunshine) and stopped raining when the band finished the song. Word of mouth about the incident caused people to flood radio stations with requests and the band's album as well as the single became a hit, very likely rescuing the band's career.
Every now and again while preparing Friday Night Jukebox, I come across a song that I had forgotten how wonderful it truly was, and "Why Does It Always Rain on Me" was such a song this week. From Fran Healy's understated but heartfelt vocals to the melancholy--yet still hopeful--lyrics, this tune is about as good as a pop song can get. The melody is like a dream, and the band hits all the right notes, highlighting Healy's vocals while adding their own signature to the song. Bonus points because my Mom liked this one a lot, too.
Lyric Sheet: "Sunny days/Where have you gone?/I get the strangest feeling you belong/Why does it always rain on me..."
Enjoy (props to Fran Healy for wearing a kilt in the video):
Republican = Traitor
Peace,
emaycee
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