Wednesday July 20, 2022 “3 AM” Matchbox 20

We’re at number three in this frivolous rock & roll by the numbers week and today we have Matchbox 20s “3 AM”.

Today’s song “3 A.M.” was written by lead singer Rob Thomas and he has said that he selected the seemingly arbitrary time of 3 A.M.because that’s when the bars closed.  The band was originally called Tabitha’s Secret but they switched to Matchbox 20 when drummer Paul Douchette was a waiter and he saw a customer wearing a jacket with a lot of patches on it. One patch on the front said Matchbox, and another on the back said 20.   Guess that makes as much sense as some of our previous explanations.

The band released their first album Yourself or Someone Like You in the fall of 1996 and the first single “Push” became a surprise breakout hit.  That was followed by “3 AM” which went to number one on most every one of the charts that measure that kind of thing.  The album would go on to become a platinum (one million copies) selling album…ten times over.

Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas would record a duet with Carlos Santana for Santana’s album Supernatural and the song would be picked up by virtually every radio musical format imaginable.  In addition to being so musically pervasive “Smooth” drove album sales of Supernatural to several million units and would go on to receive three Grammys, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Stay safe and well…and I suspect this will ruin a lot of your impressions about “3 AM” but in an interview with Rob Thomas he said the lyrics were about the time he spent caring for his mother when she was battling cancer...she won. Probably want to stick with your own interpretation though.

She says it's cold outside and she hands me my raincoat

She's always worried about things like that

She says it's all gonna end and it might as well be my fault

And she only sleeps when it's raining

And she screams and her voice is straining

 She says baby

It's 3 am I must be lonely

When she says baby

Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes

Says the rain's gonna wash away I believe it

 She's got a little bit of something, God it's better than nothing

And in her color portrait world she believes that she's got it all

She swears the moon don't hang quite as high as it used to

And she only sleeps when it's raining

And she screams and her voice is straining

 She says baby

It's 3 am I must be lonely

When she says baby

Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes

Says the rain's gonna wash away I believe it

 She believes that life is made up of all that you're used to

And the clock on the wall has been stuck at three for days, and days

She thinks that happiness is a mat that sits on her doorway

But outside it's stopped raining

 She says baby

It's 3 am I must be lonely

When she says baby

Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes

Says the rain's gonna wash away I believe it