Meet Virginia

In this song, Train frontman Pat Monahan sings about an odd and strangely alluring girl named Virginia. Among her quirks: wearing high heels when she exercises and drinking coffee at midnight. This song was inspired at least partially by one of Monahan's friends, who according to Pat, would make up all these stories about stuff that Pat supposedly did. Monahan says the song isn't supposed to be about one woman, but rather, several people.

This was the song that got Train rolling after years of struggle. Formed in San Francisco in 1994, they played small venues for a few years and in 1996 recorded their first, self-titled album, which included "Meet Virginia." They couldn't get a record deal, so they released it independently. In 1997 they got some gigs opening for acts like Hootie & the Blowfish and Barenaked Ladies, which attracted the attention of Columbia Records, which released the album in 1998 with a re-ordered tracklist. Columbia pegged their song "Free" as the most hit-worthy and issued it as their first single. It flopped, but when they tried again with "Meet Virginia," it caught on and slowly rose up the charts as the band kept touring. It reached its peak of #20 in the US in January 2000, nearly four years after it was first recorded. Train's next album was Drops Of Jupiter, released in 2001. The title track was a big hit, and many of their new fans went back in their catalog to discover "Meet Virginia." In concert, Monahan would sometimes joke by introducing "Meet Virginia" as a new song.

The entire album cost just $25,000 to make, financed by the band. Fortunately, songs like this one don't need elaborate production, so they were OK on a budget. Their next album, Drops Of Jupiter, was much more involved and had a big-name producer: Brendan O'Brien, who had worked with Aerosmith, Pearl Jam, and Neil Young.