With a lyric by Jellyfish frontman Andy Sturmer, "That Is Why" is about a guy ready to call off a toxic relationship. He's become dependent on her, which is why it's gone on so long, but now it's time to end it. Sturmer is a fan of Elvis Costello, whose influence is clear on lines like "It's partly cloudy with trouser stains."
Jellyfish keyboard player Roger Manning wrote the music. In a Songfacts interview, he explained how it came together: "Andy had the chorus idea, and he didn't know where to take it. But he believed in it and I believed in it when he played it for me. And I got inspired to help create that verse and the bridge and we finished the song structure itself in a 30-minute writing session, because we were both so excited in the core of the idea. And then demoing it and arranging it, that was a whole other can of worms to crack it open."
This was Jellyfish's second single, following "The King Is Half-Undressed." It got some airplay on Modern Rock radio and earned some spins on MTV with the Rocky Schenck-directed video, but Jellyfish was pushing against the tides of grunge with their multi-layered pop sound, and they never landed a big hit. The group released just two albums before breaking up in 1994.
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.