"Driftwood" is the second single taken from Indie band Travis'

Travis (band)

Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...

 second studio album, The Man Who

The Man Who

The Man Who is the second studio album from the Scottish indie pop band Travis. The album was released on 24 May 1999, becoming the album that gave the band international recognition. The album peaked at #1 in the UK and #8 in Australia. It was later released in the United States in Early 2000...

. It became their biggest hit single up to that point, peaking at #13 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

Background

In an interview for NME, Fran revealed that, "The title reputedly comes from the advice of one of my close friends. He advised me not to leave college to concentrate on the band. The lyrics focus on a character who has abandoned all his connections and is now like driftwood - "breaking into pieces... hollow and of no use, waterfalls will find you, bind you, grind you". Driftwood is a song for the person in your life who has so much potential and, yet, doesn't use it, because they're afraid of falling on their backside, you know, they're afraid of making a fool of themselves. But, yet, if they put their minds to it and just threw their plate out the window, they would actually do a lot with it and make themselves happy and other people happy. The chorus came about while i was watching an episode of Cheers. The episode involved an employee overhearing their boss stating that he was going to get rid of the "driftwood" in the company. I then went to do the washing up, and the first line in the chorus just came to me. Also, our original idea was to include the lyrics "caterpillars turn to butterflies", but it was too long to fit with the tune, so we shaved off syllables, changing it to "pillars turn to butter."

Music video

The music video features Healy playing a photographer in a school, about to take a picture of all the pupils. He keeps looking at the blue sky, to see if the weather is perfect, which it is. After the pupils line up, the rest of the band show up, as do the other teachers. Healy then sets the timer, and runs to his seat to wait for the camera to take the picture, but then, it starts to rain heavily. All the pupils stand up and run to shelter, whilst the band members stay in their seats, with the rain pouring down at them still. The music video was filmed in St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls

St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls

St Philomena's Catholic High School for Girls is a school for girls in Carshalton, South London, England. Ofsted praised the school as 'outstanding' and the Archdiocese of Southwark found the establishment to be 'a very strong school'. , the chair of governors is Dr. Mary Howard, and the current...

, located in Carshalton

Carshalton

Carshalton is a suburban area of the London Borough of Sutton, England. It is located 10 miles south-southwest of Charing Cross, situated in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton Ponds in the centre of the village. The combined population of the five wards...

, Surrey. Travis later reprised the teaching roles portrayed in the video for a cameo role in the 2007 Comedy-Drama film Son of Rambow

Son of Rambow

Son of Rambow is a 2008 comedy-drama film written and directed by Garth Jennings. The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was later shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Glasgow Film...

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Track listing

• UK CD1

1. "Driftwood" - 3:36
2. "Be My Baby" - 5:15
3. "Where Is The Love?" - 4:17

• UK CD2

1. "Driftwood" - 3:36
2. "Writing To Reach You" (Deadly Avenger's Bayou Blues Mix) - 4:14
3. "Writing To Reach You" (Deadly Avenger's Instrumental Mix) - 4:30

• 7" Vinyl / Cassette

1. "Driftwood" - 3:36
2. "Be My Baby" - 5:15

• European CD1

1. "Driftwood" - 3:36
2. "Writing To Reach You" (Live @ The Melkweg, Amsterdam)
3. "A Good Day To Die" (Live @ The Melkweg, Amsterdam)
4. "Baby One More Time" (Live @ The Melkweg, Amsterdam)

• European CD2

1. "Driftwood" - 3:36
2. "The Fear" (Live On Radio 3FM, Holland) - 4:19
3. "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" (Live On Radio 3FM, Holland) - 4:31
4. "Dritfwood" (Live On Radio 3FM, Holland) - 4:07