3AM (Matchbox Twenty song)

"3AM"
Single by Matchbox 20
from the album Yourself or Someone Like You
Released November 23, 1997 (1997-11-23)
Format
Recorded 1996
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:46
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Matt Serletic
Matchbox 20 singles chronology
"Push"
(1997)		 "3AM"
(1997)		 "Real World"
(1998)

"Push"
(1997)		 "3AM"
(1997)		 "Real World"
(1998)
Music video
"3AM" on YouTube

"3AM" (written "3 am" on the album and "3 AM" on the single) is the third single and the third track from Matchbox 20's debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You. It topped the Canadian RPM record charts in early 1998.[1][2]

Background and content

This song was written by Rob Thomas, Jay Stanley, John Leslie Goff and Brian Yale while performing together in the early 1990s band Tabitha's Secret. The song was first recorded by that band on its debut EP, Tabitha's Secret?. The lyrics are inspired by Thomas as an adolescent having to live with a mother fighting to survive cancer.[3] In 1997, after the other members of Tabitha's Secret left to form Matchbox 20, Goff and Stanley released other early recordings of the band (including 3 A.M.) on Don't Play with Matches.

Music video

The video (directed by Gavin Bowden) features the band sitting on sides of a street next to some telephone booths. A supermarket is also shown. The video switches between color video clips and black-and-white still images. During the introduction and the third verse of the song, Thomas walks in the middle of the street with some construction signs and lights. During the third verse, a Pontiac Trans Am with a bare-chested man and a woman inside stops in front of Thomas. The man gets out, revealing a catheter in his chest, receives three cigarettes from Thomas and then gets back in the Trans Am. Finally, during the last two choruses, the band is shown playing their instruments (presumably in the lobby of a hotel or office building) as rain can be seen falling from a large window behind them. The video ends with an image of Thomas standing next to the telephone booths.

Paul Doucette posted on Instagram on July 3, 2018, "This is where we shot the 3 am video. It's also across the street from where I get my car serviced. #MeAndThisCornerGotSomeHistory"

The music video was shot at the 99 Cents Only Store at Whipple/Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood, CA.

Track listing

  • 3-track version
  1. "3 AM" – 3:46
  2. "Push" (acoustic) – 4:19
  3. "Shame" – 3:35

Charts

Chart (1997–98) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[4] 31
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 1
Canada Alternative 30 (RPM) 1
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) 1
Germany (Official German Charts)[5] 96
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 92
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) 64
US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 3
US Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 2
US Billboard Alternative Songs 3
US Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks 1
US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 2

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Top Singles - Volume 66, No. 18, January 26, 1998". RPM. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  2. ↑ "Rock/Alternative - Volume 66, No. 16, January 12, 1998". RPM. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  3. ↑ Video on YouTube
  4. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Matchbox 20 – 3 AM". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  5. ↑ "Musicline.de – Matchbox 20 Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
  6. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Matchbox 20 – 3 AM" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
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