"Writing to Reach You" is the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

taken from Scottish rock band Travis's second studio album, ''

The Man Who ''The Man Who'' is the second studio album by the Scottish rock band Travis. The album was released on 24 May 1999 through Independiente. It saw a change in musical direction for the band, moving away from the rockier tone of their debut '' ...

'' (1999).

Background

The song was written by Fran Healy, who admitted that he had written this song while listening to "

'74–'75 "74–75" is a song by American band the Connells from their fifth studio album, ''Ring'' (1993). The acoustic ballad was released as the album's third single in 1993, but it did not chart in the United States. It would later become a European h ...

" on the radiosonghistory.ru: 74-75
/ref> and took the guitar chords from

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

's " Wonderwall" and "

D'You Know What I Mean? "D'You Know What I Mean?" is a song by English rock band Oasis. Written by Noel Gallagher, it was released on 7 July 1997 as the first single from their third album, '' Be Here Now'' (1997). The song reached number one on the UK Singles Char ...

"; as overts acknowledgement of this, the song contains the lyric "and what's a wonderwall, anyway?". In 2004, both "Writing to Reach You" and "Wonderwall" were mixed with

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

's " Boulevard of Broken Dreams" in the popular mashup "

Boulevard of Broken Songs "Boulevard of Broken Songs" (also known as "Wonderwall of Broken Songs" or "Wonderwall of Broken Dreams") is a popular mash-up mixed by American DJ and producer Party Ben in late 2004. The mix consists of elements from American pop punk band G ...

". The single was the group's first release in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

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, following their success in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The song also earned Travis their first appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. The single peaked at number 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Fran was reading Letters to Felice from Franz Kafka while he wrote this song.

Music video

The

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

was directed by John Hardwick. It features Healy walking in the countryside and being attacked by a pair of innocent looking schoolchildren. They pelt him with stones and shoot him with arrows, only to find that he is wearing body armour, which he takes off with the arrows still embedded. He is also attacked by a Bf109 fighter plane being flown by one of the children. The video ends with Healy giving a letter of some sort to the school girl that shot him with arrows earlier and she runs toward the camera as it travels further away from the set.

Track listings

* UK CD single 1 and digital download 1 # "Writing to Reach You" — 3:44 # "Green Behind the Ears" — 3:40 # "Only Molly Knows" — 3:21 * UK CD single 2 and digital download 2 # "Writing to Reach You" — 3:42 # "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" — 3:49 # "High as a Kite" — 2:30 * UK cassette and 7-inch single #" Writing to Reach You" — 3:41 # "Only Molly Knows" — 3:20 * Australian CD single # "Writing to Reach You" — 3:42 # "Green Behind the Ears" — 3:40 # "Only Molly Knows" — 3:19 # "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" — 3:49 # "High as a Kite" — 2:30 * Japanese CD single # "Writing to Reach You" — 3:42 # "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" — 3:49 # "High as a Kite" — 2:30 # "Green Behind the Ears" — 3:40 # "Only Molly Knows" — 3:19

Appearances in popular culture

The song's intro is used as

bumper music Bumper music, or a bump, is a term used in the radio broadcasting industry to refer to short clips of signature songs or theme music used to buffer transitions between programming elements, typically lasting no longer than fifteen seconds. It is ...

on the

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...

radio program.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Writing To Reach You Travis (band) songs 1999 singles 1999 songs Independiente (record label) singles Song recordings produced by Nigel Godrich Songs written by Fran Healy (musician)