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"Drive By" is a song by American roots rock band Train from their sixth studio album "California 37". It was released in the United States as the album's lead single on January 10, 2012, three months before the release of "California 37". The song was written by lead singer Pat Monahan and Norwegian songwriting duo Espen Lind, Amund Bjørklund, the same team responsible for Train's 2009 hit single "Hey, Soul Sister".
"Drive By" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's third (and final) top 10 hit in the US. It was awarded a double platinum certification by the RIAA on July 23, 2012, for more than 2 million sales in the US. Internationally, the song became a top ten hit in 13 countries. Train performed the song on television series 90210 in the episode "Blood Is Thicker Than Mud", which aired on March 13, 2012. Train also performed a parody entitled "Five By" with Elmo and Count von Count for an episode of Sesame Street.
Singer Pat Monahan said, "'Drive By' was about meeting my wife and quickly falling in love, and being really scared about that because I was like, Man, I am not sure if this is a good idea — that something like this would happen so quickly. Because I think generally when you're looking for something big you're not gonna find it, and when you're not looking for that thing it's gonna probably show up and get you. And so, 'Drive By' was all about realizing that I have to not worry about it and just let it be what it is."
Monahan said the lyric, "Hefty bag to hold my love" was inspired by when he used to work at a restaurant in Erie, Pennsylvania. He and his friends would sneak the owner's beer out of the fridge, hide it in trash bags in the dumpster, and then take it home and drink it when their shift was over. This made him associate Hefty bags with holding things that made him happy. When the song was released, Hefty sent him several boxes of garbage bags in gratitude for the shout-out. The "shy guy" in the lyrics came from his restaurant days, when he went to a party where he was scared to talk to anyone. A husband of his coworker, who was a very large but kind man, came up to him and called him "Shy guy."
The single has proved to be a worldwide success primarily in the band's home country where it has been certified double platinum and was the 19th most successful song on the Hot 100 chart. In the UK, "Drive By" sold 502,700 copies and was the 23rd best selling single of 2012. It reached number 6 in the UK, making it their highest-charting single there since "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" in 2001.
The music video was posted on YouTube on February 15, 2012, and was directed by Alan Ferguson. In the video, Monahan portrays a character who reconciles with an old flame during a weekend trip to Wine Country, and features the other band members driving classic cars.
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