3AM (Matchbox Twenty song)

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

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 lyrics are inspired by Thomas as an adolescent having to live with a mother fighting to survive cancer.

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 from color video images to black-and-white 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 car stops with a bare-chested man and a woman inside. The man walks out, revealing a catheter in his chest, and is handed three cigarettes by Thomas. Finally, during the last two choruses, the band is shown playing their instruments ending with an image of Thomas standing next to the telephone booths.