Song · Travis
“Writing to Reach You” by Travis
“Writing to Reach You” by Travis appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2001 and 2007. Its best result is #362 on the Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,034 alternative song of all time.
Travis opened the account for The Man Who, their second album, with "Writing to Reach You" in March 1999, and Fran Healy was upfront about where it came from. He wrote it with "'74–'75" playing on the radio and Kafka's Letters to Felice on the go, and he lifted the chords from two Oasis songs, "Wonderwall" and "D'You Know What I Mean?", even giving the first a nod in the words.
It was the Scottish band's first release in Japan and Australia, it got them onto Top of the Pops for the first time, and it climbed to 14 in the UK. John Hardwick's video has Healy out walking in the countryside, where a pair of schoolchildren set on him, and in 2004 the song got a second life in the mashup "Boulevard of Broken Songs".
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 362 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2004 | 483 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2007 | 525 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
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