Matthews (2002)

This feature song made its debut in 2000 as a frequently played feature with alternating lyrics. In fact, it was the most played song of the 2000 summer tour at 46 of 52 shows.

In 2001, this song took a back seat to the Everyday songs yet was still one of the top 5 openers of the tour.

After its release on Busted Stuff, the extra chorus at the end omitted, the song came back with a vengeance in 2002 with static lyrics and went on to be the second most played song three tours in a row.

On 12.17.02, the song was played with the first chorus and second verse omitted, likely as a trial run for fitting the song into the time slot for the following night's performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. On 12.21.02, the arrangement was switched to 1st verse, 2nd chorus, 2nd verse, 3rd chorus, and it was played that way on all performances for over a year. Starting in the Summer 2004 tour, the song began to be performed in the following form: 1st verse, 1st chorus, 2nd verse, 3rd chorus. This is known as the truncated version. Unless otherwise noted, all performances from 12.17.02 through the end of 2019 are truncated version, while all versions from 2020 on are full versions.

While some have speculated that this song is about Dave's ex-girlfriend Julia Grey, there is no evidence for this connection. In fact, it's not even known for sure whether Ms. Grey's last name is spelled that way or as Gray. It seems unlikely that Dave would write a song about an ex-girlfriend seven years after breaking up with her and while engaged to his future wife, and there is nothing in the lyrics that lends any credence to the theory that it is about her aside from the mentions of the color gray (which Dave, having been educated in South Africa, spells the British English way).