Re-Offender

Album: 12 Memories (2003)
Charted: 7
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about a troubled relationship where the couple keep up appearances, but the guy knows that she is destined to hurt him, just as she's done before. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • Travis frontman Fran Healy wrote this about his mom, who stayed with his abusive father for a long time before she finally left. "But I was always like, 'Why did you stay so long?' She just always said the same thing: 'He said, 'I'm so sorry, I'll never do it again.'' And then he did it again," he told Jaxsta in 2020. "I always felt annoyed at my dad, but as I got older I started to realize, if you don't look at the root cause of things nothing ever gets fixed. Nothing ever gets sorted. My dad was like that because his dad beat the s--t out of him every day, even when he was a little boy. And so that was my dad's toolbox to deal with anything that was complicated or involved him trying to work stuff out or if he felt threatened."

    He added: "People don't have the tools to get themselves out of [those situations] in their lives. You have to jump out of it, and she did."
  • This was used in two episodes of One Tree Hill: "With Arms Outstretched" (2003) and "You Gotta Go There To Come Back" (2004).
  • Travis hit a rough patch going into the making of their fourth studio album, 12 Memories. Drummer Neil Primrose suffered a severe spinal injury after jumping into a pool and hitting his head, forcing the band into a six-month hiatus during his recuperation. Healy also revealed he was struggling with depression, which influenced the darker tone of the album.

Comments: 2

  • Paulo from ChileIn a concert, november 2016, Fran Healy explained this song to the crowd: and it is about domestic abuse. Specifically, is about the relation between his own parents, from the point of view of his mother.
  • Arianne from Crewe, United KingdomI've always interpreted this song as being about domestic abuse, as sung from the point of view of a woman.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Daryl Hall

Daryl HallSongwriter Interviews

Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.

Booker T. Jones

Booker T. JonesSongwriter Interviews

The Stax legend on how he cooked up "Green Onions," the first time he and Otis Redding saw hippies, and if he'll ever play a digital organ.

Fire On The Stage

Fire On The StageSong Writing

When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Randy Houser

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.