The Verve Pipe - Freshmen ~ What's It About?!
Question: The Verve Pipe - Freshmen ~ What's It About!?
I have a few ideas, but I was wondering if someone could tell me what the song "Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe, is about, what's he singing about!. Www@Enter-QA@Com
Answers:
I found the following of the song's writer, Brian Vander Ark, explaining line by line what the song meant:
warning!!! this explanation is what the song means to me, the song writer!. i figure, the songs been out long enough, why perpetuate this mystery!?
if you don't want to read the real story, if your happy with your own interpretations, then i suggest you don't read this!.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG I KNEW EVERYTHING!. we all think we know everything at a young age!. i thought i did!. i realise i didn't know sh*t until i was 36!.
AND SHE, A PUNK, WHO RARELY TOOK ADVICE!. how many people do we know like that!? NOW I'M GUILT STRICKEN, SOBBING, WITH MY HEAD ON THE FLOOR!. something happened, that caused this reaction, but i wouldn't want to give that away this early in the song, so let's through in an some ambiguity:
STOP A BABY'S BREATH, AND A SHOE FULL OF RICE, NO!. first of all, forget the NO!. stop a baby's breath is just that!. abort the baby!. a shoe full of rice is a result of a wedding!. so--stop a baby's breath AND then you stop a wedding!. she's pregnant, get her to abort, and then there's no wedding!. and you know what!? I CAN'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE, CAUSE SHE WAS TOUCHING HER FACE!. when i wrote this song, the divinyls had a song out called i touch myself!. the tv was on, she was touching her face in the video!. very sexy!. so, i can't be held responsible because she was trying to be sexy, trying to seduce me, etc!. I WON'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE, SHE FELL IN LOVE IN THE FIRST PLACE!. i didn't tell her to fall in love!. FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT MADE US THINK THAT WE WERE WISE, AND WE'D NEVER COMPROMISE!. what was i thinking back then!. who am i to put a girl though that!? why was i unable to compromise!? guilty feelings!. FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I CANNOT BELIEVE WE'D EVER DIE FOR THESE SINS, WE WERE MERELY FRESHMEN!. we were just kids!. let it go!. we all make mistakes, etc!.
tommorow's episode:
VERSE II: The Accomplice" - Jan 10, 2002
"Episode II: THE ACCOMPLICE
MY BEST FRIEND TOOK A WEEKS VACATION TO FORGET HER he needed to get away because of what happened!. HIS GIRL TOOK A WEEK'S WORTH OF VALIUM AND SLEPT now--this is why this song is not that strong literally--it's confusing!. HIS girl is MY girl!. the same girl that had the abortion has now killed herself!. NOW HE'S GUILT-STRICKEN SOBBING WITH HIS HEAD ON THE FLOOR, THINKS ABOUT HER NOW AND HOW HE NEVER REALLY WEPT HE SAYS!. he has the same guilty feelings that i do about the abortion and death!.
WE TRIED TO WASH OUR HANDS OF ALL OF THIS, WE NEVER TALK OF OUR LACKING RELATIONSHIPS we rarely spoke after the incident--we just tried to forget it!. we never spoke of her or the fact that we can't have a decent relationship with anyone since then!. WE FELL THROUGH THE ICE WHEN WE TRIED NOT TO SLIP no matter how careful you might be, there are other perils out there!.
there you go!. i realise that there are always a few skeptics in the group, so i'll say this!. the girl is real, the abortion is real!. the death is not!. it's poetic license--to make the story more interesting!.
now then--the freshmen was written in 1991!. 1 year before the verve pipe was born!. i wrote it in a house on gull lake michigan!. i had rented the movie "the Freshmen" with marlon brando and mathew broderick, and the case was just sitting there the next morning and i found myself staring at it!. then i realised that we are all freshmen at some point in our life--why not write a song for all of us!? the song has nothing to do with the movie--though i owe the filmmakers tremendously!.
since the song is eleven years old--i'll make the commitment that every number one song i write i will post a detailed definition, line by line, eleven years after it is written!." - Jan 11, 2001Www@Enter-QA@Com
warning!!! this explanation is what the song means to me, the song writer!. i figure, the songs been out long enough, why perpetuate this mystery!?
if you don't want to read the real story, if your happy with your own interpretations, then i suggest you don't read this!.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG I KNEW EVERYTHING!. we all think we know everything at a young age!. i thought i did!. i realise i didn't know sh*t until i was 36!.
AND SHE, A PUNK, WHO RARELY TOOK ADVICE!. how many people do we know like that!? NOW I'M GUILT STRICKEN, SOBBING, WITH MY HEAD ON THE FLOOR!. something happened, that caused this reaction, but i wouldn't want to give that away this early in the song, so let's through in an some ambiguity:
STOP A BABY'S BREATH, AND A SHOE FULL OF RICE, NO!. first of all, forget the NO!. stop a baby's breath is just that!. abort the baby!. a shoe full of rice is a result of a wedding!. so--stop a baby's breath AND then you stop a wedding!. she's pregnant, get her to abort, and then there's no wedding!. and you know what!? I CAN'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE, CAUSE SHE WAS TOUCHING HER FACE!. when i wrote this song, the divinyls had a song out called i touch myself!. the tv was on, she was touching her face in the video!. very sexy!. so, i can't be held responsible because she was trying to be sexy, trying to seduce me, etc!. I WON'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE, SHE FELL IN LOVE IN THE FIRST PLACE!. i didn't tell her to fall in love!. FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I CANNOT REMEMBER WHAT MADE US THINK THAT WE WERE WISE, AND WE'D NEVER COMPROMISE!. what was i thinking back then!. who am i to put a girl though that!? why was i unable to compromise!? guilty feelings!. FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I CANNOT BELIEVE WE'D EVER DIE FOR THESE SINS, WE WERE MERELY FRESHMEN!. we were just kids!. let it go!. we all make mistakes, etc!.
tommorow's episode:
VERSE II: The Accomplice" - Jan 10, 2002
"Episode II: THE ACCOMPLICE
MY BEST FRIEND TOOK A WEEKS VACATION TO FORGET HER he needed to get away because of what happened!. HIS GIRL TOOK A WEEK'S WORTH OF VALIUM AND SLEPT now--this is why this song is not that strong literally--it's confusing!. HIS girl is MY girl!. the same girl that had the abortion has now killed herself!. NOW HE'S GUILT-STRICKEN SOBBING WITH HIS HEAD ON THE FLOOR, THINKS ABOUT HER NOW AND HOW HE NEVER REALLY WEPT HE SAYS!. he has the same guilty feelings that i do about the abortion and death!.
WE TRIED TO WASH OUR HANDS OF ALL OF THIS, WE NEVER TALK OF OUR LACKING RELATIONSHIPS we rarely spoke after the incident--we just tried to forget it!. we never spoke of her or the fact that we can't have a decent relationship with anyone since then!. WE FELL THROUGH THE ICE WHEN WE TRIED NOT TO SLIP no matter how careful you might be, there are other perils out there!.
there you go!. i realise that there are always a few skeptics in the group, so i'll say this!. the girl is real, the abortion is real!. the death is not!. it's poetic license--to make the story more interesting!.
now then--the freshmen was written in 1991!. 1 year before the verve pipe was born!. i wrote it in a house on gull lake michigan!. i had rented the movie "the Freshmen" with marlon brando and mathew broderick, and the case was just sitting there the next morning and i found myself staring at it!. then i realised that we are all freshmen at some point in our life--why not write a song for all of us!? the song has nothing to do with the movie--though i owe the filmmakers tremendously!.
since the song is eleven years old--i'll make the commitment that every number one song i write i will post a detailed definition, line by line, eleven years after it is written!." - Jan 11, 2001Www@Enter-QA@Com