baby's first post

the power of music has always been undeniable to me, and that first became evident when i heard the Barenaked Ladies lyric "you can't live your life in the baby seat, you've got to stand on your own, don't admit defeat."

this is one of the first lyrics that compelled me to take action.

high school comes with a locker, a full class load, and probably a slue of emotional trials that supersede your coping abilities. that may be the best lens i have ever seen and defined 'adolescence' through. adolescence never refers to the positive stuff, it always gets equated to the pain you feel in your teens. it was during high school when my lime green room plastered stenciled flowers and yankee posters was accompanied by 'Maroon,' BNL's follow up CD to their hit record 'Stunt.' Like most albums, 'Stunt' was a phenomenal CD that achieved fame off of a mediocre single. in this case it was 'One Week,' which you have definitely heard if you know what a radio is. i remember 'Stunt' was one of the first CD's i played on my discman, along with Mariah Carey's 'Butterfly.' Stunt still remains one of my favorite CD's of all time, and 'Butterfly' was sold a few years later at a garage sale.

To me, 'Stunt' outweighs 'Maroon' in every aspect--musicianship, lyrics, production--except one. Maroon made me move. when i was going through the beginning of 'adolescence,' or 'severe-issues-that-you-are-only-beginning-to-grasp-because-you're-becoming-an-adult-scence,' there was a lot of crying involved. no matter how much you talked about it, or distracted yourself, or avoided it, or outright lied to yourself--sometimes you can only feel. it was then that i kicked on one of my favorite band's not favorite cd's to one of my not favorite songs, and i heard, completely out of context 'you can't live your life in the baby seat--you've got to stand on your own, don't admit defeat.' the song also has the lyrics 'if you think growing up is tough, then you're just not grown up enough.' these lyrics were on replay in my mind until i decided to take action. good songs can entertain. great songs instill moments of sobering self awareness and demand you become honest with yourself and the world around you in some capacity.

here is BNL:

they are playing at a corporate party--the sound and image aren't great, but the song is. jump in at 2:15 for the whole thing.