The Freshmen Lyrics
And she a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt stricken,
Sobbing with my head on the floor
Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice, no
'Cause she was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
Vacation to forget her
His girl took a week's worth a
Valium and slept
Now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his
Head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really
Wept he says
'Cause she was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt stricken sobbing with our
Heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to
Slip, we'd say
'Cause she was touching her face
And I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were only freshmen
The first verse is about the singer and his girlfriend getting pregnant and then having an abortion. The second verse is about his best friend breaking up with his girlfriend and his girlfriend committed suicide. The third verse is about the fact that the two men never moved on from these tragedies. The Chorus is about how stupid they were to let their small teenage problems blew up and they are still paying for what they did when they were young.
Experiences.
It's like reading a book and seeing a word that you don't understand. You either stop and deliberate over its meaning or if you're like me and you don't always have a dictionary on hand, you'll keep going and hope you understand the passage anyway. But then you realize how important that one word really was--it's what changed the entire passage and potentially the story.
We aren't dictionaries, we don't understand every little detail in our lives at every moment. We sort of just skim a lot and hope for the best. We continue and we continue and then one day--it's like damn, I wish I took the time to think that one through. I wish I didn't just skim over it.
Regret.
Experiences and regret. That is the worst. Then again, that's life. I can't complain.
That is a brilliant metaphor, and fits this song exactly. They didn't mean to cause terrible harm and mess up their lives -- they just weren't paying very close attention. They never imagined their youthful obliviousness could have such consequences, and still have trouble accepting what happened.
That is a brilliant metaphor, and fits this song exactly. They didn't mean to cause terrible harm and mess up their lives -- they just weren't paying very close attention. They never imagined their youthful obliviousness could have such consequences, and still have trouble accepting what happened.
The one note of hope is the "for the life of me, I cannot remember..." It suggests at least regret, and humility, which is indeed the beginning of real wisdom.
The one note of hope is the "for the life of me, I cannot remember..." It suggests at least regret, and humility, which is indeed the beginning of real wisdom.
Beautifully said. Thank you.
Beautifully said. Thank you.
You people are all wrong!
The true meaning of this song as stated in an interview with lead singer/songwriter Brian Vander Ark:
What is "The Freshmen" about? It was written by Brian Vander Ark. It told the story of a guy whose girlfriend had committed suicide. At the height of the The Freshman success, Vander Ark told reporters that the song was based on bits and pieces of a conversation he'd overheard at a party. Now he admits that the song was more personal than he previously led the public to believe, and that his actions in covering the truth were cowardly. "It happened to me," he said, "but I didn't want to expose myself in that way, especially without a safety net. It's funny because The Freshmen was written about a situation that had happened to me and I said it was about somebody else," Vander Ark says."I was feeling guilty about the success of The Freshman, because it came from exploiting a girlfriend who committed suicide. So, I thought, Okay, I'm successful now because I wrote a song about this. That's basically exploitation.Then I thought, screw it. Because I wrote this song, I made so many people happy and so many people could identify. It was therapy for those people. So, I thought, I'm a jerk but I want to be a hero."
Speaking of “The Freshman”, did any of that song actually happen ?“Yeah, I mean I used a dramatic license to have the girl commit suicide when she is actually still alive and well. But, for the most part, yeah. She had the abortion and that’s about the whole story.”
@Googlymoo I don't know how much I can believe the songwriter after all of that. I actually think the first verse sounds like the murder of a baby girl via asphyxiation rather than abortion with the:
@Googlymoo I don't know how much I can believe the songwriter after all of that. I actually think the first verse sounds like the murder of a baby girl via asphyxiation rather than abortion with the:
"Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice, no
"Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice, no
"Can't be held responsible "Cause she was touching her face"
"Can't be held responsible "Cause she was touching her face"
People are asking what the touching of her face means, but it's right after "stop a baby's breath." Seems pretty obvious to me that it was about a young mom putting her hand on a baby girl's face and...
People are asking what the touching of her face means, but it's right after "stop a baby's breath." Seems pretty obvious to me that it was about a young mom putting her hand on a baby girl's face and smothering her.
"stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice" I believe means that they got pregnant and were told to get married but instead the aborted the baby and therefore no wedding. Especially since in the third verse he it states: "for the life of me I cannot remember what made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise for the life of my I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins we were merely freshmen." The compromise that they were probably encouraged to do was to get married but didn't want to, thus the "shoe full of rice," but instead they aborted the child, thus the line "stop a baby's breath" and for this choice they were shunned and told what they did was sinful even though they were so young and not ready to be married and have child. The "Baby's Breath" can also be a play on words because it is used in weddings and can have a double meaning as a symbol of a wedding and an abortion. I believe this is so simply because the word "stop" is in front of of the whole line.
The latter verses are about his friend having some break up or falling out with a girl where he hurt her enough to make her want to commit suicide, except that he didn't care for her as much as she did for him, which is partially why he feels so guilty because he probably used her. Now together he and his friend are trying to forget the abortion and the suicide, but they can't which is what the line "we never talk about our like of relationships" means. And they know that they are to blame as much as the girls they hurt but they make excuses saying that it was her fault that she fell in love and that they were merely freshmen so they were too young to take responsibility for it.
And I do not believe the analysis about the song being about two guys using a girl that committed suicide because they hurt her because when he talks about his friend's situation he refers to his friend's girl as "his girl."
Good catch with the baby's breath. Wow.
Good catch with the baby's breath. Wow.
She was touching her face? Anyone? ? It's the last line that I don't get.
@IbbyVK @IbbyVK. Maybe it could mean ....she was touching her face out of worry. Like, something goes terribly wrong - - - Example: when u put your hand over your mouth and gasp-- oh no, kind of moment?? That is what i've always imagined.
@IbbyVK @IbbyVK. Maybe it could mean ....she was touching her face out of worry. Like, something goes terribly wrong - - - Example: when u put your hand over your mouth and gasp-- oh no, kind of moment?? That is what i've always imagined.
@IbbyVK I visualise someone brushing away tears, but trying to be subtle about it. People who are that depressed, enough to be seriously contemplating suicide -- well, there are things you might see, but sometimes you have to be looking carefully, because they often try to hide it. In the '90s this was even more the case, because although the stigma is still out there, it was much worse then.
@IbbyVK I visualise someone brushing away tears, but trying to be subtle about it. People who are that depressed, enough to be seriously contemplating suicide -- well, there are things you might see, but sometimes you have to be looking carefully, because they often try to hide it. In the '90s this was even more the case, because although the stigma is still out there, it was much worse then.
Do not get me wrong, this is a great song. I listen to it every day, and I don't pretend to know anything about this band. However if the story about the girl killing herself is true, I feel like the fitting thing the band could have done was to break up and never play music again. They made so much money off that song, and unless they gave it to the girl's family, (which they may have done, I wouldn't know) I feel like morally this song shouldn't exist. It seems like a poor way of repaying the girls memory. I commend the band for realizing they were wrong, but I don't feel like this is the correct way to express it.
10 pages of comments and nobody mentioned “a week’s worth of Valium and slept” should read “a week’s worth of Valium and slapped him”? “Slept” works, but I hear “slapped him” and think it is more appropriate–she slapped him bu taking a weeks worth of Valium, thus killing herself, and that is quite a slap in the face. That is how I’ve always heard it, anyway. Also, I think the baby’s breath line should read “it’s not a baby’s breath...” Obviously, this is interpreted as “this won’t lead to a wedding” (baby’s breath is a flower often used in wedding bouquets and rice is often tossed at weddings) and not anything to do with abortion.
Just my 2¢.
Hate to break it to ya discern, but the lyrics are right. it's slept and stopped. sorry, but it's true i've looked up the lyrics a bazillion times(exaggeration but still) and all of the lyrics sites say that it's slept and stopped.
Hate to break it to ya discern, but the lyrics are right. it's slept and stopped. sorry, but it's true i've looked up the lyrics a bazillion times(exaggeration but still) and all of the lyrics sites say that it's slept and stopped.
@discern Not all of the lyrics here are correct, but those two are. You probably heard the "and" as "him", since the verse has the words so close together.
@discern Not all of the lyrics here are correct, but those two are. You probably heard the "and" as "him", since the verse has the words so close together.
It's "Thinks about her now.." instead of "Think somebody now..", though.
It's "Thinks about her now.." instead of "Think somebody now..", though.
@discern I like your metaphorical interpretation of "slapped him," but in reality, a "week's worth" of Valium is rarely fatal in an otherwise healthy young person (though it depends what the daily dose was, of course) unless it's combined with other CNS depressant drugs, like heroin, alcohol, etc. The person who posted these lyrics did get the line wrong, though not in the way you suggest — it should be:
@discern I like your metaphorical interpretation of "slapped him," but in reality, a "week's worth" of Valium is rarely fatal in an otherwise healthy young person (though it depends what the daily dose was, of course) unless it's combined with other CNS depressant drugs, like heroin, alcohol, etc. The person who posted these lyrics did get the line wrong, though not in the way you suggest — it should be:
"...his girl took a week's worth of Valium and slept and now he's guilt-stricken, sobbing with his head on the floor..."
"...his girl took a week's worth of Valium and slept and now he's guilt-stricken, sobbing with his head on the floor..."
I can see how...
I can see how the additional "and" could make it sound like "slapped him."
I think the flower you're talking about is Gypsophila paniculata. I didn't know that it was associated with weddings.
Sixteen years later, this song still haunts the fuck out of me, and I never even had to deal with any of what it talks about. It is so profoundly sad, beautiful, regretful, and human. Its poetic license based on the (fortunately less tragic) events that inspired it is excused ten times over. It's great art...full stop.
baby's breath is a flower maybe it symbolized flowers put on her grave? just a guess
in fair verona...