“The Freshmen” (1996) by The Verve Pipe

THE VERVE PIPE

The Freshmen

written by Donny Brown, Doug Corella, Jeffrey Joseph Douglas,

Brad Vander Ark and Brian Vander Ark

produced by Jack Joseph Puig

I made this page June 19th, 2021, the 57th birthday of lead singer of

songwriter of The Verve Pipe. Happy Birthday, BVA!!

According to the song’s Wikipedia page: “The song first appeared, in acoustic style, on their 1992 album I’ve Suffered A Head Injury. It was recorded a second time and released on the band’s 1996 album, Villains. Later that year, the band recorded the song again, this time with the producer Jack Joseph Puig, for release as a single in January 1997. Subsequent pressings of Villains replaced the original album version with the single version. ‘The Freshmen’ peaked at number 5 in the United States. In addition, a slightly modified single version was released to radio, with Vander Ark singing the final lyrics of the second verse (‘thinks about her now and how he never really wept’) in the same melodic sequence as he sings the homologous lyrics at the end of the first verse (‘stop a baby’s breath...’), as opposed to his higher-pitched, almost yelled rendering of these lyrics in the version that appeared on the album.”

A rather moving song that comes from a bit of a disturbing, dark place... leaves you with an almost sort of unplaceable sensation. Dripping with ’90s angst.

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YT:

full version

music video

The Pipe’s official website

1996

Lyrics

When I was young I knew everything / 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 / Can’t be held responsible / ’Cause she was touching her face / I won’t be held responsible / She fell in love in the first place / 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 me, I cannot believe / We’d ever die for these sins / We were merely freshmen / My best friend took a week’s vacation to forget her / His girl took a week’s worth of Valium and slept / And now he’s guilt-stricken, sobbing with his head on the floor / Thinks about her now and how he never really wept, he says / x1 / x1 / Hey yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah / Hey yeah / Hey yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah / We’ve tried to wash our hands of all of this / 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 / Can’t be held responsible / ’Cause she was touching her face / And I won’t be held responsible / She fell in love in the first place / x2 / We were merely freshmen / We were only freshmen

first release: Villains (1996/03/26)

THE FRESHMEN {Single}—The Verve Pipe.jpg

audio treated sample

This page was originally made on June 19th, 2021 and last edited on July 26th, 2021