Peak
5
Weeks
42
Score
6,347
Chart Year
1997
The Verve Pipe's lead singer, Brian Vander Ark, wrote this song based on a real-life event: his ex-girlfriend getting an abortion. He did take some liberties: In the second verse, she overdoses on Valium to commit suicide, but this part never happened. In a Songfacts interview with Vander Ark, he explained: "Part of the story was true in the fact that I had gone out with a girl and my buddy had gone out with her after I went out with her, and then I went out with her again and then she ended up getting pregnant and having an abortion. But from there, there's poetic license that happens and makes the story more dramatic. A neophyte writer that I was, I ended up having her commit suicide, and that never happened." The band formed in East Lansing, Michigan in 1992. Critics loved them, but they didn't crack the charts until 1996 when "Photograph," the first single from their third album, Villains, made #53 US. "The Freshman" hit big in the summer of 1997, climbing to #5 in June, but that was their last chart entry. They released two more albums - The Verve Pipe (1999) and Underneath (2001) - before taking an eight-year hiatus, returning in 2009 to make children's music. They made two albums for kids before releasing another rock album, Overboard in 2014, followed by Parachute in 2017. "The Freshman" was five years old when it became a hit. The song was first issued on early copies of the 1992 Verve Pipe EP I've Suffered a Head Injury, which they released independently. The second recording appeared on the 1996 album Villains, and the third recording, which was the hit, appeared on a 1997 single and in the video. The song later appeared on various compilations. In 2001, Brian Vander Ark explained what the song means to him: "When I was young I knew everything" - We all think we know everything at a young age. I thought I did. I realize 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 throw 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. "My best friend took a week's vacation to forget her" - He needed to get away because of what happened. "His girl took a week's worth of Valium and slept" - 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. The girl is real, the abortion is real. The death is not. It's poetic license to make the story more interesting. Brian Vander Ark said of this song: "'The Freshmen' was written in 1991. One 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 Matthew Broderick, and the case was just sitting there the next morning and I found myself staring at it. Then I realized 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 11 years old - I'll make the commitment that every #1 song I write I will post a detailed definition, line by line, 11 years after it is written." There is a theory that this song is about Romeo and Juliet. The young lovers were only 14 (about the age of a high school freshman) and the "week's vacation" could be when Romeo went away while Juliet faked her death. The "week's worth of Valium" could be when Juliet poisoned herself. This is a very emotional song, but Brian Vander Ark never stopped performing in, both at solo shows and with The Verve Pipe. The song recounts very painful events, but Vander Ark can see them from an observer's perspective, which is typical of his songs. It's important to note that the abortion was not necessarily his baby - he doesn't know whose it was. The music video was directed by Mark Neale, who had also done Counting Crows' "Round Here," and would later direct the documentary Faster. While this was climbing the charts, British group The Verve had broken into America with their hit "Bittersweet Symphony." This caused confusion along the lines of the Black Crowes/Counting Crows/Sheryl Crow enigma of the early '90s. Some hit songs can keep the lights on for a writer forever, but "The Freshman" doesn't kick out a steady paycheck, in part because it's not appropriate for commercials. It has appeared in a few TV shows and movies, including the films Dead & Breakfast (2004) and American Reunion (2012), and in a 2007 episode of Cold Case ("The Good Death"). When Brian Vander Ark found himself with a cumbersome mortgage in 2007, he found an unconventional income stream, performing shows at people's houses. These proved so popular that he offered them again the following year, and now every summer he travels the country doing these "Lawn Chairs And Living Rooms" shows, which you can book at his website. These micro-concerts have many advantages over performing in clubs. With no soundcheck, it's just a two-hour commitment, and the audience is attentive.
When I was young I knew everything 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 I 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 Now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his head on the floor Thinks about her now and how he never really wept he says I 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 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 I 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 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 We were merely freshmen We were merely freshmen Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 22, 1997 | 80 | 46 |
| 2 | Mar 1, 1997 | 69 | 57 |
| 3 | Mar 8, 1997 | 65 | 61 |
| 4 | Mar 15, 1997 | 63 | 63 |
| 5 | Mar 22, 1997 | 58 | 68 |
| 6 | Mar 29, 1997 | 58 | 68 |
| 7 | Apr 5, 1997 | 53 | 73 |
| 8 | Apr 12, 1997 | 53 | 73 |
| 9 | Apr 19, 1997 | 39 | 87 |
| 10 | Apr 26, 1997 | 33 | 93 |
| 11 | May 3, 1997 | 31 | 95 |
| 12 | May 10, 1997 | 14 | 112 |
| 13 | May 17, 1997 | 12 | 114 |
| 14 | May 24, 1997 | 12 | 114 |
| 15 | May 31, 1997 | 8 | 118 |
| 16 | Jun 7, 1997 | 5 | 121 |
| 17 | Jun 14, 1997 | 6 | 120 |
| 18 | Jun 21, 1997 | 9 | 117 |
| 19 | Jun 28, 1997 | 10 | 116 |
| 20 | Jul 5, 1997 | 10 | 116 |