Video:
Lyrics:
"The Freshmen"
When I was young I knew everything
And she, a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt-stricken, sobbin' with my head on the floor
Stopped a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice, no
Can't be held responsible
She was touchin' her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me
I can not remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me
I can not 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, sobbin'
With his head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really wept he said
Can't be held responsible
She was touchin' her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me
I can not remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me
I can not believe we'd ever die
For these sins
We were merely freshmen
We tried to wash our hands of all of this
We'd never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken sobbin' 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
She was touchin' her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me
I can not remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me
I can not believe we'd ever die
For these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were merely freshmen
We were only freshmen
I have finally chosen the song that I will play at Hamlet's funeral. At his time of death, Hamlet made me promise that, "If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw they breath in pain, to tell my story," (Shakespeare V. ii.310-113). While I do intend on telling of what a brave and great man Hamlet was and the legend of how he avenged his father, I also want to let his story be told from a neutral point of view. The repeated line from the song, "Can't be held responsible," emphasizes my third party frame throughout the story that occurred at Elsinore. This line also has a dual meaning in that it clears my guilt of the death of Hamlet because I had actually warned Hamlet against following the ghost which started all of this. I had told him, "What if it tempt you toward the flood my lord, or the dreadful summit of the cliff," (Shakespeare I.iv.69-70). But despite my words of caution, Hamlet went forth to follow the ghost.
The next verse of the song strongly relates to Hamlet and Ophelia's love tragedy. When it says, "His girl took a week's worth of valium and slept," it is very similar to Ophelia's death as she drowned and was,"Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death," (Shakespeare IV.vi.180-181). The grave diggers are almost positive that she drowned herself as they asked, "Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she willfully seek her own salvation?" (Shakespeare V.i.1-2). Another interesting parallel between this and Hamlet's story is that the song refers to death as sleep just as Hamlet used sleep as a conceit for death when he said, "To die: to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end," (Shakespeare III.i.59-60). The line following that in the song is "Now he's guilt-stricken, sobbin' with his head on the floor," which somewhat describes poor Hamlet's reaction when he realized that Ophelia has died. He cried out, "I lov'd Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?" (Shakespeare V.i.214-216). He did not blame himself quite as much as the guy in the song but I'm sure that he did realize that he was partly the cause for Ophelia's madness. The song also somewhat encompasses this as it says "She fell in love in the first place" which almost puts the cause on Ophelia. Hamlet may not have felt this way at the funeral but he did once tell Ophelia, "You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not," (Shakespeare III.i.115-116). By saying this, he was quite basically telling her that she should never have fallen in love with her although he didn't really mean it.
Another part of the song that I found strikingly familiar were the lines,"We tried to wash our hands of all of this. We'd never talk of our lacking relationships." This reminded me of that there is "Something rotten in the state of Denmark," (Shakespeare I.iv.90) and especially in the royal family. The relationships between the family were most certainly lacking as the ghost told Hamlet, "The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown," (Shakespeare I.iv.38-39) and are rarely spoken of. The final line that I can most directly relate to in this song is, "For the life of me
I can not believe we'd ever die for these sins".It all came about from the sin that Claudius committed which led to Hamlet's sin of killing Claudius in order to avenge his father's death. I of course did not end up dying, but most others involved in the chaos did end up dying from their own sins or actions. I did not know that when I uttered the words, "Before my God, I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes," (Shakespeare I.iv.55-57) after seeing that ghost that it would lead to the death of many of my companions and my loyal best friend.
And she, a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt-stricken, sobbin' with my head on the floor
Stopped a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice, no
Can't be held responsible
She was touchin' her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me
I can not remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me
I can not 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, sobbin'
With his head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really wept he said
Can't be held responsible
She was touchin' her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me
I can not remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me
I can not believe we'd ever die
For these sins
We were merely freshmen
We tried to wash our hands of all of this
We'd never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken sobbin' 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
She was touchin' her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me
I can not remember
What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise
For the life of me
I can not believe we'd ever die
For these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were merely freshmen
We were only freshmen
I have finally chosen the song that I will play at Hamlet's funeral. At his time of death, Hamlet made me promise that, "If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw they breath in pain, to tell my story," (Shakespeare V. ii.310-113). While I do intend on telling of what a brave and great man Hamlet was and the legend of how he avenged his father, I also want to let his story be told from a neutral point of view. The repeated line from the song, "Can't be held responsible," emphasizes my third party frame throughout the story that occurred at Elsinore. This line also has a dual meaning in that it clears my guilt of the death of Hamlet because I had actually warned Hamlet against following the ghost which started all of this. I had told him, "What if it tempt you toward the flood my lord, or the dreadful summit of the cliff," (Shakespeare I.iv.69-70). But despite my words of caution, Hamlet went forth to follow the ghost.
The next verse of the song strongly relates to Hamlet and Ophelia's love tragedy. When it says, "His girl took a week's worth of valium and slept," it is very similar to Ophelia's death as she drowned and was,"Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay to muddy death," (Shakespeare IV.vi.180-181). The grave diggers are almost positive that she drowned herself as they asked, "Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she willfully seek her own salvation?" (Shakespeare V.i.1-2). Another interesting parallel between this and Hamlet's story is that the song refers to death as sleep just as Hamlet used sleep as a conceit for death when he said, "To die: to sleep; no more; and by a sleep to say we end," (Shakespeare III.i.59-60). The line following that in the song is "Now he's guilt-stricken, sobbin' with his head on the floor," which somewhat describes poor Hamlet's reaction when he realized that Ophelia has died. He cried out, "I lov'd Ophelia: forty thousand brothers could not, with all their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?" (Shakespeare V.i.214-216). He did not blame himself quite as much as the guy in the song but I'm sure that he did realize that he was partly the cause for Ophelia's madness. The song also somewhat encompasses this as it says "She fell in love in the first place" which almost puts the cause on Ophelia. Hamlet may not have felt this way at the funeral but he did once tell Ophelia, "You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it: I loved you not," (Shakespeare III.i.115-116). By saying this, he was quite basically telling her that she should never have fallen in love with her although he didn't really mean it.
Another part of the song that I found strikingly familiar were the lines,"We tried to wash our hands of all of this. We'd never talk of our lacking relationships." This reminded me of that there is "Something rotten in the state of Denmark," (Shakespeare I.iv.90) and especially in the royal family. The relationships between the family were most certainly lacking as the ghost told Hamlet, "The serpent that did sting thy father's life now wears his crown," (Shakespeare I.iv.38-39) and are rarely spoken of. The final line that I can most directly relate to in this song is, "For the life of me
I can not believe we'd ever die for these sins".It all came about from the sin that Claudius committed which led to Hamlet's sin of killing Claudius in order to avenge his father's death. I of course did not end up dying, but most others involved in the chaos did end up dying from their own sins or actions. I did not know that when I uttered the words, "Before my God, I might not this believe without the sensible and true avouch of mine own eyes," (Shakespeare I.iv.55-57) after seeing that ghost that it would lead to the death of many of my companions and my loyal best friend.
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