“The Freshmen” by The Verve Pipe

The Verve Pipe (not to be confused with British band The Verve) is a rock outfit from Michigan and more specifically the city of East Lansing. This act has been around for over 30 years now but is probably one many of us have never heard of, since they only have one solid hit in their discography. And that would be “The Freshmen”, a song that came out through RCA Records on 19 November 1992, and later on it served as the third single from the band’s second LP, “Villains” (1996).

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for The Verve Pipe's The Freshmen at Lyrics.org.

“THE FRESHMEN”, THE VERVE PIPE’S ONLY BIG HIT

This song marks the only time The Verve Pipe have made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, where it impressively peaked at number 5. It also stands as the sole instance of the band managing to top the US Alternative Airplay chart, and it replicated the feat on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Songs listing. In fact this track appeared on six different Billboard charts and ranked within the top 10 of all of them, and it also achieved RIAA-gold status upon its second release.

You may have noticed that even though The Freshman was initially released in 1992, “Villains” didn’t come out until 1996. Actually, that first issuance was an earlier, acoustic version of the song that can be found The Verve Pipe’s debut album, a 1992 EP titled “I’ve Suffered a Head Injury”. However, unlike the first, the production of the latter was helmed by Jack Joseph Puig (with its co-producers being Jerry Harrison and The Verve Pipe’s Donny Brown), who was a hot property around that time. 

To note Brian Vander Ark, the band’s frontman, is recognized as the primary writer of this piece. His bandmates Brad Vander Ark, Donny and Doug Corella are also acknowledged in that regard, as is Jeffrey Joseph Douglas  (And to further note, both Vander Ark brothers are still members of The Verve Pipe as of this writing.)

NAMED AFTER “THE FRESHMAN”, BUT NOT ABOUT THE MOVIE

Brian Vander Ark admitted that he named this track after The Freshman, a film starring the late Marlon Brando alongside Matthew Broderick which came out in 1990. However, he did so because coincidentally, its videocassette case (with this being back in the days of VCRs) was nearby when he wrote the song. That said, he has pointed out that there is a viable relationship between the song’s title and the narrative featured therein, in that “we are all freshmen at some point in our life”.

A “FRESHMAN”, IN CONTEXT

So with that in mind, from the onset of the lyrics it can be ascertained that the reason the characters of this song are dubbed “freshmen” is because they are akin to young know-it-alls. But said sentiments of being youthful and cocky are short-lived, as even before the ending of the terse first verse we find the vocalist expressing a deep sense of regret.

Brian has explained that this song is premised, in part, on a real-life experience he had dating a girl who subsequently dated one of his homeys, afterwards came back to him and then later went on to have an abortion. However, the females mentioned in the first and second verses respectively appear to be two different ladies.

In the first, what’s implied is that the vocalist got an equally young and hardheaded girl pregnant, which resulted in not only an abortion but also the prompt dissolution of what was beforehand a promising relationship

Meanwhile the second verse, which revolves around a romance his “best friend” was in, climaxes with the homey’s girlfriend committing suicide.

As inferred in the choruses, what basically went down in both cases is the participants, particularly it can be deemed the males from the vocalist’s perspective, fell in love too hard too fast and ended up biting off more than they chew. 

In other words, Brian putting forth that he “can’t be held responsible” because “she was touching her face” is another way of saying that his ex seduced him, and that from a natural standpoint, if you will, he lacked the wherewithal to resist. So apparently the same can be said for his best friend, who is now in his own feelings due to his girl having taken her own life.

“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”

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

By the looks of things, The Verve Pipe crew were only in their twenties when this song was dropped. But Brian in particular was obviously wise, as conclusively “The Freshmen” stands as a warning against the recklessness of youth. 

The moral of the story reads along the lines of after getting swept away by the lusts of the flesh, now both the vocalist and his buddy, in their respective ways, are stricken with a lingering sense of guilt. And that would indeed be an unfavorable fate for someone so young, to feel bad about an event that cost a life even and not knowing when or if that sentiment will pass.

The Freshmen

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