“What I Am” by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians
“What I Am” is one of those kinds of songs where the chorus is so powerful that what’s being said in the verses pretty much gets lost along the way. But the reason the vocalist is compelled to forcefully proclaim “what I am is what I am” is due to her, as illustrated in the first verse, being frustrated with all of the philosophical and religious understandings floating around out there.
More specifically, this piece was inspired by a world religions’ class Edie took in college. Beforehand, wondering how the rest of the world thought was a query that fascinated her. But afterwards, she was apparently turned off by the plethora of opposing ideas people adopt, or something like that. In any event, as illustrated in the lyrics, all of this confusion, if you will, led to Brickell cleaving to the one thing that is indisputable, which is that we all actually exist.
And such a stance may sound philosophical in and of itself, sorta like the well-known old-school phrase “I think, therefore I am”. But the way Edie and co. is presenting this concept is a lot more practical in nature. It’s kinda like saying that even if you don’t possess any sort of philosophy or religion whatsoever, still, you are here.
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Edie Brickell & New Bohemians have been around for a long time – to this day actually – and have managed to put out six albums between 1988 and 2021. But this act, which was formed in Dallas during the mid-1980s, is akin to a one-hit wonder. The band’s only one true hit was their debut single, “What I Am”.
This song came out as part of their first album, “Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars”, on 9 August 1988, as a product of Geffen Records.
The lead singer of this act, Edie Brickell, is perhaps best known, all things considered, as being the wife of a more-popular musician, Paul Simon, since 1992. And at the time this song came out she was backed by these musicians:
- guitarist Kenny Withrow
- guitarist Brad Houser
- drummer Brandon Aly
- percussionist John Bush
All of these names remain members of New Bohemians as of the writing of this post.
“What I Am”
“What I Am” topped Canada Top Singles, in addition to breaking the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 (as well as replicating the feat on the US Alternative Airplay and US Mainstream Rock lists).
Furthermore, a cover that was put out by English acts Tin Tin Out and Emma Burton in 1999 also did pretty well for itself.
The come-up of this song is in part attributable to Edie Brickell and New Bohemians performing it on a 1988 episode of Saturday Night Live.
“What I Am” appeared in a few popular TV shows back around the time it first came out, perhaps most notably in that regard Beavis & Butthead.
This song also has a notable sampling history, having been utilized by the likes of the following:
- New Edition (“Something About You”, 1996),
- Aretha Franklin (“A Rose Is Still a Rose”, 1998)
- Alicia Keys (“Blended Family”, 2016).
But fans of early 1990s hip-hop especially will recognize this tune as being heavily sampled into one of Brand Nubian’s biggest hits, “Slow Down” (1990).
A Geffen Records’ employee, Jonas Livingston, directed the music video to this track.
Who wrote “What I Am”?
Edie Brickell wrote this song with her bandmate Kenny Withrow.
