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Good morning son
I am a bird
Wearing a brown polyester shirt
You want a coke?
Maybe some fries?
The roast beef combo's only nine ninety five
But it's okay
You don't have to pay
I've got all the change
[Chorus]
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
But everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
Good morning son
Twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down
And have a few beers
And I can tell
You about today
And how I picked you up
And everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
[Chorus]
You'll try and try
And one day you'll fly
Away from me
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
[Chorus]
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
I am a bird
Wearing a brown polyester shirt
You want a coke?
Maybe some fries?
The roast beef combo's only nine ninety five
But it's okay
You don't have to pay
I've got all the change
[Chorus]
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
But everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
Good morning son
Twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down
And have a few beers
And I can tell
You about today
And how I picked you up
And everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
[Chorus]
You'll try and try
And one day you'll fly
Away from me
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
[Chorus]
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
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"how I picked you up and everything changed" is a father picking up his child and their mindset from that moment on changes.
When you have a child, you start to remember all of those crazy thing your father did and you find yourself following in his footsteps. Your child grows up and you start to realize that they are almost exactly like you. Your flaws and your greatnesses are in you children. "And you're so much like me, I'm sorry" is a self-reflection. As you see your child grow up, you see yourself grow up. You try to help your child live a better life than you did.
I think most other interpretations here are spot-on. I can only add I believe the song travels back and forth between the time when he first sees his son in the hospital, and 20+ years later when he's back at the hospital, about to be a grandfather, watching the son experience what he went through before. ("It's so weird to be back here.")
Ben Folds has a bead on human emotions that few songwriters today can match.
It sucks to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it
You'll try and try and one day you'll fly
Away from me
This applies especially as a teen....lemme tell all you young folks out there, if your dad is still around or there for you, embrace him and learn from him while you can. Because if my dad could have written a song for me, it probably would be this one. This is one of the few songs that ever made me cry, because not only is it such an honest, heartfelt song, but it makes me think about how much my parents love me. It may sound cheesy, yadda yadda, say what you want, but your parents really do love you. Just love em and enjoy em while they're here....
"And you're so much like me
I'm sorry"
it makes me think that Ben's a sensitive person and sees his son is too. So he feels sorry for his son that he's so vulnerable. At least, I imagine a person like Ben that's capable of making such amazing music and lyrics, must be a sensitive person. He's able to express what many feel. But it also means he's more easily hurt than others, too.
The song is amazing. It makes me cry nearly every time I hear it. Also in a good way, because sometimes it feels great to realize at once the extent of our life (birth, youth, adulthood, and death).
By the way, my father once gave me a equivalent of this song, but then for daughters. It's "A Ma Fille" by Charles Aznavour. Very touching lyrics!
i am a bird.
in a brown polyester shirt.
I think the reason why I love so many of Ben Folds songs is that he really is one of the few artists out there that really delves into the depths of human relations.
at the start he made a satire of the fast food industry
"want a coke, maybe some fries?" etc
then he starts talking about how becoming a parent changed him so ,
"And how I picked you up and everything changed"
and then how after, he watches his son growing up, how hell miss them when they leave home
"You'll try and try and one day you'll fly Away from me"
"In twenty years from now Maybe we'll both sit down and have a few beers"
he talks about how life isn't so serious, you may think its all to hard and you've made too many mistakes, but in '20 years from now' you'll look back on your life, reflect, and probably laugh about it all
"I am a bird, wearing a brown polyester shirt"
the nonsensical world of children and their imaginations, how everything doesn't seem as serious as when you're a kid, sort of like a childish ignorance created from the innocence they have before being influenced by society
I think the chorus refers to how the dad felt coming back to his son, how it was "so weird" to be back in the town he settled down in. The "you're so much like me, i'm sorry" line is him realizing his son is as restless to leave the town as he was.
The "good morning son, twenty years from now" is the dad talkig to his son when he was born, knowing he would leave, and predicting the restaurant scene in the beginning. The "it was pain, sunny days and rain" is him explaining why he left i.e the pain of being constricted in the small town, and the freedom(sunny days and rain) outside of that life. "I knew you'd feel the same things
means the same thing as "you're so much like me". Then it has the chorus and pre-chorus a couple times, and that's it I think. This theory fits for me because it seems like the next song, "Gone", is the son singing about how he felt about his dad when he found out he left the son.
"You're so much like me...I'm sorry"
Probably the single greatest line ever written about being a father.
Ben, you are a genius.
When I first heard it years ago I thought it was abstract and strange, and somehow sung from the POV of someone working the opening shift at a McDonalds or other fast foot establishment, (brown polyester shirt, greeting the sun, Coke/fries/roast beef).
Then it hit me. Hard.
I grew up (and still live with) a neurological learning disability that slows down auditory processing speeds, limits working memory, hinders motovation, and causes the brain's "reward system" to not fully develop or operate. (Not to mention feeling like an alien no matter where you go and can't seem to relate to or understand why people act like or seek after the things they do).
I barely graduated from High School, and couldn't make it through college. I have a good job, but I've reached as far as my learning difficulties will let me no, and it feels like it's just a matter of time before they find out how messed up I am and give me the boot. Just about all the major milestones in my life have fallen flat because it was very difficult to study, learn, or perform up to my "potential". Every day is a constant struggle against my brain's limited ability to function in a normal fashion and fight against the misconceptions about people with learning problems in the work place.
My son is now 5.
I love him with my whole heart.
Every time he runs around the house like a crazy fool, swinging on anything that he can get his hands on, and pacing in a circle for hours at a time talking non-stop about stories he makes up in his head involving toys / tools / gadgets makes me remember what it was like to be me growing up. I remember clearly doing the same things and how "normal" and calming it felt to act crazy and obsess about new things.
He is already having problems in school.
I remember the pain of ridicule and failure growing up, not being able to clearly fit into any niche in this world around me, and always feeling alone even in my own house. Seeing success and joy and knowing that I will never be able to experience nothing more than fleeting flashes of emotion betwixt drawn out periods of yearning for normalcy.
... "I knew you'd feel the same things"
... "And you're so much like me - I'm sorry"
It is so bitter-sweet and poignant. I love him so much and I want him have what I never did, but not knowing if it's even possible since I've been unable to find it myself after all these years of searching for answers and solutions. It breaks my heart to think of him even having to go through a portion of the pain and suffering that I went through, and am still dealing with.
There may not be a lot I can do to change the way his brain works, but I am going to give everything I have to make sure it doesn't crush him too.
I'm still fighting it, but now I guess it isn't just me fighting anymore.
_We_ are learning how to fight it together.
I love this song.