Blast from the Past: Barenaked Ladies' Stunt

There are albums in everyone's past that have a meaning beyond the music they hold. They are albums that were ingrained into our souls thanks to a moment in our lives or a person that impacted us or just because they became the words we lived by. It's not so much about the music as it is what we associate it with that becomes important. Stunt is one of those albums for me. You might laugh it at it or question my taste in music for owning it, but I will forever associate Barenaked Ladies and their album Stunt with my senior year of high school and with a girl named Sam.

I will never forget the first day of my senior year of high school. It may be a distant memory, or one that has been broken up over time, but I vividly remember parts of it that will never change. I was heading to school just as I had done the previous three years when I saw a group of kids that were taking the train to school. It was obvious that they were freshman, their nervous demeanor, their squeaky clean clothes, evidence that they hadn't made this trip before. Like a good senior I said hello to them and proceeded to beat on them like the ruffian I was, no I kid, it was a nice hello and I just checked to make sure they were indeed heading where I believed they were. They were and I spent the rest of the three station trip trying to calm their nerves. Now why would a senior help out a freshman like that? Well, they were three pretty cute girls of course.

There was Lauren a petite and beautiful Asian girl, Meryl and equally petite and cute girl with the longest hair you've ever seen, and Sam, perhaps the most beautiful young lady I had ever seen up until that point. She was short, small, had dark curly hair, and had an air of confidence about her that absolutely betrayed her age. She was giddy with excitement, was having fun with her new friends, and seemed like she would have a blast anywhere in the world. It was hard not to be entranced by her in every single way.

For the next few months we all bonded on our commutes in, it was a long commute and made for some true bonding and some great friendships formed out of it. It was clear that I was crushing on Sam, we would always sit next to each other, often in our own little world having our own conversations away from the group. Our other friends would push me on it, insisting that I go and ask her out, pointing out the obvious crush she had on me as well. I thought about it too, over and over and over again, driving myself mad with the crush I had. It became obsessive. I listened to the same music as Sam, just so I knew it. I watched the same TV shows, just so we could talk about it. I did immersed myself in her life and got to know everything about her. Even as I type these words I realize that it was a little odd, but it was a devastating crush and I'm sure some of you have gone through similar fits of passion.

By October I knew so much about Sam that I considered her to be one of my best friends, something that would eventually doom me, but something I considered to be an accomplishment at the time. Eventually I mustered up enough courage to finally ask her out. I don't remember the date or how I said it, but I remember her telling me how much she cherished our friendship. It was a dagger to my heart, a pain I will never forget, but one that left me encouraged that she cherished her friendship. Yes, I was sick but I would take any bit of positive and blow it up into a much larger feat then it actually was.

Around the time of my 17th birthday I once again asked her out. This time she let me down another way telling me she had a boyfriend and breaking me to bits. I had known everything about her, how had I not known that? The boy was named Dan, and was not a boy at all but a 22-year old man that was dating a 14-year old. Yeah, even then I knew that was creepy, but as my friend I wouldn't do anything to hurt her so I kept the information to myself.

This kept up for months, and I tried to focus on other girls and other things. There was still my senior of football and school to focus on so I hoped that would be enough to distract me. I asked Meryl out, but she rejected me knowing that she was just playing second fiddle. Meryl was wise beyond her years! I dated another girl, she's not too important to this whole story as it was pretty short lived. But eventually it all came round to Sam once again. It always does, doesn't it.

Around the time of her birthday I found myself planning a simple, but cute gesture to show how much I cared for her. After a night of underage drinking I rallied a group of my friends to walk to her house with me. It was dusk at this point, 4 or 5am, and we staggered up her hill and to her bedroom window. There we sang Happy Birthday to her through her open window, and she came out and thanked me before going back to bed. I thought I had succeeded in winning her over, but alas it was not to be. Apparently Dan had been in her bed as we sang and it didn't please him too much. After that Sam tried to distance herself a bit, but couldn't really do that too well. Her friends were my friends after all, so she had nowhere to hide.

A few months of dancing around our awkward, unrequited love and I had graduated from high school. I knew I'd be moving on in the fall to college and college girls but all summer Sam lingered through my mind. Once at school Sam once again broke my heart. It was the last time I thought seriously about having a relationship with her and it drove me into a period of my life that I'd rather not discuss.

The last time we spoke I was listening to Stunt the new-ish album from Barenaked Ladies, a band that she had introduced me to before they hit it big with "One Week". I remember it clearly, hanging up the phone with her in tears, taking the CD from my record player, and throwing it out my window. It was music that had been given to me by her and it was her that I couldn't bear to think of any more.

A few years later I stumbled across the album in a used CD bin (there were a lot of them in there) and decided to buy it. When I put it on and the familiar opening notes of "One Week" hit my ears, old feelings came rushing back to me. I was flooded with all the good times Sam and I had shared and all the heartache she had put me through on my own accord. It was hard but I listened to every note of the album and then turned it off. I haven't listened to it since.
Barenaked Ladies - "One Week"
Barenaked Ladies - "Alcohol"
Barenaked Ladies - "It's All Been Done"
Barenaked Ladies - "Call and Answer"