The band Hippo Campus….photo credit to pressefoto: Peter Jamus
Do you ever hear the lyrics to a song that you really like, only to find out you were wrong about them. I just did this the other day and it made me smile on all sorts of levels, including the common ground between generations.
My son Paul is listening to a lot of alternative music. As a dad, I try to share things with Paul that interests him and not just me. Since I love music, this is an easy intersection. I can happily report that there is still a lot of good music being made. I have become fairly smitten with a particular band from Minneapolis/St. Paul. They are called Hippo Campus. (The hippocampus is part of the brain that plays an integral role in memory, emotion, and the autonomic nervous system.) It’s cool that Hippo Campus is local. What I am sharing with Paul is the fun of watching a local band emerge nationally. Local music is a great way to feel regional pride. Somehow it feels deeper when the music is coming from closer within your periphery. I remember my local bands were Prince, the Suburbs, the Replacements, Trip Shakespeare, and Husker Du.
I love the story of Hippo Campus as much or more than their music. They are very young. They met at the St. Paul Music Conservatory at age 15 and are still younger than 20. I love the idea of kids figuring out how to be rock stars and adults simultaneously. This fact also makes Paul light up with confidence – his generation is already making its mark. Hippo Campus’ music is poppy, light, and feels like summer; but there is also a deeper feeling in it. They’re probably not going to be the next U2, but who knows. Both their music and their youthfulness make me smile.
They have a song called Opportunistic.( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N-kIIIvH4M) It is about going to a party and its aftermath. Some of the lyric highlights are: We just fight to be the ones we hate AND Do me the favor she said…I’d like you to savor the taste of me on your lips….I swear it’s the last that you’ll get. I think you get the picture.
The refrain is where it happened. At first, I heard, “grace in the morning…grace till you die.” At age fifty, I love the idea of grace in the morning. It is a time when feeling grace makes so much sense….that pocket of time before the day unfolds into its busyness and responsibility. Then the hope of grace till you die. I so want to feel and realize the grace of being alive, especially as I approach death. I remember when I first heard the lyrics in my mistaken way. I thought, Wow, this group Hippo Campus is seeing some wisdom at a very early age. It made me happy to be led into a wise sensation by people so much younger.
Of course, the actual lyrics are different. It goes: Grace do you WANT ME…Grace till you die. I laughed out loud at my mistake. It’s a perfect example of generational difference. I want to feel grace in the morning. The band Hippo Campus (the center of memory, emotion, and autonomic body response) is wondering if Grace wants them…if Grace will share the adventure and hope of sexual intimacy. That is a journey that everyone should take, including my son Paul. I love the youthfulness and urgency of their question. I love that I now sit in the morning and the hippocampus part of my brain helps me remember the same youthful question that they are asking. I think I might love this band. And quite frankly, I don’t really see a difference of wisdom between grace in the morning and Grace do you want me. I only feel the graceful passing of time.