Released January 27, 1997 Label RCA | Format CD single and Cassette | |
Recorded 1992 (original)
1995-1996 (album)
1996 (single) Genre Alternative rock, post-grunge Length 4:10 (original)
5:09 (album)
4:30 (single) | ||
"The Freshmen" is a song by American alternative rock group The Verve Pipe. First recorded in 1992, the song was later re-recorded and became the band's breakthrough hit in early 1997. It remains the group's highest charting single to date.
Contents
Background and content
According to the FAQ on "Verve Pipings", guitarist and lead singer Brian Vander Ark wrote the song in 1991 about the guilt he felt from his ex-girlfriend committing suicide. However, according to an external interview site, Vander Ark revealed that the suicide was a poetic license; the real incident which inspired the song was when his pregnant girlfriend had an abortion.
Versions
The song was first featured, in acoustic style, on their 1992 album I've Suffered a Head Injury. It was recorded a second time and released on the band's 1996 album Villains. Later that year, the band recorded the song again, this time with producer Jack Joseph Puig, for release as a single. The single was released on January 27, 1997. Subsequent pressings of Villains replaced the original album version with the single version. "The Freshmen" peaked at number 5 in the United States.
In addition, a slightly modified single version was released to radio, featuring Brian Vander Ark singing the final lyrics of the second verse ("thinks about her now and how he never really wept") in the same melodic sequence as he sings the homologous lyrics at the end of the first verse ("stop a baby's breath..."), as opposed to his higher-pitched, almost yelled rendering of these lyrics in the version that appeared on the album.