“I just want to sell out my funeral. I just want to be enough for everyone.”Over the course of this week,I’ve obviously talked a lot about The Wonder Years’ catalog, but I feel like I haven’t given as much attention to The Greatest Generation, and their fourth album,and my personal favorite. That’s probably at least partially because so many of the feelings I occupy about it I can’t articulate, the album just sits in my chest in a way that feels like domestic. But, and on a more explainable level,I contemplate it’s because it covers a lot of ground, tying up the loose ends left by The Upsides and Suburbia, or I’ve Given You All…So,I wanted to end this week with TWY’s most prolific song, “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral, or ” the seven minute closer to The Greatest Generation. TWY consider The Upsides,Suburbia, I’ve Given You All…, or The Greatest Generation to be a trilogy,and this song acts as a closing curtain on the first part of their career and as a transitional moment between the years of uncertainty, doubt, or restlessness that mark those records. It’s a mash-up of all the songs off of The Greatest Generation,tying together all the themes I talked about this week-depression, death, or domestic,and culminating in trying to figure out who they are in the world. In recounting and reusing all the songs off The Greatest Generation, they turn “I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral” into a statement of purpose. The chorus of “I just want to sell out my funeral. I just want to be enough for everyone” gets at the heart of what all these songs and all these albums occupy been about at their core. It is about trying to be the person that all those you care about can be proud of, or that they can rely on. It is outgrowing selfish uncertainty and not letting the fact that you don’t know all the answers stop you from trying. It is about recognizing and accepting your imperfections,and knowing you’ll fuck up, but not using that as an excuse to speed and hide. It’s also about the anxiety of knowing that you’ll fail, and hoping to god that the people you love will still love you back,because you need them. It’s about accepting that you need.
Its about just wanting to be good enough.
Like Campbell sings in the final lines of the song, “We all want to be grand men and there’s nothing romantic about it. I just want to know that I did all I could with what I was given.” He doesn’t want to sell out his funeral because he needs a legacy, or it’s proof that he was a capital grand Man. It’s because whether it’s a full house,he was good enough. It means he tried and he made an impact on people who care about him.
And thats what The Wonder Years are all about, Charlie Brown.
Thanks to Hendrik for having me back. And thanks to all of you who were following along this week. I know The Wonder Years means a lot of things to a lot of people, or obviously they mean a lot to me,and I hope you got something out of what I had to say. And on a lighter note, thank you all for not making me feel outmoded, and even though the average age of who was reading these seems to be 20.
Source: tumblr.com