No, I didn't mean to break your heart...

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while (we're talking back when I had Ramblings of a Generic Female) know that I am a huge fan of Barenaked Ladies. Okay, okay - true, I'm a fan of quite a few groups and musicians, I won't deny that, but Barenaked Ladies is the band that I could go on a picnic with or shopping with or could skip across a field of wild flowers and end with all of us falling down, laughing uncontrollably and telling those "remember when" stories that so many of us are good at telling until the mosquitoes come out at night reminding us that it's time to go inside.

There is something personal, touchable, relatable about these guys. They reply to your comments on their fan pages, send you autographed CDs because you're worth it, and send you santa hats with the phrase "Barenaked for the Holidays" across the front because they are thinking of you that Christmas. In concert they connect with the audience by telling stories of their antics in town the night before. They always have a favorite place to eat in whatever town they are visiting and since you just ate dinner there the night before, it's almost as if you dined with Tyler, Ed, Jim and Kevin... right?

Okay, so perhaps all of that is a stretch (but they did send me a santa hat one year and I'm pretty sure they didn't send them to EVERYONE in their fan club... right? That hat was just for me... right?) but I can state that the Barenaked Ladies have probably provided the background music for every major milestone in my adult (and a year before my adult) life. Stunt provided the background music for early make out sessions in the car with that one boy (don't you judge me). Maroon got me through a couple of years in college and Pinch Me is still my fave BNL music video. And let's not forget that my mom went with me to see BNL when they toured after the release of Maroon - my mom was cool like that. Then Everything to Everyone came out right around the time the guy that I swore I was going to marry and grow old with dumped me. Other than that crazy chimpanzee song (not my favorite piece of theirs), I could almost match every song on that album to something in my life during that last semester of college.

With all of that said, I'm 98% certain that I could make a soundtrack to my life (well, the dramatic part of my life that started when I was about 17 years old) with only Barenaked Ladies songs. Hmmm... that actually sounds like a halfway interest project.

However, a little over a year ago, some tragic news fell upon my ears. One of their lead singers, Steven Page, would be leaving the band.

My...

life...

er, music life...

as I...

knew...

it had...

ended.

I was in shock. How could they do this to me? I mean, don't get me wrong, I adore the rest of the band, but I REALLY adored the band as a whole and as a whole included Steven Page. I even made a shirt for the last BNL concert I went to that said "I traveled XXXXX amount of miles to see Steven Dance" because I am that in love with him. How could he leave the band, how could he.

(go here, listen, and then tell me how you could NOT love that guy: Steven Page - "Break Your Heart")

I've mourned a bit over the past year (okay, I've mourned a lot - this was terrible news). And pretended to ignore whispers that they were doing a new album. I had decided that the band was dead to me. It ceased to exist without Steven Page. Then I accidentally stumbled upon a live video on an obscure Canadian bloggers site of their new song "You Run Away" (yes, I stumbled upon it on accident... it's not like I'm stalking them) and part of me woke up. Part of me started to bloom again. Could this new song really be that good? What was this feeling inside of me? Was it warmth? Was it possible to like, no love, this new some as much as I did after listening to it once?

(you can listen to it here... press play, you know you want to)


Yes, it was possible. I loved it. I love it still. Is it entirely possible that my life's soundtrack will continue in the fashion that it started, with the Barenaked Ladies leading the way? Yes, it is entirely possible and thank goodness because it was looking a bit rough otherwise.

Their new album comes out on March 30 (guess who's pre-ordered it) and I'm planning an entire trip to Austin entirely because they are performing there in May (and maybe because of the BBQ and Tex-Mex). I have my priorities, maybe you should find some too.

PS - any other BNL fans out there sing their Christmas version of "Deck the Halls" when you hear of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? Yeah, me too.