58. Song No. 442: “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl,” Broken Social Scene
You Forgot It in People, 2002
I accidentally talked my best friend’s future husband into buying this album on one of the first of countless many trips to the deservedly storied Princeton Record Exchange during our college years.
Much, much later, I finally gave this album a listen myself and, probably predictably, was instantly smitten with this song. Why? Good question. It’s pretty much the same five lines over and over again, but that’s a pretty apt summation of me, too. And I was too daft to pick up on the introspective snarl behind the lyrics, otherwise I maybe would’ve internalized the lessons and insight shoved between lyrics that are somehow repetitious without getting repetitive.
It’s hypnotic. It’s universal. And it’s catchy as hell. There’s really nothing new I can add to the conversations people have been having about this song for my entire adult life, but I can say that it’s the Broken Social Scene song everyone knows and loves for a reason.
