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How Dare You (for Adam Schlesinger)

by Brendan Milburn

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about

hey there. This is one more freakin' song about comparing oneself to others, this time to my erstwhile acquaintance and briefly-almost-collaborator Adam Schlesinger (1967-2020).

You can find the video here: youtu.be/Mq6bD3Silwk
and if you feel the need to listen to this elsewhere (don't let me stop you!) it's on other streaming platforms. But if you buy it here, the money mostly goes to me and my collaborator Joel Derfner. :)

Thank you for listening!

lyrics

We weren't young,
I think I was twenty-nine or thirty,
you were a few-years-older distant frenemy of a friend of a friend.
I was high-strung.
I was uncomfortable and nerdy,
but I had a good thing lined up, and I was sure that just around the bend

I would be getting to the big time just like you,
there would be nothing in this world I couldn't do.

and how dare you,
how dare you be so easygoing,
waltzing in and calmly showing off to everybody there,
how dare you?
with your laid-back attitude,
like some super-casual dude with so much skill and savoir-faire,
yeah you swept the whole damn room right off their feet
you were cool and affable and kind of sweet
you got the gig and I was back out on the street
with not a thing to do
except curse your name and say, how dare you.

I went along
yeah one step forward, two steps back
always getting in my own way every time,
while you, it's clear, could do no wrong
a lap ahead around the track
outpacing me, while racing me
without a trace of fear

and the thing that got my goat the most back then
was the way you kept on winning again and again and again and again,

and how dare you?
how dare you actually be good
at making things that I admired and delighted in, you jerk?
how dare you?
conquer broadWAY and Hollywood
how dare you make it look so easy
when for me, it's such hard work?
though you clearly didn't care for perfect rhyme,
that didn't stop you writing hit songs every time
you rode your jet-powered roller skates while I sweated
on the uphill climb without a clue,
as to how you do it, man, yeah, well
how dare you.

you remind me of all the things I'll never be
your ease and grace and calm as you casually walk through every open door.
you remind me of all the things I’ll never see,
another TV show with your wickedly funny score,
another film with one of your songs at its core
I'll never hear a brand-new song by you,
because there won't be any more.

and how dare you?
how dare you be the first to go,
out of everyone I know you got it first, and passed away.
how dare you?
'cause now I'm never gonna know
how awesome it was gonna be when we finally hung out and talked shop all day
we were running in the same damn marathon,
I was catching up to you, then you were gone
and I don't get why I'm the one who's going on, while all your days are
through.
you were the yardstick I measure myself by,
and now I'll never measure up
to.
all I've got is a song that I wrote too late for you to hear,
called “how dare you.”

credits

released April 21, 2024
written by Brendan MIlburn & Joel Derfner
singing and instruments and producing: Brendan MIlburn
photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
This song is (c) 2024 by Brendan Milburn, my hat music (ASCAP) and Joel Derfner (ASCAP)
administered by WB Music Corp

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all rights reserved

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about

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Brendan Milburn Seattle, Washington

Brendan Milburn is a music teacher and a dad. In his former life he wrote musicals, songs for animated movies, shows for theme parks and cruise lines. He used to play in a band called GrooveLily. Now he has chickens, cats, and kids, and he is making a song a week. ... more

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