05.09.2012 08:28 AM

The band name Against Me! now makes more sense

Still thinking about the big news.

My kids, too.  All four of them are huge, huge Against Me! fans.  My daughter is still processing it, she says.  Son One was with a friend, and tried to dismiss it with humour. (I’ll talk to him when he’s alone.)  Son Two was mad, really mad, but then he got in the car and wanted to hear certain AM songs, over and over.

Andrew H., a conservative punk friend (they exist) sent me a tweet this morning, saying to look at verse two of The Ocean, from the last Against Me! album.  When I looked at the words (for the first time, having not been overly-ethusiastic about the last two albums), I said to my daughter: “Well, it’s pretty hard for the band or fans to say they’re shocked, now. He’s been telling us all along.”

The verse:

And if I could have chosen, I would have been born a woman
My mother once told me she would have named me Laura
I’d grow up to be strong and beautiful like her
One day, I’d find an honest man to make my husband
We would have two children, build our home on the Gulf of Mexico
Our family would spend hot summer days at the beach together
The sun would kiss our skin as we played in the sand and water
And we would know we loved each other without having to say it

6 Comments

  1. Joel M says:

    You know when I heard this news, that song was the first to pop into my head. I don’t see why this means the band is no longer going to make music. I see this a big change and challenge for the band for certain. However with all great artists, there is an opportunity to take that energy and channel it into some amazing music. Their best work could still be to come!

    With that though, no matter happens all the best to Laura and for a happy future.

  2. Dan says:

    I remember when I found out a friend (more an acquaintance) from high school wanted to make the switch. To that point, I had thought that being transgendered was kind of weird. But when it was personalized with someone I knew, it made immediate sense for me. My reaction was “good for her”. (Him now.) Everyone should be able to pursue what makes them happy.

  3. Tim L says:

    Didn’t stop that one Wachowski brother from continuing to make movies.

    Funny you mention conservatives into punk music. My CD rack is full of Killing Joke, New Model Army, The Clash, etc and yet I vote Tory. I’ve always figured my favourite bands would probably hate my guts, even though on some level I think we all just want to fight The Man (maybe just different opinions of who The Man is?)

  4. Chris says:

    From “Searching for a Former Clarity”

    You wrote nightly in aspiration,
    of developing as an author.
    Confessing childhood secrets,
    of dressing up in women’s clothes,
    Compulsions you never knew the reasons to,
    Will everyone, you ever meet or love,
    be just relationship based on a false presumption?
    Despite everyone, you ever meet or love,
    in the end, will you be all alone?

    Check out the tats across the top of her chest (visible in the “Thrash Unreal” video).. She has to have known for a long time, so nice that she found her way to this conclusion.

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