“Steal My Sunshine” by Len, Thursday, April 1, 2021

 

In the summer of '99 I was 12 years old. I spent the first half of the summer with my dad, a truck driver, as he crossed the U.S. delivering camper chassis and steel. A lot of kids would get bored looking at the Interstate for hours, but I always loved the journey. I loved maps and geography, and I was getting a firsthand experience of seeing what America looked like. Of course there were some boring parts. But what was best about the miles of cornfields was that the radio stations lasted quite a while-- a lot longer than they lasted in the foothills of North Carolina. With my dad, I got to experience new (old) music that my mom didn't approve of at the time. On the road I first listened to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Steve Miller Band, George Thorogood, America, and so many others I could fill a whole blog post listing. We also listened to new music--Red Hot Chili Peppers, Goo Goo Dolls, and Sugar Ray. 

IMPAIRED BY MY TRIBAL LUNAR SPEAK. One of the songs that was fun to hear on the radio stations across America was Len's summer hit "Steal My Sunshine." Surfer-dude meets baby doll singing, with strange lyrics, and happy, vibey instrumentation that sound like it would make a dog happy, this song became quite an infection radio gem. Listening to this song again, it reminds me of a time when the radio was fun. You didn't know what style of music you were going to hear next. The '90s were a time when alternative rock had a place on the Top 40 along with Hip Hop and bubblegum pop. In the late '90s rock started flirting more with Hip Hop and electronica, hence making unique tracks like this one. As the Canadian brother-sister fronted band failed to release a follow-up album to their 1999 hit You Can't Stop the Bum Rush, the band and their style remains a kind of time capsule of the summer before Y2K. It would have been interesting to see where they could have taken pop-rock, though, into the new millennium.

I KNOW IT'S UP FOR ME. If you just take the song on the first listen, along with the embarrassingly awesome music video, you might conclude that it's just a feel good song with some strange lyrics. However, on a deeper listen/read, you can see that the lyrics are about dealing with depression. The song talks about how other people can "steal [our] sunshine." It also talks about feeling down when others are enjoying themselves. This is another example of a music/lyric paradox used in songs like "Rose-Colored Boy" and to a lesser extent "Float On." "Steal My Sunshine," is a pretty good pre-curser to Emo pop. As for how this song relates to me today, I'll claim the weather. It was a beautiful day with the cherry blossoms in full bloom, only to get windy and cold. It's like the sunshine was stolen. Well, and also this week has been long and the students have been crazy, which is another thing that can steal my sunshine. What about 80-100% chance of rain this weekend? Oh well. Other than that, things are pretty good.

https://genius.com/Len-steal-my-sunshine-lyrics