“Hide from the World” by Tyson Motsenbocker, Thursday, March 16, 2023

 

Today we take another dive into my #1 album from last year, Tyson Motsenbocker's Milk Teeth, specifically a song that seems unmatched with the other tracks, "Hide from the World." The song breaks up the musical themes established in the first four tracks. But "Hide from the World" adds whimsical guitar chords and equally whimsical lyrics. Then it's back to the serious musical tone by track six, "UC Santa Cruz."

I WANT TO HANG IN SNOOPY'S DOG HOUSE AND HE SHOULD BE THERE TOO. Unlike the other songs on Milk Teeth, in "Hide from the World" Tyson Motenbocker chooses easily accessible references. On other tracks, Motsenbocker references locations, alcohol brands, and bands, and uses vocabulary that merits a Genius annotation. But except for extremely sheltered evangelical or ex-vangelical kids particularly with the Harry Potter reference in "Hide from the World" most listeners quickly assimilate the meaning that Motsenbocker suggests with the allusions in the song. The sentiment is shared on other tracks, but most succinctly expressed in today's song. Some days you've just had enough and it seems like there's nothing else the world can give you. It's "I Blame the World" 2.0. The music video features a man who wants to be alone, but another man, played by Tyson Motsenbocker, tries to impose on the protagonist with a cheerful attitude. At the end of the video, the protagonist discovers a tent in the middle of the forest where he can be truly alone. 

I WANT THE TENT FROM HARRY POTTER WITH THE FLAP TIED SHUT. Being a teacher, I have to perform a lot for my students. I have to put on a happy face, and support my students on their good and bad days. It's a profession I gladly chose. However, I am an introvert. My resting state is not going out after work. And this is especially true when things get busy or I have a bad day. What's worse is that my workload has steadily increased every year of my teaching. I've taken on or have been tasked with more responsibilities, whether it's supervision or extra classes. This year is a particularly difficult year with incredibly large class sizes. It feels like I've been training my entire career for this year when I feel like I'm on all the time. And when things go wrong, they cause other problems. At the end of the day today, I just felt done. I wanted to hide from the world. I wanted to hide from everyone no matter how kind they were today. The last two classes of the day were with pubescent middle schoolers trying to have their way and lying that they didn't do anything wrong. There wasn't enough coffee in the world. But the day did end. Thank God tomorrow's Friday!


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