Waking Up

by Hillsburn

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about

When we're young, many of us have big dreams. We'll be rich. We'll be famous. We'll be rich and famous, and astronauts. But most of us never are. ‘Waking Up’ is about becoming aware of the empty promise of equality of opportunity. Actually living out the adventures we dream of when we’re kids is the domain of a privileged few. The rest of us are left to ‘modify horizons,’ to get by as best we can, and often to do so by relying on drugs / TV / fill-in-the-blank to provide a little numbness and respite. It’s a stark portrayal, and yet the song’s protagonist imparts a sense of empowerment gained from coming to see things as they are.

lyrics

I spent the summers of my youth lost,
Pal of Scout and Anne and Alice.
Reading, dreaming,
Of who I would like to be.
There in my adolescent repose,
I'd circumnavigate the cosmos --
Earhart, Picard.

But these days I just can't find myself
In the person I used to know.
Maybe I'm waking up.
I wasn't born to be wild.

Learn as I get a little older,
Not much adventure for the worked-out.
Week out, week in,
Starving my dreams to death.
While all the screens push amusements,
I can't afford to see the dentist.
And I've been grinding.

These days I just can't find myself
In the person I used to know.
Maybe I'm waking up.
I wasn't born to be wild.

Me and Mary go to work, we come home.
Me and Mary get by.
Me and Mary, we don't long for nothing.
We don't mind, we don't mind.
Me and Mary go to work, we come home.
Me and Mary get high.
Me and Mary modify horizons.
We don't mind, we don't mind.

I spent the summers of my youth lost,
Pal of Scout and Anne and Alice.
Reading, dreaming.

But these days I just can't find myself
In the person I used to know.
Maybe I’m waking up.

credits

released October 23, 2020
Produced, engineered, and mixed by Howard Redekopp at Monarch Studios and Menagerie Studio, Vancouver, British Columbia
Song by Paul Aarntzen
Additional engineering by Olivia Quan, Stefan Nowarre, and Paul Aarntzen
Additional mixing by Stefan Nowarre
Mastered by Brock McFarlane at CPS Mastering, Vancouver, British Columbia

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about

Hillsburn Halifax, Nova Scotia

We're an indie pop band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Our new record, Slipping Away, is out now!

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