My 15th Favorite Song of All-Time

is:

“What a Good Boy” by Barenaked Ladies

This song has been with me for a long time, and in many different ways, and few things in this world can affect me quite like it.  I discovered it before I even started drinking alcoholically, at which point in time I gravitated toward the element in the lyrics in which our narrator is addressing a woman who he loves but who he seems to have somewhat lost.  A few years later, at the depths of my addiction (you can read about a time that may well have been “my bottom”, which also mentions this song, right here), I discovered this song again and gravitated toward the element of the song that talks about living a life below expectations, and disappointing people, and being a failure.  Then, years after my sobriety, I discovered it again and was amazed to find it is actually the most succinct, creatively-said criticism of culturally-created, damaging gender roles.  It’s quite extraordinary.