My Gen X Playlist: Iris – Goo Goo Dolls

A friend in college once randomly said to us, “From here on out, please call me Douglas.” We all looked at one another in confusion. Huh? It’s one thing if his name was Doug or he went by Dougie and wanted a more mature sounding name. That made sense. It’s easy to make the crosswalk from one to the other and I could get on board with that. The problem was, his name was . . . Steve. Our confused silence hung there and he said it again just to be sure we heard him correctly. “Please call me Douglas”. Yeah, I don’t think it works like that. We all said, “No problem, Steve”. Needless to say, he remained Steve the rest of our college lives, without ever a mention of Douglas. I’ve lost touch with him since but wonder if he started afresh as Douglas the day after graduation. In a weird sort of way, I hope he did. I now understand the need to wipe the slate clean and start over. Maybe that’s what he was trying to do. I just never imagined it would start with a first name.

There are so many songs with first names to choose for the playlist. Here are a few that came to mind.

• Roxanne – The Police
• Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
• Hey Jude – The Beatles
• Cecilia – Simon and Garfunkle
• Jeremy – Pearl Jam

The Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris made the playlist after learning about the inspiration behind writing it. After nine years, the Goo Goo Dolls finally had their first hit in 1995. Lead singer John Rzeznik felt the pressure that comes with success.

He struggled with his identity as they “made five albums, and then all of the sudden we had this hit song, “Name”. I got this feeling I think a lot of artists get: that I am a complete phony, that was just luck, and I don’t know how to do it again.”

“I think it was the period where I finally had to come to terms with the fact that songwriting was now my job”.

– American Songwriter

At that time, he was asked to write a song for the 1998 romantic movie City of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. In the movie, Cage’s character is an immortal angel but throws away his immortality for love. He becomes human so he can be with the one he loves. After an early screening of the movie, Rzeznik returned to his hotel room to work on the song that would later become Iris.

“This guy is completely willing to give up his own immortality, just to be able to feel something very human. And I think, ‘Wow! What an amazing thing it must be like to love someone so much that you give up everything to be with them.’ That’s a pretty heavy thought.”

– John Rzeznik

In the midst of the joys and pressures of success, it appears Rzeznik found redemption in a song about choosing to become human, being subject to everything life has to offer – the good and as well as the bad. With a story like that, how could I not add Iris to the list?

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't wanna go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
When sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am