My Gen X Playlist: Raise Your Glass – Pink

I was going through my closet looking for clothes to donate to Goodwill. I found a shirt that I haven’t worn in years. It’s a pink long sleeve oxford with that polo guy on the chest.

When I was in high school, the preppy look was in. It wasn’t uncommon for guys to wear pink Polo oxfords. With four growing kids in the family, Polo wasn’t a norm in our childhood wardrobe. I always thought it would be cool to have one.

Fast forward, one now sits in my closet. It’s still in the plastic wrap from the last time it was dry cleaned years ago. No, it won’t be dropped on the Goodwill pile. I know I’ll wear it sometime in the near future, I say to myself. I think I had this same exact conversation the last time I shook my closet for donations. And even if I never wear it again, I’ll still probably keep it. I know it has nothing to do with nostalgia. The shirt still remains in my closet waiting for our next annual conversation.

I’m not an ardent Pink fan, but I do like her music and agree she can belt out a tune with the best of them. Raise Your Glass was released in 2010 and one of her many hits. It’s a song about the underdog.

Pink explained to Alex James on the UK based radio show In:Demand that this song is a celebration for those who feel left out from the popular crowd. “I had been on the road for two years and I hadn’t written anything and I wanted to write a song about underdogs.

Songfacts

I’m not sure if I ever felt left out from the popular crowd, but I am sure high school can be a time when you are acutely aware of what you have and don’t have. Maybe that’s where my pink oxford fits in. And it’s really silly, I know. It’s just a shirt and I honestly can say I don’t feel an emotional attachment to it, one way or another. But for some reason, I can’t seem to drop it in the donation pile.

It’s easy to over complicate minute things as teenagers. I say this with a 1980’s lens. I can’t imagine what it’s like nowadays in the midst of social media. It’s not just comparing yourself to your classmates anymore. Kids are comparing themselves to the entire world. If only we could step into a time machine to whisper into our younger selve’s ear, assurances that all these concerns are meaningless in the grand scheme of life. Then again, let’s be honest. Would our younger selves even listen? Probably not. I guess there is no saving ourselves from ourselves. We just have to live life and let it all play out in the end. And if the only residual I keep is this pink shirt in my closet, I think I got off pretty easy compared to what others may have chosen to hang in their own closets. I really can’t complain.

I’ll break out this shirt this year, maybe occasionally throw it into my business casual rotation. It’s about time it got a little bit of air. I’m not anticipating any a-ha moment when I slip it on and begin to button the buttons. After all, it’s only a shirt and nothing more, right?

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Right, right, turn off the lights
We're gonna lose our minds tonight
What's the dealio?
I love when it's all too much
5 a.m. turn the radio up
Where's the rock 'n roll?

Party crasher, panty snatcher
Call me up if you're a gangsta
Don't be fancy, just get dancy
Why so serious?

So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways, all my underdogs
We will never be, never be anything but loud
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks
Won't you come on and come on and
Raise your glass!
Just come on and come on and
Raise your glass!

Slam, slam, oh hot damn
What part of a party don't you understand?
Wish you'd just freak out
(Freak out already)
Can't stop, coming in hot
I should be locked up right on the spot
It's so on right now
(It's so fucking on right now)

Party crasher, panty snatcher
Call me up if you're a gangsta
Don't be fancy, just get dancy
Why so serious?

So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways, all my underdogs
We will never be, never be anything but loud
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks
Won't you come on and come on and
Raise your glass!
Just come on and come on and
Raise your glass!
Won't you come on and come on and
Raise your glass!
Just come on and come on and
Raise your glass!

Oh shit! My glass is empty
That sucks!

So if you're too school for cool
And you're treated like a fool
(You're treated like a fool)
You can choose to let it go
We can always, we can always party on our own

So raise your (oh, fuck)
So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways, all my underdogs
We will never be, never be anything but loud
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks

So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways, all my underdogs
We will never be, never be anything but loud
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks
Won't you come on and come on and
Raise your glass!
Just come on and come on and
Raise your glass!
Won't you come on and come on and
Raise your glass for me!
Just come on and come on and
Raise your glass for me!