"I'm 33 for a moment!" - The Speed of Victory Over Death - In "100 Years" John Ondrasik and Five For Fighting create the modern "When I'm Sixty-Four"

I first heard the song by Five for Fighting called "100 Years" in a Disney commercial. I do not remember whether the advertisement was for a Disney cruise or Walt Disney World or whatever - but I thought - that is a *great* song.




I heard the "I'm 33 for a moment..." as the ad showed a young family packing up from what looked liked a Disney hotel room. It is common for me, like anyone else, to get a memory flood when I hear an old song I know. "100 Years" was, and still is, a great song to me because upon the first listening, it sounded like the proverbial well-worn jeans.


The speed range of the song is vital to its effectiveness. What does that really *mean*? (and I hate rhetorical questions!)

What is means is this: John Ondrasik lays down a simple, new, joyous melody on the piano with *just enough* left handed syncopation to make it fun without being intentionally showy - as if Bruce Hornsby was limited to playing as Neil Young. Which ain't bad! Anyway, John and the band discuss the most horrible thing about being a human being: knowing that the aging process leads to death. Yet, at 126.2 beats per minute, where songs are predictably showing a victory emotion. That is not to say a joyous emotion, as even the winners of a great game are pretty scraped up at the end. Peyton Manning did it *all* last year, but how hard were the shots he took all year? And no dirt in Indiana with which to rub out the pain!

Before I end this discussion tomorrow night - let us just imagine: the exact same song played at the speed range I call "lonely." Now think of the victory John show in the embedded video - the difference between wallowing in self-pity, which, as I explained as a Master of the Obvious, is *explainable* - we know we get old, get ugly, die. Either you celebrate what ya got or you drown in knowing from dust thou art, to dust thou shall return.

In calibrating this three way comparison, I listened to the song at least 40 times - never got sick of it - if there is such thing as a "genius pop song," One Hundred Years is one. Ninety-nine cents??? Anyone "downloading" this instead of paying the 99¢ - write me and I'll send the money to the band!






Meanspeed Music Summary - ACOUSTIC EP VERSION
song="100 Years"
performer=Five For Fighting
trials calibrated=9
beats measured=3,996
time elapsed=1,909.37 seconds
means time per trial=211.15 seconds
beats per trial=444
composer=John Ondrasik
rhythm=4/4, commonly known as common time
average beat=0.475 seconds
mean speed=126.2 beats per minute
mean emotion according to meanspeed music theory=victory
recording source=iTunes download
album=Acoustic EP Two Songs
Recording Rights=© 2004, Aware Records, L.L.C.
Kind=Protected AAC audio file
Size=3.9 MB
Bit Rate=128 kbps
Sample rate=44.100 kHz
Profile=Low Complexity
Channels=Stereo
Fair Play Version=2
File=m4p














video courtesy YouTube.com. graphs, screen shots and calibrations were created by Meanspeed Music. All photos used in Meanspeed's graphs are of public domain - either album *promotional* photos or those photos from wikipedia-something, marked, described and offered as public. Thanks!



Sarah Jane Bristol
Hunter Newman
James Manning
Mike "The Spike" Forrester
Sophie St. John Newman
November 14, 2007