I woke up this morning

Didn’t recognize the man in the mirror

Then I laughed, and I said,

“Oh, silly me, that’s just me”

Then I proceeded

To brush some stranger’s teeth

But they were my teeth

And I was weightless

Just quiverin’ like some leaf

Come in the window of a restroom

I’m not as smart as the opening of tonight’s piece is going to make me sound, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

Socrates once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I agree with this wholeheartedly. If I don’t scrutinize my own life, how can I grow, adapt, or learn?

What Socrates didn’t say, though (or if he did, it’s not as popular a quote), is this: no matter how much a person lives a life under their own microscope, there are times when they just don’t recognize who they are. Or they struggle to be what they know themselves to be.

I’ve read lots of interpretations of Kurt Vile’s Pretty Pimpin’ — from his 2015 album, b’lieve i’m goin down — that really swing for the fences. That it’s a song about insanity, addiction, even a serial killer.

I’m not one to throw shade on what anyone gets from a song, but I think Vile is singing about more mundane things that that. Things like being tired or confused, growing old, starting the day in a good mood and unexpectedly ending up in a bad place.

Pretty Pimpin’ is an interesting song. A song that feels older than it is. A song my memory tells me that I heard way before it was around. In my mind’s eye, I can see myself sitting on a futon in an apartment in Burlington, VT, back in the mid-‘90s, listening to the song on repeat.

Near as I can figure, my brain does that because back then, I was definitely facing down a stranger in the mirror each morning, trying to figure out who the man was I had been and was becoming.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with seeing a stranger in the mirror every once in a while. It’s a good reminder to take stock of who you are, who you want to be.

And if you can look good doing it like the man in Pretty Pimpin’, all the better.