The Boys Named Goo

And even though the moment passed me by
I still can't turn away
Cause all the dreams you never thought you'd lose
Got tossed along the way
And letters that you never meant to send
Get lost or thrown away

The first time I heard both this band and this song was on my car radio as I was driving home from work one summer evening back in 1995. The song is called "Name" by a band called the Goo Goo Dolls. Up to that point, I had never heard of the band and thus I was quite unfamiliar with any of their songs and their music. As I've stated on a previous post, I tend to love songs that create a new and original sound and once I heard this particular song, I felt that it was no exception.

What impressed me was the lead and bass guitar playing. The song's guitar intro impressed me and piqued my interest. Thus, I listened to the entire song as it played out and became more impressed with the musicianship that I became an instant fan. I felt those guys were pretty damn good. Plus, the band also had a pretty cool name. Although I don't profess to have an eye for talent, I felt at the time that this band was very good and could hit it really big.

I was quite impressed that I did some research on the band. I eventually found out that the Goo Goo Dolls were actually a trio of musicians named John Rzeznik (vocals and guitar), Robby Takac (bass guitar), and Mike Malinin (drums). From the sound I heard, I had expected them to be at least a quartet. Mr. Rzeznik was both the singer and songwriter for both the songs featured on this blog entry.

To this day, I'm not sure if "Name" got a lot of airplay or even became a hit back home in the Philippines. But what I was pretty sure of was that sooner or later, one of their songs will eventually get the band the attention and admiration it deserved.

Well, the band didn't disappoint because two years later in 1997, they finally gained worldwide fame when they released what would prove to be their biggest hit song "Iris". The band was commissioned to write the song as part of the soundtrack for the movie, "City of Angels".

Both the music and lyrics were great on this song. I felt the song perfectly captured the film character's feelings of love and despair. In my humble opinion, the best words were in the first two stanzas and the chorus.

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 want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to 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