i don't know

Album: Hello Nasty
Year: 1998

On Hello Nasty, the Beastie Boys were somehow able to trade on their long-gone bad boy past while at the same time distancing themselves from it. To me, that alblum was the epitome of the “everything goes” musical joy that they always traded in, and I appreciated that while aging had mellowed them, it hadn’t mellowed their music.

So wouldn’t it figure that the most mellow song they have ever recorded would be my favorite? On “I Don’t Know,” Adam Yauch sang about how the more he knows, the less he’s sure of. Like the rest of us.

I mean, from:

;Torchin’ and crackin’ and rhymin’ and stealin’
Robbin’ and rapin’, bustin’ two in the ceilin’
I’m wheelin’, I’m dealin’, I’m drinkin’, not thinkin’
Never cower, never shower and I’m always stinkin’

To:
 

;I’m walking through time
Deluded as the next guy
Pretending and hoping to find
That distance peace of mind

in a little bit more than a decade? That’s what we call “growing up.”

Of course, a whole album of music like “I Don’t Know” would have been intolerable, but stuck in between “Body Moving” and the “Negotiation Limerick File,” it stuck out like a sore thumb. A beautiful, moving sore thumb.

I’d like to think that maybe Adam Yauch found that peace of mind.

“I Don’t Know”