Electric Relaxation: Incubus "Warning"

This is a case where you love a song the minute you hear it and then discover years later that it speaks to you differently and more powerfully. "Warning" might be my favorite single off Morning View even more after this.

First time I heard this was on KROQ out here in LA in 2002. I was driving and my ears said "What is this??" "Was this some old Incubus song I never heard before?" I kept listening til the end and when the DJ said this was a brand new song off Morning View, I said "WHOA!" I think that was the thing that finally pushed me to buy the album.

There's a sound effect at the intro and in the breakdown that just sounded all kinds of epic. DJ Kilmore must've scratched it in and it sounds so cool yet fit the musical vibe. Throw in the fact that it was just a straight-forward rock song that just builds to an overwhelming sound at the end where Brandon sings "Don't ever let life you pass by" and the rhythm repeats even longer than it does on the radio.

The words seemed so cryptic to me back then. "I suggest we learn to love ourselves before it's made illegal"? "Floating in this cosmic jacuzzi, we are like frogs oblivious, to the water starting to boil"? It just seemed to add to this spacey vibe that reminded of me why I loved "Stellar" and "Pardon Me."

Flash forward to today. I'm at a personal crossroads wanting to fully take control of my life, which I shared on here. I want to take advantage of what I have in my mid-20's and not sit back and watch life pass me by. One night, this song came on and something told me to listen closer. The words suddenly made sense and spoke to me right now.

"Those left standing will make millions writing books on the way it should've been" - I mean that's just great writing. Too many people talk about how you should live life and they end up rich instead of gaining the value of tasting that life they sing about.

Now I got what the warning was about. "Dont ever let life pass you by." Yes! This was what I needed to hear. Don't be the lady in the song who wakes up old and realizes life's gone, only left to warn those not to follow her.

The intro is almost a challenge to do something you've never done or always wanted to do. The 2nd verse - suggesting for selflove - now means we gotta do it before we can't. Before we end up telling folks how to live because we failed. It's the flipside to Switchfoot's "Meant to Live", a song that challenged us to live for more than what we're seeing.

Floating in the jacuzzi means you're sitting there being comfortable, unaware that you're dying in your comfort and never moving on. Well-written with vivid imagery, this song now became my anthem of what not to become.

I wonder how they came up with this song. Sitting in Malibu off Pacific Coast Highway , watching one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. It's almost like they were relaxed, yet found a way to send out a message of urgency and living life to the max.

I was sleeping on this message for almost 8 years. Now as I'm waking up and rediscovering what I want, this song is another part of the fuel. Just one more reason why I love this album. Be encouraged from it.