Kick It

Song story & origins

Introduction

Kick It was released on the 2011 album No Standing. That whole record began as a challenge from my friend Ryan Phillips, who was launching the Black Hills 100 ultra marathon that year. He asked me if I’d consider creating music that could work as a soundtrack for runners—something they might slip into their headphones for energy during those long miles.

I’m not a runner myself. My last real experience of running came in middle school track, which left me with more trauma than inspiration. But I love hiking. I love being in the hills and out on the trails. So when Ryan described what the ultramarathon was like, I imagined what kind of song I’d want in my ears if I were the one out there, needing to push forward when everything felt depleted.

The Ultramarathon Image

Ryan told me about something runners call “the kick.” After 50, 60, 70 miles in, when your body feels empty and you’re completely depleted, another runner comes up behind you. Suddenly, from some hidden place inside—your gut, your soul—you find the burst of energy to surge forward, to kick it, and hold the lead. That story gave me the phrase and the song title. It became about more than running; it became about resilience, grit, and stubbornness.

Where the song came from

The first seed was a different song I had been working on—high energy, with lots of “yeah yeahs”—but the lyrics weren’t working. The only phrase that stuck was “I was born.” I scrapped the rest, kept the raw drive of the music, and rewrote it around the idea of kicking it.

The bluegrass break emerged as I stripped away electric guitar layers from the verses and brought in acoustic textures: banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, harmonica. That contrast—between electric alternative rock and stripped-down bluegrass—gave the track a lively back-and-forth energy. It’s not my usual style, but it worked.

Childhood Experience and Stubbornness

For me personally, “kick it” also tapped into memories of school. In first grade, a teacher (not actually named Mrs. Nielsen) pulled me close and said: You’ve been taking up space and time—you’re wasting yours and you’re wasting mine. That summed up how school sometimes felt to me: uninspiring, even shaming.

Ironically, those experiences shaped me as an educator. I became a teacher not because I was carried along by inspirational mentors, but because I thought, We can do better than this. My stubbornness was already forming.

In the song, that stubbornness turns into rebellion: if a teacher told me “this is the way it needs to be done,” then I immediately felt I had to do it differently. I had a strong sense of autonomy—it had to be mine, not borrowed, not dictated. That defiance became the backbone of the lyric: “If you close that door, I’m gonna kick it open.”

Rebellion and the Larger World

The second verse pushes the theme outward. Too many people, the lyric says, wander around in a haze, looking for someone else to tell them what to do, afraid to trust their own voice. That’s where stubbornness becomes strength. You find the boundary by pushing it, not by accepting it.

The song frames this rebellion against conformity: against “the corporate mind and the bottom line.” The refrain keeps returning to defiance, to moving on, to refusing to stay put when told to.

The closing twist adds one more layer of stubbornness: I was born—but not yesterday. It’s a line of wit and resistance, saying you can’t fool me, you can’t keep me in a box.

Music and arrangement

Kick It plays with contrasts: electric guitars layered in some sections for an alt-rock edge, then stripped back to pure acoustic bluegrass breaks. The mandolin and banjo keep it playful, while the harmonica and acoustic guitar root it in country energy. The back-and-forth dynamics keep the track alive, as if it’s musically “kicking” between worlds.

Why it stays with me

The song lives at the crossroads of Ryan’s ultramarathon story and my own stubborn streak. It’s about digging deep when you’re exhausted, about rebelling against limits, and about finding energy where none should exist. It was fun to make, fun to play, and still feels like a song for the trail—whether you’re running, hiking, or just needing that push to keep moving.

Kick It embodies what No Standing was meant to be: high-energy trail tunes, made to goad you into motion when you’d rather stop.

Source: New Music Memoir (1).docx