(written way back in 2004 & updated just before 2/29/08)

I don't remember how I first got the idea to write a song about being born on a Leap Year. I didn't know of any (still haven't heard of any others) and thought it might make a good subject. I wasn't born on February 29th and I'd never met anyone who was. I thought it might be kinda sad to be born on Leap Year and wondered if it might make someone sad for their whole life. It seemed slightly romantic somehow. I scribbled notes on anything that I could use relating to Leap Year's and, being an idiot, just about finished the song thinking that Leap Year's happened every FIVE years. Yes, I'm a college graduate. Lines like "Four years out of five/imagine being deprived" were quickly rewritten as were the more morbid lines like "When I'm close to death/I won't waste my breath/on 19 candles...".

I hadn't written a song in almost three years but I started up again in 1999 and this was the first song I finished. It was easily the best thing I'd ever written and, for better or worse, I think it probably still is. A friend of mine told me it reminded him of the Seattle band the Posies, one of my big faves. That was high enough praise but several years later, I opened up for the band here in San Diego and one of them liked it so much that he asked me for a copy of the song and was asking me about it months later. It's all downhill from there. Seriously.  Well, either that or when Rhett Miller asked me about the song and said he wished he'd thought of the idea first.

I was curious what a Leap Year baby might think of the song and a couple of years ago, before the song was recorded, my mom called me and asked me to make a tape of the song for a co-worker who was born on 2/29. The woman loved it and wrote me a very nice thank you note. When Rookie Card started doing the song, I'd ask if anyone in the audience was born on 2/29 but it took two and a half years before a Leap Year person saw us. 

In 2004, a national news service did a story on the song and we got mentions all over the country.  Leapzine.com, the most visited Leap Year site put the song up on their page and calls our song "their anthem". We played a show on February 29th, 2004 at the Whistle Stop, a cool little neighorhood bar in San Diego.  We'd put the word out that we were looking for a Leap Year baby to sing the song and a guy in Orange County found out about it.  He somehow convinced his friends to come down with him without telling them he was going to sing and surprised them.  Good times. 

This year, we're back at the Whistle Stop on Leap Year Eve, February 28th.  I do a monthly music trivia night there and it just happened to fall on the 28th.  I wasn't planning on anything but then friends and press people started inquiring about what we were going to do.  Newspapers and national news services are helping spread the word and the Leapzine folks called our song "their anthem" and put up all kinds of links to us. Thanks! For a much lighter side that's right up our alley, check out the Quadrennial Council's hilarious take on all the Leap Year ridiculousness who also linked up. So, we put the song up on our page, made a quick video of Dylan and I playing the song to see how many plays we can get in one week.  We're playing a short set for the first time in almost 15 months. Come on down.   We'll do something fun. You just watch....

P.S. If you're a Leap Day kid and come see us, show us ID and we'll give you a free cd. For reals.  Let us know if you can carry a tune....
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When the band first put the song up online in 2001, I sent an e-mail to the Leapzine website and got this priceless reply from Raenell, the woman who runs it:

ADAM! ADAM THE GIMBEL! ADAM THE LEAPING GIMBEL!!!!

What a great song! 2-29 is great!

I loved it. I can relate to it like a sister to a brother. My favorite lines:

I could walk and talk on my first birthday
and by the next I was reading at the 4th grade level
and by number 3, I felt so pre-teen

(Great opening. So true.)

and that's a tender early age to get so disenchanted
but all the other kids seemed to take theirs for granted
it's "Time To Change" forever
Peter Pan would be better

(oh-so-pro...found)

i hang my head and sigh
and calendars pass me by
ahead of my time on 2/29

(I love that line, it's SO true)

2/29 i'm sorry bout your belated valentine
2/29 it's never too late to say that you'll be mine

so you think it's rough being born near Christmas?
try coming out on a day that doesn't exist
in 3 years out of 4
i'll have faith no more

(Oh yeah, I use the Christmas thing too. Yeah, you think it's rough being
born near Christmas, well rough this up.)

in my god given right to closing eyes and making wishes
the combo of the hats and those stupid paper dishes
call me on march 1st if you've got the nerve
i could stand the test of time if they graded on a curve

and don't go counting candles
that's more than i can handle
i might live long but won't get to see 29

(No golden birthday for us Mister)

2/29 i'm sorry bout your belated valentine
2/29 it's never too late to say that you'll be mine

privileges of youth have been revoked
sooner than i hoped

i'm aging faster at a quarter of the speed
my will to live don't have a lifetime guarantee

(i'm aging faster at a quarter of the speed - that line just made me go "mmmmm, good one")

i wanna leap off the deep end
i hope i fall on a weekend...

(HA! There are only 11 times in 100 years that our Birthday Weekend happens. Where the 28th is on Saturday and the 1st is on Sunday. I make a big deal out of those weekends. Tease me all you want. It doesn't affect me anymore.)

What a great song. I'm so glad you found us. I've GOT to have an autographed copy of the CD with 2-29 on it. Leap On my LeapBrother. You rock.

OK - people think I'm a little too into my Leapness. But whatever. I have fun and it's totally cool meeting other Leapies.

I went to your site, you are very funny. I like you and I don't even know you. So did you register with us? I don't recall registering you. It's free you know. Since the beginning, 17 years ago, we've been a free Society.

Thanks again for sharing and I hope you'll stay in touch. I turned 10 last Leap Year. And you?

My Leapest Regards,
Raenell Dawn, LDB 1960
www.leapdaybabies.com
The Honor Society of Leap Day Babies

Once the Leapzine website put us up on the site, we started to get occasional e-mails and guestbook signings from 2/29 folks. Here's a great e-mail from an Englishman about the song:

>Sorry to disappoint you but I think your song is rubbish. As for the lyrics >below
>
>"so you think it's rough being born near Christmas?
>try coming out on a day that doesn't exist
>in 3 years out of 4
>i'll have faith no more "
>
>my son was born on 29 Feb and its exactly this type of attitude that gets on
>my nerves. Do you really think we tell our children they only have a
>birthday every 4 years? We have always emphasised the originality and
>excitement of being born on such a special day. Contrary to popular (it
>would seem) belief, he has a birthday every year - on 1st March if it is not
>a leap year, and every 4th year he has an extra special birthday, some
>really big treat. I know 2 other people who have leap year birthdays and
>that is what they do too. Your mother's co worker born on 29 Feb may have
>loved the song but personally I don't think having this as your birth date
>is a reason to ask the world to feel sorry for you. So, no - being a leap
>year baby doesn't make you sad for the rest of your life, unless you
>yourself want it to.