I Met My Younger Self Today — A Man’s Letter to the Man He Used to Be

By the bloke who’s brave enough to tell the truth

I met my younger self today.

Not in a dream, not in a photo — in the quiet, brutal theatre of memory, where the older man and the young bloke finally sit down at the same table and talk straight.

He wasn’t a child.

He wasn’t some stranger.

He was me — the teenager with stupid courage, the young adult with big plans, the fiery dreamer who thought he’d change the world, build a family, carve out a peaceful life, and leave something behind worth remembering.

And I looked at him — really looked at him — and said:

“Mate… I’m sorry I failed you.”

That’s where this album comes from.

That exact moment.

That collision between past and present that only honest men ever face.

This is the most personal record I’ve ever released.

Not angry.

Not political.

Not taking the piss (well, maybe a bit).

But raw.

And real.

And finally ready to stop pretending everything turned out the way young-me hoped it would.

The spine of the album — Track 3: I Met My Younger Self Today

This is the song the whole project hangs on. It’s honest and small and enormous all at once — a booze-stained mirror held up to a life. The words aren’t fancy — they’re true:

“I met my younger self at the pub today…

‘More life, more dreams, more time to begin.’”

That chorus — “Strangers in the same skin, hand in hand” — is exactly what it feels like when you’re old enough to see the wreckage honestly, and young enough at heart to still want to fix it. It nails that quiet, terrible shame we carry and the stubborn hope that maybe we can do better. Read it, and don’t be afraid to feel it.

It’s regret, forgiveness, and a handshake across time.

The fire and humour — Track 9: Broadmeadows University (Degree in Thugonometry)

This is where the larrikin comes out swinging.

It’s the track that says:

“I didn’t get everything right — but I bloody lived.”

If there’s a record on here that’ll make blokes grin with recognition and shame in equal measure, it’s Broadmeadows University (Degree In Thugonometry). This isn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake — it’s a roar for the streets that raised you: flanno shirts, crowbars, VB tins, and a curriculum of survival. Lines like “I went to Broadmeadows University, got a degree in Thugonometry” are both a salute and a caution: we learned how to survive, sure, but we also learned how to be hardened. The track is a love letter to the messy, bruised, brilliant education life gave you, and it’s sung with equal parts reverence and mischief.

The defiant self-belief — Track 12: Let Me Give You Something Worth Watching

Here’s the spark.

Here’s the pushback.

Here’s the cheeky grin behind the bruises.

This song is for the man who refuses to stay buried under other people’s expectations. It’s the promise that you’re not done — not yet.

“Watch me win… watch me live… your hate is my fuel.”

There’s a hunger in track Twelve that you can feel in your chest — the kind that turns spite into fuel. Let Me Give You Something Worth Watching is a direct, cheeky, gospel-of-self tune: “Watch me win… Watch me live… Your hate is my fuel.” It’s the public middle finger to the people counting you out, and the private prayer that you’ll keep going anyway. If the record needs a manifesto line, this is it: transform the beef into movement, the scorn into momentum, and keep your eyes on the road.

Other cuts that puncture the quiet

This record walks a wide lane — sometimes raw, sometimes haunting, sometimes ridiculous in the best way. No One Will Remember My Name (The Digger) brings quiet grief and the soldier’s echo; I’m Tired God (Track 28) gives the exhausted prayer we all feel in the small hours. There’s anger here — the album doesn’t flinch from naming failure or hypocrisy — but there’s also tenderness, contrition, and the unvarnished hope that someone else might do better. Every track is part confession, part pep talk.

Why this album matters — and why it hits different

Because it’s real.

It’s not trying to impress anyone.

It’s not chasing fame or trying to make peace with algorithms.

It’s an Australian bloke taking off the armour and saying:

“This is me — the successes, the failures, the scars, the truth.”

It’s about reconciling with the version of yourself who believed everything was possible.

It’s about carrying him forward instead of leaving him behind.

It’s about honouring him — not burying him.

If you listen to anything this year — read the lyrics first

This isn’t background music.

This is a story.

A reckoning.

And in places, a bloody good laugh.

Some tracks will sting.

Some will inspire.

Some will remind you of the young version of yourself you keep ignoring.

But when the album ends, I hope you feel like you’ve sat across from your own younger self — and that, for once, you actually listened.

To the young man inside me — the one I owe the truth

This album is yours, mate.

All of it.

The dreams we didn’t chase, the battles we picked, the ones we avoided, the failures, the triumphs, the heartbreaks, the things we lost and the things we still carry.

I’m not done.

And neither are you.

Let’s make the second half of life the one we’re proud of.

— Senator Papahatziharalambrous

Melbourne, 2025

(Lyrics and song titles referenced from the album booklet “I Met My Younger Self Today.”)

My birthday gift to you

Read and listen to the lyrics. Don’t scroll past them. If one line wakes you up — memorise it, share it, write it on a napkin and stick it on your fridge. If a song gives you a lump in the throat, send it to someone you love. If it makes you laugh, blast it in your car on the way to the footy, cricket, gym or beach. The music is available on all the usual streaming services — and the lyric book (cheap as chips) is on Payhip for anyone who wants to keep the words and argue with them, pray over them, or pass them on.

🚨 Senator Papahatziharalambrous’s Artist Page on Streaming Services:

YouTube Music: https://t.co/lwNYvLzZTN

Spotify: https://t.co/1W6WGCDhYU

Apple Music: https://t.co/P55ntS11E5

Amazon Music: https://t.co/Qwdz5ZzQdX

and

Takin Thepiss: https://payhip.com/TakinThepiss

I Met My Younger Self Today (The Album) [E] - Payhip: https://payhip.com/b/nwY0T

I Met My Younger Self Today (The Book of Lyrics) [E] - Payhip: https://payhip.com/b/nhtqT