10 Favorite Barenaked Ladies Songs
Submitted by AJDaGreat on Mon, 03/22/2004 - 09:10
Tags:
- Brian Wilson
- Enid
- Life, In a Nutshell
- A
- Break Your Heart
- In the Car
- Some Fantastic
- Off the Hook
- Falling for the First Time
- War on Drugs
- Honorable mentions
- Box Set
- These Apples
- One Week
- Thanks That Was Fun
- Testing 1, 2, 3
I'm glad to see "off the hook" on your list. It happens to be my favorite ladies song of all time.
I wouldn't go that far, but I do think it's the best song on Maroon, and it showcases some of their best lyric-writing. It shoulda been a single...
Wow, you've pegged some of my favourites as well. Although I'd say some of my top 10 show up on your "Honorable mentions" list. I see Box Set shows up on your h.m.'s. Were you as amused as I was when they named their compilation album Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits ?
I'm actually not too fond of War on Drugs , mostly because it lacks some of the subtlety of their other work. It's passionate and sad, but I just don't love it the way I do some of their other work, which I think tends to be more musically and lyrically interesting.
Here's my top 10 (because there's probably not much point in my cloning your list):
1) Break Your Heart
2) Off the Hook (which helped to spur me into leaving my husband)
3) Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel
4) When I Fall
5) Thanks That Was Fun
6) Testing 1,2,3
7) Alternative Girlfriend
8) Shopping (how could you not love listening to the Ladies take the piss out of George W.?)
9) Pinch Me (or as Ed says, "A happy little song about depression)
10) Blame it on Me (I'm drawn to their recurrent self-deprecation)
You're right, War on Drugs could be more subtle, but I still think the lyrics are beautiful.
And yes, I was very amused by the compilation title.
I'm glad you like Testing 1, 2, 3 that much. Some friends think I'm weird for calling it one of the best of E2E, but I think it's a great song. Oh, and I always thought Shopping was a pretty fun and satirical little song, but then I saw it live and it was amazingly hilarious. Have you seen them do it live?
I think the three really slow, delicate ballads on Gordon (Wrap Your Arms Around Me, Blame It On Me, The Flag) seem kinda out of place and forgettable, so I've never paid very much attention to them. But I just read the lyrics for "Blame It On Me" and it does have some good lines. Maybe I'll have to give that one another try. After all, for a long time, I was never a big fan of "When I Fall" (BOAPS is my least favorite BNL album), but recently I actually started to really like it.
Oh, and I think I feel the same way about "Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel" that you feel about "War on Drugs", though I do like the ambiguous ending of the former.
Ah, I love conversing about BNL...
I think you're probably right about Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel , but what appeals to me about it is more musical. I love the carnival quality in the instrumentals, as it creates such a surreal background to the lyrics. The song also features one of my favourite BNL tricks of using a phrase to mean two different things: in this case, "You're the last thing on my mind". At the beginning it suggests he's not really thinking about her, but by the end she's the most important thing in his life. They do this in Off the Hook as well with the phrase "off the hook". The technique has the potential to be a bit crap, but they use it sparingly and to good effect.
As for Testing 1,2,3..., I agree it's possibly the best tune on the album. It's a prime example of BNL's pairing of a catchy pop tune, musically interesting phrasing and solid lyrics. "If I shed the irony, would anybody cheer me? If I acted less like me, would I be in the clear?" BNL at their self-deprecating best.
BOAPS didn't really appeal to me either when it first came out. I stuck with it because I like the Ladies so much, and after awhile started to appreciate it more. I still think it's probably their weakest album, but it brought me "When I Fall", because of which all is forgiven.
I think my favourite album is Maroon . It's the most solid all the way around, and is listenable start to finish (not that I think any BNL isn't listenable). It's good ordering of the songs. I really like E2E, but I find I'm less interested in the last few songs than in the beginning of the album. Although I like the idea behind Take It Outside. It's a nice counterpoint to all the aggressive attitudes that can prevail in many pop songs.
And I also like conversing about BNL. I think you're the first person I've come across who knows as much about their music as I do. Oh, by the way, I did see them perform Shopping live, right here in Manchester, UK. They were fantastic, but I think they perform better for Canadian audiences who understand their humour a bit better. I look forward to seeing them on their next Canadian tour.
I dunno, I think the end of TITNIFAATW could imply the same thing as the beginning - that he's so overwhelmed by the pain and commotion that he still isn't really thinking about her. That's what I meant about the ambiguity of the ending. Well, whether you think it's ambiguous or clear, I like it.
Yeah, BOAPS took me quite a few listens to settle to as well. It did give us "When I Fall" and the wonderful "Break Your Heart", but I really hate "Same Thing." In fact, surrounded by "Spider in My Room" and "Just a Toy", that section is a trilogy of some of BNL's worst, in my opinion.
I love Maroon, but it's occasionally a bit more hard-rocking than I prefer the Ladies to be. I've always thought "Too Little Too Late" was a great song but just didn't sound like BNL. I know it's a boring choice for a serious fan like myself, but my favorite album might be their most popular one. I actually think Stunt is more solid than Maroon (I don't really like "Baby Seat"), and balances the funny and the serious very well. I do agree with you on E2E - actually, after one concert I went to, I realized that they had played all of the first ten songs from the new album but none of the last four. Your comments on "Take It Outside" are also dead-on, and I love the line "Just for show, I'm slamming the door."
It's funny you should mention "Baby Seat", as it's the only song on that album that bothers me slightly. I like the content - I have had friends in the past that could have learned a thing or two from that song. But musically I find it unsatisfying.
Stunt really is a great album, and is a close runner-up to Maroon for me. I just find it very slightly to pop-y for my taste. I prefer them slightly more contemplative, or rocking a bit harder (I liked Maybe You Should Drive for that, with Alternative Girlfriend).
I wanted to mention "It's Only Me (The Wizard of Magicland)". It's not one of my top 10, but there are a few things I love about it. I think the rhythms are more interesting than most popular music; they seem to include an extra beat every once in a while. I'll have to listen to it more closely to figure out exactly what they're doing. Also there's something that appeals to me about the line, "Take it from a fella who's been round the block so many times, he knows the only parking spot that's free."
I'm not wild about "Spider in My Room" either, though I like that they collaborated with a First Nations group on that one. I think they probably could have come up with something better. I don't even remember "Just a Toy". If I had the album still (I left behind quite a few of them when I left my husband), I would check it out. Actually, one of my goals when I return to Canada next year is to rebuy the entire collection of BNL albums.
Here's something you might be interested in. Apparently BNL was asked to write the music to Shakespeare's As You Like It . It's done now, and the live performance has the actors singing the songs, but BNL has released an album with them singing. It's largely instrumental from what I understand, but I'm buying it anyway. Barenaked and Shakespeare: it's like the separate parts of my life are coming together.
Ah, I love BNL. I love that they wrote a song about a 17 year old boy having an affair with an older woman who doesn't know he's 17, have it be a hit, and never have anyone listen close enough to have a clue what the song is about. Reminds me of the line, "she hasn't even heard them since she found out what the words meant. She decided she preferred them all wrong."
I love "Alternative Girlfriend" too, and yeah, I guess Maybe You Should Drive does create a good balance of contemplative and hard-rocking.
Oh, and I prefer "They say you'll never love another till you love yourself - well, brother, I'm in love with everyone I see."
"Just a Toy" is their only grunge song. Remember the chorus "I know you must have loved me sometime"?
That soundtrack does sound pretty cool. I might be a little lost since I've never read As You Like It, but I'll probably check it out anyway.
And I love how BNL's second biggest hit was a song about depression that includes the line, "I just made you say underwear."
I've heard some people complain about that underwear line. I think it's just cheeky and fun.
The next time I get on a computer with sound (maybe this afternoon) I'll check out "Just a Toy". I'm drawing a complete blank.