Tag Archives: Barenaked Ladies

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Song of the Day #350: ‘Light Up My Room’ – Barenaked Ladies

stuntAnd then they hit it big. Big in relative terms, anyway, although selling 4 million copies of an album (particularly these days) is no small feat.

The band’s fourth album, Stunt, reached those heights courtesy of its infectious first single, ‘One Week.’ Even those of you who’ve never heard a BNL album all the way through have certainly heard this song. “It’s been one week since you looked at me… cocked your head to the side and said ‘I’m angry.'” You know it. One of the finest examples of white boy pop rap I’ve ever heard (a category that includes such tunes as R.E.M.’s ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine),’ Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’).

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Song of the Day #349: ‘The Old Apartment’ – Barenaked Ladies

pirateshipBarenaked Ladies’ third album, Born on a Pirate Ship, is an eclectic mix of avant garde pop, arena rock and power ballads. I’m tempted to call it their best album, though a few left-field tracks toward the middle knock it down a peg. It’s an album without any real hits (or singles, for that matter) but it contains several fan favorites.

Among those is ‘When I Fall,’ a poignant existential tune told from the perspective of a window washer. It works splendidly whether you take it literally or as a metaphor, or a little bit of both. One track I love is titled ‘I Know’ and opens with this delicious one-liner: “I don’t buy everything I read… I haven’t even read everything I’ve bought.”

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Song of the Day #348: ‘You Will Be Waiting’ – Barenaked Ladies

maybeyoushoulddriveWhile Gordon contained primarily light and funny songs, the Ladies’ second album, Maybe You Should Drive, veered toward more serious subject matter — one subject in particular: romantic relationships.

The opening track is one of my favorite BNL songs, ‘Jane,’ which I already featured on the blog. Another favorite is ‘Life, in a Nutshell,’ as catchy a pop tune as you’ll ever hear (though you won’t hear it here today). ‘The Wrong Man Was Convicted’ suggests a pedantic protest song but turns out to be about a man who can’t commit to a relationship.

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Song of the Day #347: ‘Be My Yoko Ono’ – Barenaked Ladies

gordonAll the artists I’ve featured in theme weeks since I started them have achieved a level of critical respect worthy of their talents. But this week I’m focusing on a band that strikes me as woefully under appreciated — Barenaked Ladies.

Perhaps it’s the name. Is it difficult to take a group seriously with a name like that? Or perhaps it’s that they are not afraid to be funny and in the process are considered by some as a bit of a novelty act. Or perhaps this is all in my head and they receive critical acclaim commensurate with their talents but I’ve just missed it.

Regardless, I believe this band is extremely special and I’m happy to give them their due this week.

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YouTube catch-up

youtubebuttIf you haven’t paid attention to the comments in the past week or so, you’ve probably missed out on some really nice music clips.

Below is a sampling of everything from Jason Castro covering Leonard Cohen to Jason Mraz covering Kermit the Frog, with a little Alison Krauss, Neko Case and The Matrix thrown in for good measure.

Enjoy.

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