‘Baby Seat’ is a track from Barenaked Ladies’ 2000 album Maroon, their fifth record and the last to go platinum. The band had a pretty rapid decline following five straight hits between ’92 and ’00. They were a 90s act, through and through.
‘Baby Seat’ has an interesting lyric. The first verse and chorus seem to be about a woman who abandoned her child and hoped to sail through life without taking responsibility. Pretty straightforward.
Continuing my ranking of the songs on Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights…
#9. ‘Maroon‘
I like the chorus of this song better than the verses, which suffer from awkward phrasing. Overall a decent vibe.
#8. ‘Snow On the Beach‘
As a big Lana Del Rey fan, I was eagerly anticipating this collaboration. Unfortunately, it’s a stretch to call it that. Del Rey shares a writing credit, but her vocal contribution is relegated to some backing vocals and a couple of lines in the chorus. I wish she’d been given a verse like Phoebe Bridgers on the excellent ‘Nothing New.’ Apart from that criticism, this is a decent song.
The 2000 album Maroon turned out to be peak Barenaked Ladies. At the time, the album felt like a more than worthy successor to the 1998 breakthrough album Stunt, and in my view, heralded many years of great material to come.
To be fair, the band’s next few albums contain their share of good songs. But signs of creative stagnation and tension within the band were already evident on 2003’s Everything to Everyone, the release immediately following this one.
Sometimes I kick myself for not keeping detailed records about my Song of the Day posts. If I could go back to Song of the Day #1 and keep a spreadsheet of every artist, song, theme, and so on, I would totally do it.
That would allow me to know, for example, where Barenaked Ladies stands in terms of Random Weekend appearances. Because I have to think they are way up there, if not at the very top.
Here’s a fun song from Barenaked Ladies’ fifth (and, one could argue, last great) album, Maroon. Their next three original studio albums were uneven and then Steven Page left the band, raising the question of whether a band minus its co-founder and lead singer should still be considered the same band.
Is Pink Floyd without Roger Waters Pink Floyd in anything but name? How about Journey without Steve Perry?
Meet Me In Montauk 