The Canadian nerd rock band Barenaked Ladies have made it a decade and a half on a mixture of imaginative concerts and songs mixing the ridiculous with the bittersweet. Barenaked Ladies founders Ed Robertson and Steven Page, along with additional members Jim Creegan, Tyler Stewart, and Kevin Hearn, have used a wide range of instruments and a seemingly endless ability to turn the mundane into art to great effect over their prolific careers. However, Barenaked Ladies have managed to toe the line between rock and satire, keeping themselves equidistant from U2 and “Weird” Al Yankovic.
1. The Old Apartment- This song is the best rock song that Barenaked Ladies have come out with and hearing it live adds to the intensity in Steven Page’s voice. The song, about a domestic dispute between a man and a woman, features strong instrumental work and a good view of how mistakes made in the heat of the moment continue to haunt the singer. After all, the two characters in the song keep living together even as one puts the past behind them and the other holds onto the past for dear life.
2. Brian Wilson- “Brian Wilson” is a song about a musician who is trying to unblock his musical muse by distracting himself with trips to the record store and in the city. The commiseration between the Barenaked Ladies and the former Beach Boy was so poignant that Brian Wilson himself sang a cover of this song on tour in 2002. The best version of this song is on the live CD “Rock Spectacle,” where it is the first track and whips the crowd into a frenzy.
3. One Week- The tongue twisting “One Week” was one of the more popular Barenaked Ladies song in the United States, getting extensive (some would say exhaustive) radio play for the successful album “Stunt.” The song, which is up tempo and short, is a jumble of pop culture references and references to a relationship mired by mixed feelings. I know when I first listened to this song, it made me want to learn all the words. I still haven’t, which shows how the Barenaked Ladies made a memorable song that has staying power.
4. Hello City- A celebration of cosmopolitan city life (one can imagine Toronto or New York), “Hello City” also pans hipster culture a bit and offers a cynical view of nonstop partying. “Hello City” mixes cynicism and enthusiasm with an interesting mix of vocals by Steven Page and Ed Robertson, who compliment each other well in terms of performance.
5. If I Had a Million Dollars- One of the more popular Barenaked Ladies songs, “…Million Dollars” is just a fun song about what one would do with newfound largesse. This was a particularly popular song for the Ladies in Canada, spawning a Kraft Dinner and great improvisation in their incredibly popular concerts.
6. Be My Yoko Ono- “Be My Yoko Ono” is a song about the distinction between finding a muse for one’s art and having a doting hanger-on that follows an artist at every turn. Steven Page’s sarcastic tone in “Be My Yoko Ono” is perfect for the underlying theme and the instrumentation is great, with a bit of ska mixed in with the usual Barenaked Ladies repertoire.
7. What a Good Boy- One of the popular singles off of “Gordon,” “What a Good Boy” speaks to the promise of children when they are born and the fact that no matter how children grow up, they can never live up to the lofty dreams that parents have of their children. This song develops gradually from a slow, lullaby performance and whips into a forceful crescendo at the end of the song, catching listeners off guard and wanting more.
8. Enid- The Barenaked Ladies turn a typical song about a failed relationship into a well-crafted musical piece with “Enid,” the first song off of the album “Gordon.” “Enid” features good vocals by Steven Page and an overall good performance by the band. This song isn’t stellar but it is a good primer for anyone looking to get an overview of the Barenaked Ladies.
9. Alcohol- This song is based on Steven Page’s problems with alcoholism and recovery, tinging this apparent celebration of partying with a sense of despair. The song is a raucous affair, with a chorus of party goers in the background and lyrics that up the ante as the song goes along. However, once I read that it was about the nadir of Page’s life, the song became less entertaining and more disturbing as a profile of an alcoholic’s view of the world.
10. Grade 9- “Grade 9,” off of the popular album “Gordon,” gives a litany of frustrations and wishes of the average awkward teenager. While the title is distinctly Canadian (Grade 9 refers to the ninth grade, or freshman year of college), the pop culture references and the references to what it is like to be a freshman in high school are universal. This is a good song for those who want to see the lighter side of Barenaked Ladies and it was one of the first songs I heard by the band.
