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Barenaked Ladies has been my favourite band for almost 18 years. Despite their being known in a comedic sense, they have some apt lyrics, even in their hits.
For every like this tweet gets, I will share one of my favourite lines from BNL songs.
For every like this tweet gets, I will share one of my favourite lines from BNL songs.
1) "Everything will always be alright when we go shopping," - Shopping (Everything to Everyone, 2003). This song sounds like its just about pure retail therapy, but is a direct satire on George W Bush after the 2001 terrorists attacks telling everyone to just go shopping
2) "She loves me; her body keeps me warm. I'm happy here," - The Old Apartment (BOAPS 1996). Waxing nostalgia is fun and all, but at the end of the day, it's not about where you are, but who you're with. I love that.
3) "I look straight in the board room; a modern Pharaoh's tomb. I'll gladly swap places, if they care to dive." - When I Fall (BOAPS 1996).
4) "Look at me now, I think you'd find it hard to believe. Back in my yearbook voted least likely to succeed." - Lookin' Up (Fake Nudes, 2017). As almost a HS dropout, I actually had people ppl message me saying dont bother with uni, I'd fail out.
I've done a bit since then.
I've done a bit since then.
5) "Now I know that there's a time and there's a place where I can choose to walk the fine line between self control and self abuse" - Alcohol (Stunt 1998)
6) "So I'm lying here, just staring at the ceiling tiles. And I'm thinking about, oh what to think about" - Brian Wilson (Gordon 1992).
I struggled to pick a lyric with this song because it's my fav and it has so many bangers. Pavlovs dogs. Where the hell all the love has gone.
I struggled to pick a lyric with this song because it's my fav and it has so many bangers. Pavlovs dogs. Where the hell all the love has gone.
7) "And so you hate my arrogance, my smothering and sitting on the fence. But I'm afraid of the hard permanence of letting you go free" - You Will Be Waiting (MYSD 1994).
Stand alone, beautiful. In the context of Quebec separatism, even more beautiful.
Stand alone, beautiful. In the context of Quebec separatism, even more beautiful.
8) "You turn the key that makes me drive. You make me feel alive inside" - Passcode (Silverball 2015).
You can definitely start making a psychological mark-up about me with these lyrics, and yes one part would be I am a big fucking lovey dovey sap.
You can definitely start making a psychological mark-up about me with these lyrics, and yes one part would be I am a big fucking lovey dovey sap.
9) "We choose a foreigner to hate. The new Iraq gets more irate. We really know nothing about them and no one cares" - Sell Sell Sell (Maroon 2000)
10) "I know you're not to kiss & tell, but maybe nobody has ever kissed as well as you do. I don't know whats got a hold of me, alcohol or alchemy" - Did I Say That Out Loud? (Grinning Streak 2013)
11) "We're used to repetition so we drew up a petition. We the undersigned feel undermined let's redefine employment" - Elf's Lament (Barenaked For The Holidays 2004).
I just always enjoyed that they wrote a pro-union song about Santa's elves. Perfectly whimsical.
I just always enjoyed that they wrote a pro-union song about Santa's elves. Perfectly whimsical.
12) "Angry people get so sanctimonious telling us what to do. Hoping no one outs them all as phonies just cause we are all phonies too." - Angry People (Barenaked Ladies Are Men 2007)
13) "Save me from a villainous imagination" - Take It Back (Barenaked Ladies Are Me 2006)
14) "Austrelopithicus would really have been sick of us
Debating how we're here" - The History of Everything (The Big Bang Theory Theme 2007)
Debating how we're here" - The History of Everything (The Big Bang Theory Theme 2007)
15) "Everyone says I'm looking great but its hard to stand up, let alone to try to concentrate" - Get In Line (King Of The Hill soundtrack 1999)
16) "I can offer you lies. I can tell you goodbye. I can tell you I'm sorry. But I can't tell the truth." - Shoebox (BOAPS 1996)
17) "Theres a restaurant down the street where hungry people like to eat. I could walk but I'll just drive, it's colder than it looks outside" - Pinch Me (Maroon 2000).
A hit song that showcased their ability to obfuscate with simplicity. Lines encapsulating depression perfectly
A hit song that showcased their ability to obfuscate with simplicity. Lines encapsulating depression perfectly
18) "The world's your oyster shell, so what's that funny smell? You eat the bivalve anyway; you're sick with salmonella" - Never Is Enough (Stunt 1998)
19) "Some people just want to build more walls and pretend there's no hope for peace at all. Building them comes at a great expense, whether in your mind or in wet cement" - Invisible Fence (Fake Nudes 2017)
20) "When you die they make a list of every love you never kissed. Of each regret, and each mistake, every choice you failed to make. Oh well" - Next Time (Everything to Everyone 2003)
21) "But now it seems all that people want is what I used to be. Every time I try something new, all they want is 1973" - Box Set (Gordon 1992)
This song from their 1st major record is steeped deep in irony, as thru their career, people asked why it couldn't just be more of this
This song from their 1st major record is steeped deep in irony, as thru their career, people asked why it couldn't just be more of this
22) "You signed your picture with an O and X, I bet you don't write love each time you sign your cheques" - Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank (BOAPS 1996)
23) "I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve, I have a history of taking off my shirt" - One Week (Stunt 1998)
24) "Old at being young, young at being old. Everything's been sold to others' revolutions" - Alternative Girlfriend (Maybe You Should Drive 1994)
25) "Repetition of suspicion takes a lie and makes it true" - Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! (E2E B-Side 2003)
Barenaked Ladies were singing about fake news & alternative facts long before those two words encapsulated the meaning. About propaganda and manipulation, this song is -chefs kiss-
Barenaked Ladies were singing about fake news & alternative facts long before those two words encapsulated the meaning. About propaganda and manipulation, this song is -chefs kiss-
26) "Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves of all these demons haunting us" - War on Drugs (Everything to Everyone 2003)
A hauntingly beautiful song about suicide and mental health
A hauntingly beautiful song about suicide and mental health
27) "If we make it back, I'll renounce Jack Kerouac and all of that romantic crap, like I'm an artist don't look back" - Baby Seat (Maroon 2000)
28) "It's not a simple right of passage
Where you just follow every step
Somebody took every single roadmap
And there just wasn't any left" - Bringing It Home (Fake Nudes 2017)
Where you just follow every step
Somebody took every single roadmap
And there just wasn't any left" - Bringing It Home (Fake Nudes 2017)
29) "I can get a job, I can pay the phones bills, I can cut the lawn, cut my hair, cut out my cholesterol. I can work overtime, I can work in a mine, I can do it all for you - but I don't want to" - Enid (Gordon 1992)
30) "I did my best, but it wasn't enough" - You Run Away (All In Good Time 2010)
We've all had this feeling
This whole album is a powder keg of feelings as the band moved on as a foursome, a cathartic release that help lay the return to sunnier expressionism in Grinning Streak
We've all had this feeling
This whole album is a powder keg of feelings as the band moved on as a foursome, a cathartic release that help lay the return to sunnier expressionism in Grinning Streak
31) "We've got these chains hanging around our necks. People want to strangle us with them before we take our first breath" - What a Good Boy (Gordon 1992).
So many interpretations for this one, but ultimately, a cry against societal determinism. Simpler, against gender norms.
So many interpretations for this one, but ultimately, a cry against societal determinism. Simpler, against gender norms.
