If you haven't already done so, please take a moment to read the following brief notes about this FAQ...
| 2.0 | 96/07/22 | Complete reorganization of document structure. Added new sections, combined and/or deleted existing ones, and redistributed questions among new sections. Added several new questions; updated a number of existing answers. Wrote an introductory section to consolidate FAQ information. Added a list of contributors. Other minor changes to HTML formatting. |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 95/09/19 | Renamed to The Barenaked Truth. Re-numbered the questions in Section 5, and added a question about the new name. |
| 1.0 | 95/09/16 | The initial draft of the revised FAQ. The document structure was changed and some questions added/removed. Added table of contents. |
| 1.0a | 95/02/23 - 95/03/01 | The original BNL proto-FAQ. This version was not actively maintained, and was updated sporadically as information became available. |
| FAQ: | Frequently Asked Question (List) |
|---|---|
| BNL: | Barenaked Ladies |
| MYSD: | Maybe You Should Drive |
| BOAPS: | Born on a Pirate Ship |
| KD: | Kraft Dinner |
1.1 Who are Barenaked Ladies?
A groovy Canadian band consisting of four members: Steven Page
(Vocal), Ed Robertson (Guitar), Jim Creeggan (Double Bass), and
Tyler Stewart (Drums). They are labelled as an alternative band,
but their music is a blend of rock, jazz and folk, with more than
just a touch of humor. Whatever you choose to call it, the music
is unique and always interesting.
1.2 Isn't that a sexist name?
It's not intended to be, although BNL was once banned from playing in
Toronto because of the name. As Ed Robertson explained on MuchMusic,
(paraphrased) ...it's sexual, but it's not sexist. It's supposed to
represent the feelings of innocence and discovery a little kid might
experience on seeing his first barenaked lady.
(I have the actual quote on tape somewhere; I'll include it here
when I find it. -- CIC)
1.3 But they're not naked, and they're not ladies?
That's right... (Read the previous question again.)
1.4 What material has BNL released?
BNL has released three studio albums, Gordon,
Maybe You Should Drive, and Born on a
Pirate Ship.
The band has also released a number of EP's and singles, plus some
independent material. For more information, see Jeff Jaworski's
BNL Discography.
1.5 What happenned to Andrew Creeggan?
Former BNL keyboardist Andrew Creeggan left the band after
MYSD to pursue other (academic) interests. He
performed with his brother (BNL member Jim Creeggan) on The
Brothers Creeggan, an independent release, but little has
been heard from him since.
(If anyone has information on what Andrew is currently doing,
please drop me a line. -- CIC)
1.6 Who's Kevin Hearn?
Kevin Hearn is the keyboardist who performs with BNL on tour,
following the departure of Andrew Creeggan. He does not play on
any of BNL's albums, but he does appear in the video for The
Old Apartment. He is also the writer of the BNL song
It's Christmas Time (Oh Yeah) from the compilation
album Cool Christmas.
2.1 What city is being referred to in Hello City?
Halifax, Nova Scotia. (The Palace and The Warehouse are bars in Halifax;
Barrington Street is one of the main downtown streets.) As the story
goes, BNL had a really miserable time the first time they played in
Halifax. Hello City was written to express their disgust.
(BNL no longer holds a grudge.)
(Can anyone verify whether either of the two bars is in fact on
or near Barrington Street? -- CIC)
2.2 Who is Enid?
A waitress in a Fredricton, New Brunswick restaurant where BNL once
had lunch. They were impressed that her name, when spelled backwards,
was "dine", and so they immortalized her in song.
2.3 Who is Jane?
This was asked on MuchMusic's Speaker's Corner when BNL appeared on
Intimate & Interactive. One of the band members
(Andrew?) jokingly identified her as Gordon's wife. Steve then related
a story of how Stephen Duffy (co-writer of Jane) once
remarked, while looking at a map of Toronto, that the corner of Jane
and St.Clair must be the most beautiful street corner in the city
(it isn't). Hence the name "Jane St. Clair".
2.4 Who is Brian Wilson?
One of the Beach Boys. Fun, Fun, Fun is a Beach Boys
song, and Smiley Smile was one of their albums.
2.5 Who is Gordon?
Geoff Tait (tait@ug.cs.dal.ca) writes:
Gordon is nobody. They wanted to give the CD a name like a person, not just a title. They went looking for famous Gordons in the Much Music special "On Gordon Pond" when the CD first came out and this is where I heard this. Steve said it was a mixup, due to a printing error. It was really supposed to be a tribute album to Charles Grodin.(Anyone have a copy of "On Gordon Pond" with the exact quote? -- CIC)
2.6 Is Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank
about Anne Murray?
Not quite. The song tells the story of a man stalking a singer, told
from the stalker's point of view. BNL says that the song was inspired
by a similar event that happenned to Canadian singer Anne Murray, though
the song is not specifically about her. Note that one of the verses
contains lyrics based on Anne Murray's songs You Needed Me
and Snowbird.
3.1 What's Ed singing in the background of Enid?
During the last verse of Enid (immediately following
"I can do it all for you / But I don't want to"), while Steven Page
is singing the chorus, Ed can be heard singing another verse in the
background. The words are:
"I could teach you how to dance, how to sing, how to knit, how to make things that you never ever made before.These are the lyrics from the album version. In concert, however, Ed sings different lyrics at every show. (At one show, the lyrics to Pearl Jam's Jeremy were used.) On top of this, somebody else (Andrew?) sings the following line twice:
Enid I could teach you how to use cookie cutters to make crazy things out of Playdoh.
Little houses, little farms, little accessories for your Mom, for your Barbie set, for your friends, and your family.
Enid I could teach you to snowmobile, cross-country ski, snowshoe but I don't want to!"
"Take you to dances, pay for your nightschool."To hear them more clearly, play the song with the balance all the way to the right (or unplug your left speaker). Playing with the equalizer can help. Once you've heard them, you'll wonder why you didn't get them sooner. Sort of like Louie, Louie...
3.2 Why are the lyrics for If I Had $1000000 different
from those listed in the liner notes for Gordon?
The lyrics in the liner noted for Gordon are from the
independent release of If I Had $1000000. When the
song was recorded for Gordon, the lyrics were changed
slightly, but the old version was used for the liner notes.
3.3 What are the "secret noises" in Crazy?
The liner notes for Gordon credit several band members
with performing "secret noises" on Crazy. There are two
likely candidates for these "secet noises":
3.4 Why do some of the songs sung at BNL's concerts have different
lyrics than the album versions?
Why is the sky blue? It just is. BNL are notorious for altering
lyrics in concert. It's just part of their style. Half the fun at
concerts is trying to find these variations. (The other half is
throwing KD onto the stage.) Some of these can be found in the
BNL Lyrical Variations document at
Gordon's Place.
3.5 Doesn't Hello City contain lyrics by the
Housemartins?
The following lyrics from Hello City are taken from the
song Happy Hour, by the Housemartins:
"What a good place to be, / Don't believe them, / 'Cause they speak a different language / And it's never been happy for me. / It's Happy Hour again"It's probably just done as an in-joke (typical of BNL), and as a small tribute to The Housemartins. You may as well ask why Mr. Roboto is quoted in The King of Bedside Manor.
3.6 Okay, why is Mr. Roboto quoted in The King
of Bedside Manor?
Aaaarrrgh!!
3.7 Is that Depeche Mode at the beginning of Enid?
Nope. The opening to Enid was recorded specifically for
the song, and was intentionally performed to sound like Depeche Mode.
The actual vocalist is producer Michael-Phillip Wojewoda.
3.8 Why is a green dress cruel?
Color coordination aside, it isn't. It's just a parody on the earlier
line in If I Had $1000000 about a fur coat being cruel.
(So why would a green dress cost $1000000? -- CIC)
4.1 What is The Ballad of Gordon?
The Ballad of Gordon (also known as Then There Was
Me) is a short song that BNL recorded for a FOX public service
announcement, aired between Saturday morning cartoons. It deals with
racial harmony, as told by an alien who comes to Earth, wanting to be
accepted, even though he is "different". The song is not available on
any commercial release, although bootleg copies recorded from TV are
floating around.
4.2 Is McDonald's Girl an original BNL song?
Which BNL songs are actually cover versions?
Contrary to popular belief, McDonald's Girl is not
an original BNL song. It is actually a cover of a song of the same name
by Dean Friedman. Other songs for which BNL have performed well-known
cover versions include Lovers in a Dangerous Time (Bruce
Cockburn) and Fight the Power (Public Enemy).
4.3 What is the "Brothers Creeggan CD"?
Jim and Andrew Creeggan's personal project. BNL distributed free
promotional copies at their concerts during the MYSD tour. The
CD now sells for about $12.00. BNL fans may recognize Little
Tiny Song and Scared Song. The style of music is
similar to Spider in my Room and In the Drink
from BOAPS.
4.4 What is "Don't Talk, Dance"?
Tyler Stewart's personal project. Ed Robertson appears on some
tracks as a guest vocalist.
4.5 Where can I get copies of unreleased or independent
material?
Many BNL rarities are available on compilation albums, or as B-sides
to released singles and EP's. (For a list of available material, see
Jeff Jaworski's BNL Discography).
In addition, a number of BNL fans have compiled tapes of rarities and
bootleg material; many will give you a copy for the cost of a blank
tape and postage. The BNL newsgroup and mailing list often have
postings from people with tapes to trade.
5.1 What is the Barenaked Bulletin?
BNL's fan club newsletter. A one year subscription (four issues)
costs $6.00. For information, send mail to:
5.2 What are CFNY, Massey Hall, MuchMusic, and
On Gordon Pond?
The short answer is that they are all places, relatively well-known to
BNL fans, to see and/or hear the 'Ladies. The long answer? Well...
5.3 What BNL songs have been used in movies/TV shows?
There are a few...
| Song | Program/Movie | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| What a Good Boy | Homicide: Life on the Street (NBC) | Thanksgiving 1995 episode |
| Shoe Box | Friends (NBC) | 5/2/96 "The One With The Two Parties" |
| Jane, Trust Me, and This is Where It Ends | Party of Five | (Dates/episodes unknown) |
| Grade 9 | Mighty Ducks 3 | (upcoming) |
| What a Good Boy | Stonewall | (upcoming) |
| Gangster Girl | The Wrong Guy | (upcoming) Directed by and starring David Foley. BNL will make an appearance in a dumpster(!) in this film. |
| Fight The Power | Coneheads | (The song appeared on the soundtrack, but was it actually in the movie? -- CIC) |
5.4 Why can't my computer read the multimedia CD's?
In order for the CD to be readable by both computers and standard
audio CD players, the multimedia portions were placed on track 0 of
the disc. Unfortunately, some CD players are unable to read track 0.
If you are experiencing this problem, contact the manufacturer of your
CD-ROM drive to see if there is a software fix. If not, you'll just
have to play the multimedia portions on a computer with a different
type of CD-ROM drive. You should still be able to play the audio on
your computer, though...
5.5 Who are the people on the album covers?
The people on the covers of MYSD and BOAPS
are actors hired for the photos, although the kid on BOAPS
bears an uncanny resemblance to Jim. The two guys on MYSD
both appeared in Star Trek; BNL claim that it's just Jim
and Andrew in really heavy make-up. The guys on the Gordon
cover remain unknown... :-) (Clockwise from top: Ed, Jim, Tyler, Steve,
Andrew.)
6.1 What's with the red, white, and blue ball?
Another example of BNL's trademark childhood imagery... Didn't
everybody have one of these when they were a kid? This item was
actually mentioned in a BNL song; at the Massey Hall concert, Ed's
Lame Joke rap contains a line about "playing street
hockey... with a red, white, and blue ball".
6.2 What's Kraft Dinner? Why is it important?
It's Canadian for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Steven Page explains:
"We all know it's the cheesiest, so you can call it Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Kraft Cheese and Macaroni, or just shut up and call it Kraft Dinner like we do up in Canada."Kraft Dinner is important because it is cheap, and easy to prepare. It is also important because it appears in the second chorus of If I Had $1000000. When the line is sung in concert, the audience traditionally responds by throwing Kraft Dinner onto the stage.