One Week (3:01)
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“One Week” is a 1998 hit single by Barenaked Ladies. It is often regarded as the song that propelled the band to superstar status outside Canada. One reason for the song’s popularity was the large number of pop culture references worked into the lyrics. It remains the band’s biggest hit to date.
The song gained renewed popularity when it was featured in an ad for the Mitsubishi Lancer, with groups of young people in the car seeming to sing along until they could not keep up with the rapid-fire lyrics. It was featured in the third installment of Big Shiny Tunes.
Ed Robertson wrote the ideas for the non-rap ‘choruses’ with the concept being the structure of a fight where the protagonist knows they are wrong and is just trying to save face. He wanted to come up with a rapping verse for the song but all attempts failed. Bandmate Steven Page suggested he simply improvise the rap as the two commonly did onstage every night. Robertson heeded the advice and set up a video camera. He improvised the song at a slower pace to make rhyming easier and arrived at about four minutes of rap. He sent it to Page who told him not to change a word. Two minutes of the improvising was almost directly compiled (with very little, if any, tweaking) into the verses of the song. As it is improvised, it is not intended to directly have any relation to the plot of the chorus sections. The liner notes from Stunt contain some of the additional lyrics that did not make it into the recorded version.
The song gained renewed popularity when it was featured in an ad for the Mitsubishi Lancer, with groups of young people in the car seeming to sing along until they could not keep up with the rapid-fire lyrics. It was featured in the third installment of Big Shiny Tunes.
Ed Robertson wrote the ideas for the non-rap ‘choruses’ with the concept being the structure of a fight where the protagonist knows they are wrong and is just trying to save face. He wanted to come up with a rapping verse for the song but all attempts failed. Bandmate Steven Page suggested he simply improvise the rap as the two commonly did onstage every night. Robertson heeded the advice and set up a video camera. He improvised the song at a slower pace to make rhyming easier and arrived at about four minutes of rap. He sent it to Page who told him not to change a word. Two minutes of the improvising was almost directly compiled (with very little, if any, tweaking) into the verses of the song. As it is improvised, it is not intended to directly have any relation to the plot of the chorus sections. The liner notes from Stunt contain some of the additional lyrics that did not make it into the recorded version.
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Albums featuring this track
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Stunt
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Shouts
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andvarix wrote:
Why Why Why did this have to be the live version? I saw them live... they were good and it was a fun experience. But unless you're there then it's "Studio Version" all the way! Please change it!!
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TotallyFierce wrote:
The Studio version is better than this version though
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TotallyFierce wrote:
God this song takes me back to when I was in college
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DZRTsurfer88 wrote:
this is is just plain ~FUN~stuff
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Bolshevized wrote:
The late 90s had a lot of technically... kind of bad, but somehow still kind of great hits like this song.
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Mariofan420 wrote:
Haha I used to sing this in junior high all the time. Wow forever ago.
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davidbrubach wrote:
i love the lyrics to this song there are so god damn funny!
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stewartjames93 wrote:
only know this because of the collage humour parodyxD
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amusings_bnl wrote:
aaaah! the studio version. finally. finally...
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Steelydan12987 wrote:
Agreed....great song.....Lame Version. Definitly better on the Radio then live.
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AmbientRain wrote:
singing along is so fun...
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brandontw wrote:
meh, great song, lame version.
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MicroSSG wrote:
love it
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edwinarcher wrote:
"I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve; I have a history of losing my shirt."
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nannel wrote:
Irgendwie mag ich diese Band.
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cal1br3tto wrote:
Oh my goodness! It's been years since I've heard this! I used to love it, and I can see (hear) why!
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ABS0818 wrote:
so dangerous you'll have to sign a waiver. . .
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funkydory89 wrote:
American pie!:)
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GoGoCrede wrote:
God, I love this song. Makes me want to dance.
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w0bbEL wrote:
How can I help it if I think you're funny when you're mad? -- line is so awesome. song is dope.
Barenaked Ladies
One Week
full track
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Recent Activity
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silentkylefl, DillyDaKidd, anglosaxonfrog and 5 other people loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. 2 minutes ago
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Konhoota added One Week to the playlist Konhoota’s playlist. 3 hours ago
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Konhoota, scared0o0rabbit, vjsupersaint and 11 other people loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. 3 hours ago
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castman10 added One Week to castman10’s library. 16 hours ago
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DwightSchrute83, ididntdie, TK0fromTokyo and 23 other people loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. 17 hours ago
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