One Week (3:01)
879,411 plays (163,142 listeners)
“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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Y-100: Sonic Sessions, Volume 5
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Star Lounge Collection 1998
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Shouts
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ppstauffer wrote:
best choreography ever! : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsFjqpc-xGs
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SeveralPeople wrote:
This is the only song i like by them really. But this song is really awesome.
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superoven wrote:
this song totally reminds of elementary school... x_x
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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. . .
Barenaked Ladies
One Week
30-second preview
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Recent Activity
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Knallerbob, mrchode, D4RK5YD and 24 other people loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. 2 hours ago
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Alucard_Dumbass added One Week to Alucard_Dumbass’s library. yesterday morning
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shmingee, kno206, DarthKosh and 52 other people loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. yesterday morning
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TheUglinessMan added One Week to TheUglinessMan’s library. Saturday evening
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TheUglinessMan added One Week to the playlist 1st try. Saturday evening
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TincanCommy, NelEspada3, pyromaniaks and 1 other person loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. Saturday evening
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wihan added One Week to wihan’s library. Saturday afternoon
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Dieselness, gameover4u9, FUNKYBABYD and 1 other person loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. Saturday afternoon
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shakeswilson added One Week to shakeswilson’s library. Saturday morning
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SpanishOctave, Srelio66, CLiberty15 and 2 other people loved Barenaked Ladies – One Week. Saturday morning
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