DJ Allyn – The Soundtrack for my Life

One Week ~ Barenaked Ladies  

Barenaked Ladies began as the duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page. The two went to school together since Robertson was in grade four (Page was a grade ahead) at Churchill Heights Public School, but were not friends until they ran into each other at a Harvey’s restaurant following a Peter Gabriel concert. Each interested to find that the other liked Gabriel, they began talking and found they had many of the same tastes. The two became friends, and bonded further when they were both counsellors at Scarborough Schools Music Camp. They would play songs together, and Steve was impressed by Ed’s ability to harmonize. When Page had an extra ticket to a Bob Dylan concert that no one wanted, he ran into Robertson at a party. The two attended the concert at Exhibition Stadium (most likely on August 29, 1988). Bored by the show, the two turned to amusing each other, pretending they were rock critics, inventing histories and comments about the Dylan band. They also made up various band names; one of which was “Barenaked Ladies”.

On another front, Robertson had agreed to perform with his cover band in a battle of the bands at Nathan Phillips Square for the Second Harvest food bank.The band broke up and he forgot about the gig. When he received a phone call a week before the show, asking him to confirm the gig, he improvised that the name of the band had changed to “Barenaked Ladies”, recalling the name from the Dylan concert. He then called Page and asked if he wanted to do the gig; Page reportedly could not believe Robertson had given that name. They arranged three rehearsals and missed them all. The two played the show on October 1, 1988, but instead of competing, they played while the other bands set up, playing every song they could think of that they both knew. The show went well and they were invited to open a show for another well-known local band, The Razorbacks, at the Horseshoe Tavern the coming weekend. They set up three more rehearsals, and again missed them all; they proceeded to improvise their set once again. This would set a precedent for an element of Barenaked Ladies concerts which still almost always contain some improvised raps or songs, as well as general improvised banter.

One Week

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 improved 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.

It’s been one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said I’m angry.
Five days since you laughed at me
saying get that together come back and see me.
Three days since the living room
I realized it’s all my fault, but couldn’t tell you
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
but it’ll still be two days till I say I’m sorry

Hold it now and watch the hoodwink
As I make you stop, think
You’ll think you’re looking at Aquaman
I summon fish to the dish, although I like the Chalet Swiss
I like the sushi ’cause it’s never touched a frying pan
Hot like wasabe when I bust rhymes
Big like LeAnn Rimes
Because I’m all about value
Bert Kaempfert’s got the mad hits
You try to match wits
You try to hold me but I bust through
Gonna make a break and take a fake
I’d like a stinkin’ achin’shake
I like vanilla, it’s the finest of the flavours
Gotta see the show, ’cause then you’ll know
The vertigo is gonna grow
Cause it’s so dangerous, you’ll have to sign a waiver

How can I help it if I think you’re funny when you’re mad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean?
Well, you soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of taking off my shirt

It’s been one week since you looked at me
Threw your arms in the air and said you’re crazy
Five days since you tackled me
I’ve still got the rug burns on both my knees
It’s been three days since the afternoon
You realized it’s not my fault not a moment too soon
Yesterday you’d forgiven me
And now I sit back and wait till you say you’re sorry

Chickity China the Chinese chicken
You have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin’
Watchin X-Files with no lights on.
We’re dans la maison
I hope the Smoking Man’s in this one.
Like Harrison Ford I’m getting Frantic
Like Sting I’m Tantric
Like Snickers, guaranteed to satisfy

Like Kurasawa I make mad films
‘Kay I don’t make films
But if I did they’d have a samurai
Gonna get a set of better clubs
Gotta find the kind with tiny nubs
just so my irons aren’t always flying
off the back-swing
Gotta get in tune with Sailor Moon
Cause that cartoon has got the boom anime babes
that make me think the wrong thing.

How can I help it if I think you’re funny when you’re mad
Trying hard not to smile though I feel bad
I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral
Can’t understand what I mean? You soon will
I have a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve
I have a history of losing my shirt

It’s been one week since you looked at me
Dropped your arms to your sides and said I’m sorry
Five days since I laughed at you
and said You just did just what I thought you were gonna do
Three days since the living room
We realized we’re both to blame, but what could we do?
Yesterday you just smiled at me
Cause it’ll still be two days till we say we’re sorry
It’ll still be two days till we say we’re sorry
It’ll still be two days till we say we’re sorry
Birchmount Stadium Home Of the Robbie

Lyrical References:

Verse 1

Aquaman – a DC Comics superhero
Chalet Suisse – the French name of Swiss Chalet, a Canadian restaurant chain
Wasabi – a sushi condiment
LeAnn Rimes – a country music singer
Bert Kaempfert – a songwriter, one of the top music producers in Germany
Vanilla - the finest of the flavors
Vertigo – the sensation of spinning or whirling that occurs as a result of a disturbance in balance (equilibrium), also the name of the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock classic film

Verse 2

“Chickity China the Chinese Chicken – Have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin’” – a reference to a prank call by “The Jerky Boys”. It also refers to a strain of bird flu (H5N1) that saw its first human cases, in Hong Kong, at the time the song was being written.
The X-Files – a TV series
dans la maison – the French phrase for “in the house”
Smoking Man – a character from The X-Files
Harrison Ford – an actor best known for his roles in the Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies.
Frantic – 1988 movie starring Harrison Ford
Sting – a solo musician and current member of the ’70s-’80s band The Police
Tantric – a form of yoga, famously joked about by Sting
Snickers – a type candy bar whose slogan was “Snickers really satisfies”
Akira Kurosawa – Japanese movie director, best known for The Seven Samurai
Sailor Moon – an anime cartoon series

Outro

Birchmount Stadium, home of The Robbie – a stadium in Scarborough, Ontario, that serves as the primary stadium for the Robbie International Soccer Tournament, an annual youth soccer tournament that bills itself as “the world’s largest annual charitable youth soccer tournament.”

Bathroom Sessions

Starting about a year ago, Ed Robertson posted about forty music videos on YouTube in a series known as The Bathroom Sessions. It is just Ed playing his guitar and singing in front of a camera in his bathroom. They are fairly rough and low budget, and the best ones are when Steve Paige gets involved.

One Week (Bathroom Session)

Hallelujah ~ Jeff Buckley  

Known for his ethereal singing voice, Buckley was considered to be one of the most promising artists of his generation after the release of his critically acclaimed 1994 debut album Grace. At the height of his popularity, Buckley drowned during an evening swim in 1997. His work and style continue to be highly regarded by critics and fellow musicians.

Hallelujah

“Hallelujah” is a song written by Leonard Cohen. It was first recorded on his 1984 album Various Positions. It has been covered numerous times and featured in the soundtracks of several movies and television shows.

The original recording from 1984 is noted for containing explicit biblical references in the lyrics, alluding to David’s harp-playing used to soothe King Saul (I Sam. 16:23), and his later affair with Bathsheba after watching her bathe from his roof. The line “she broke your throne and she cut your hair” is likely a reference to the source of Samson’s strength from the Book of Judges. The third verse mentions “the name” (Tetragrammaton). In these instances, the lyrics are overtly sexual. Jeff Buckley called his own rendition of the song a homage to “the hallelujah of the orgasm”.

I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this :
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah…

Well your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrough ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Baby I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
But love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

There was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

Well, maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
It’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah…

Tears in Heaven ~ Eric Clapton  

Eric  Clapton, nicknamed Slowhand, is a Grammy Award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. He is one of the most successful musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (The Yardbirds, Cream, and solo). Often viewed by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and #53 on their list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Although Clapton’s musical style has varied throughout his career, it has always remained rooted in the blues. Clapton is credited as an innovator in several phases of his career, which have included blues-rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds) and psychedelic rock (with Cream). Clapton has also achieved great chart success in genres ranging from Delta blues (Me and Mr. Johnson) to pop (“Change the World”) and reggae (Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”). Clapton also achieved fame with Derek and the Dominos through the hit song “Layla”.

Tears in Heaven

“Tears in Heaven” is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the former’s pain he felt following the 1991 death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a 53rd-story window in his mother’s New York City condominium. By all accounts, the death was simply a tragic accident, and Clapton was distraught for months afterwards.

Clapton stopped playing it in 2004, as well as the song “My Father’s Eyes.”

“I didn’t feel the loss anymore, which is so much a part of performing those songs. I really have to connect with the feelings that were there when I wrote them. They’re kind of gone and I really don’t want them to come back, particularly. My life is different now. They probably just need a rest and maybe I’ll introduce them for a much more detached point of view.”

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
‘Cause I know I don’t belong
Here in heaven.

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?

I’ll find my way
Through night and day,
‘Cause I know I just can’t stay
Here in heaven.

Time can bring you down,
Time can bend your knees.
Time can break your heart,
Have you begging please, begging please.

Beyond the door,
There’s peace I’m sure,
And I know there’ll be no more
Tears in heaven.

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would it be the same
If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong
And carry on,
‘Cause I know I don’t belong
Here in heaven.

Baker Street ~ Gerry Rafferty  

Gerry Rafferty is a Scottish singer and songwriter. He is the son of a Scottish mother and an Irish father.

In his early years, Gerry Rafferty earned money by the formerly illegal practice of busking on the London Underground. Poetically, his biggest hit “Baker Street” was about busking at a tube station. After working with Billy Connolly (now better known as a comedian) in a band called the Humblebums, he recorded a first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back. In 1972 Rafferty and his old school friend Joe Egan formed Stealers Wheel, a group beset by legal wranglings but which did have a huge hit “Stuck in the Middle With You” (made famous for a new generation in the movie Reservoir Dogs) and the smaller top 40 hit “Star” ten months later. The duo disbanded in 1975.

In 1978, Rafferty cut a solo album, City to City, which included the song with which he remains most identified, “Baker Street”. The single reached No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 in the U.S. The album sold over 5.5 million copies, toppling the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in the U.S. on 8 July 1978, while “Baker Street” remains a mainstay of radio airplay. It was his first release following the legal battles surrounding the separation of the band Stealers Wheel. Rafferty was supposedly banned from the recording studio after the 1975 break up for a period of three years while the lawyers ironed out the disputes with the band’s recording contract remaining obligations.

Windin’ your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well another crazy day
You’ll drink the night away
And forget about everything
This city desert makes you feel so cold.
It’s got so many people but it’s got no soul
And it’s taking you so long
To find out you were wrong
When you thought it had everything

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you’re tryin’
You’re tryin’ now
Another year and then you’ll be happy
Just one more year and then you’ll be happy
But you’re cryin’
You’re cryin’ now

Way down the street there’s a lad in his place
He opens the door he’s got that look on his face
And he asks you where you’ve been
You tell him who you’ve seen
And you talk about anything

He’s got this dream about buyin’ some land
He’s gonna give up the booze and the one night stands
And then he’ll settle down there’s a quiet little town
And forget about everything

But you know he’ll always keep movin’
You know he’s never gonna stop movin
Cus he’s rollin’
He’s the rollin’ stone

And when you wake up it’s a new mornin’
The sun is shinin’ it’s a new morning
You’re goin’
You’re goin’ home.

If I should doubt myself, if I’m losing ground
I won’t turn to someone else
They’d only let me down
When I wanted you to share my life
I had no doubt in my mind
And it’s been you woman
Right down the line