The Jivewired Journal: Misheard Lyrics: One Week by Barenaked Ladies

Providing a service for those who think they know the lyrics to this 1998 classic from the album "Stunt" by the Barenaked Ladies, but actually have no clue. Misheard lyrics (also called mondegreens) occur when people misunderstand the lyrics to a song.

Barenaked Ladies - One Week by WBRNewMedia

One Week

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 til 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
Okay, I don't make films
But if I did they'd have a Samurai
Gonna get a set a' better clubs
Gonna 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 the 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
Tryin' 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 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

"One Week" is a 1998 single by Barenaked Ladies, the first single off their 1998 album, Stunt. It was written by Ed Robertson, who is featured on the lead vocal of the rapped verses. Steven Page sings lead on the song's chorus, while the two co-lead the pre-choruses in harmony. The song is notable for its significant number of pop culture references.
"One Week" was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 for October 17, 1998. Fittingly, it held the number one spot for exactly one week. It was also number one on Billboard's Modern Tracks Top 100 on August 22, 1998, also for one week, but then again from September 5-22 1998. It was both preceded and succeeded by the song "Inside Out" by Eve 6.
Ed Robertson wrote the ideas for the non-rap 'choruses' with the concept being the structure of a fight where the protagonists knows he is wrong and just trying to save face. Robertson 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 lyrics in the liner notes contain Star Wars references, but these lyrics are not in any recorded version of the song.
The first set of lyrics that aren't sung in the actual song (during the first verse that Ed sings) is "Like Andrew Lloyd I've got a big show/Mine's about a back-hoe/There'll be a big sound from the pavement," and the second set (from the second verse) is "Like Skywalker I gotta big hunch/Hey that's my lunch/Yoda's a really really old guy."
The last words of the song are "Birchmount Stadium, home of the Robbie." It refers to an annual soccer tournament held for charity at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough, Ontario. Steven and Ed have said that these are are the hardest words to say in the song.
The band uses a one-note sample of "Wonderland By Night" by the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra right after they mention "Bert Kaempfert's got the mad hits." The sample is also the last musical note of the song. "Wonderland By Night" is a popular song by Bert Kaempfert that was a Billboard number one hit for three weeks, starting January 9, 1961. It was Kaempfert's first hit with his orchestra.
Band members have stated that the first live run-through of "One Week" did not go well, and that it took some time to get the song to sound good live.
That is NOT Ashton Kutcher at 27 seconds into the video. However, the video does feature Carmit Bachar from the Pussycat Dolls, playing one of the angels.
The music video was directed by McG and begins with them singing in a
royal court, featuring a singing girl on a wind-up pedestal, similar
to a scene from the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
Though it looks exactly like the Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee, the Dodge Charger used in the "One Week" video is merely a copy. It has the the number 07 (instead of 01) on the door and the confederate flag is missing from the car's top.
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. His film "The Hidden Fortress" is said to be the inspiration for the movie "Star Wars."
Weird Al Yankovic did a parody of this song called "Jerry Springer" on his 1999 album "Running With Scissors."
"We're dans la maison" roughly translates from French to English as "We're in the house." It may also be a reference to "Les inconnus dans la maison," a 1942 movie that was released in the North America as "Strangers In The House."
"Chickity China the Chinese Chicken" references a telephone prank created by The Jerky Boys made to Chinese take out restaurants.
The song has been featured numerous times in other media, including "Digimon: The Movie," the first "American Pie" movie, the video game "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and in an ad for the Mitsubishi Lancer, which featured teens trying to sing the song but being unable to keep up with the fast rapping at some points.

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03 January 2012

Misheard Lyrics: One Week by Barenaked Ladies

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