Barenaked Ladies singer, guitarist, and frontman Ed Robertson chatted on the Q with Tom Power podcast for the anniversary of the band’s hit single, "One Week."
LISTEN NOW: Q with Tom Power | Ed Robertson: The story behind Barenaked Ladies' hit song 'One Week'
The Barenaked Ladies are celebrating a lot as of late- it’s been 35 years since the band’s debut album release and the same time since their first concert. But the most recent anniversary is a big one, as they are celebrating 25 years since their hit single “One Week” was released. Featured in teen cult classic movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and American Pie, the speak-singing 90s anthem launched to the number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, for, you guessed it, one week.
Looking back on the single, frontman Ed Robertson joined the Q with Tom Power podcast and revealed that he wrote the song in less than five minutes, with just one take.
“I wanted the verses to be this kind of rap thing,” he recalled. “I kept trying to write stuff and it was really crappy. Steve Page said to me, 'why don't you just freestyle it?’ I had a little I-8 camcorder and I put it on a tripod and I stared at it and freestyled for about four or five minutes. And then I just edited my favorite lines out of this freestyle. So the song was written, really, in about four minutes.”
The song came together in an instant yet the rapid-fire lyrics still have significant meanings. Robertson explained the line, “Chickety-China, the Chinese Chicken” was a reference to A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes, and the following line “You have a drumstick and your brain stops ticking” was a commentary on an avian flu raging in China at the time. The lyrics “I’m the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral / Can't understand what I mean / Well, you soon will” came from a true story as well.
“That is a very specific reference to the funeral of my older brother, actually. It was an awful day and I didn't know how I was going to get through it” he recalled. It wasn’t until someone referenced "the Lynyrd Skynyrd" that Robertson said his “whole mood” changed. “I was laughing all of a sudden because Skynyrd got quoted at my brother's funeral. So, I'm the kind of guy who laughs at a funeral.”
And while “One Week” is now turning 25, Robertson says that the song never gets old for him and the Ladies. “I've just always been so proud of it and the joy that I see in the audience when we play it is everything. I'm not bored of it. It's amazing.” Happy 1,304 weeks to “One Week”!
To hear more about the single that truly put Barenaked Ladies on the map, check out the full Q with Tom Power podcast episode above and on the free Audacy app.