Pinch Me
Encyclopedia
"Pinch Me" is the title of a song by the Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies
. It was released in August 2000 as the first single from their 2000
album, Maroon, which was a follow-up to their hit album, Stunt
. As such, "Pinch Me" is often regarded as an attempted follow-up to the hit single "One Week". This song became the band's second Top 20 hit, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100
on November 14, 2000. (The song first reached the Top 40 on October 3, 2000.) This perception is strengthened by the chorus's rap structure, which is reminiscent of "One Week". The song was popular (though it did not achieve the level of "One Week"), and remains a live favourite.
and Ed Robertson
, but the concept and base for the song came from Robertson. He wrote the song following the "roller-coaster" success of Stunt, and returning to Canada
to find people less interested or aware of the success. "I was trying to get to the root of what I was feeling... 'this is all great, but not right here it's not - not where I live, and not in my heart'... It's this notion that you know things are good - they're just not quite good for you."
The fundamental guitar riff of the song (through the verses) was based on the song "Leaving Las Vegas" by Sheryl Crow
. The recording (and most live performances) is based on a drum loop (along which drummer Tyler Stewart
plays). The loop was created by taking the best two bars of Stewart himself playing drums, and then looping them. The song was originally written with the chorus rap
as the less prominent "underpinning" half of the vocal, with the melody being more prominent, but as the writing process went along, the rap became the foreground. Noting that the melody line was now the background, they took the lyric and also used it for the bridge
of the song.
The song has a guitar solo outro which exists on the album version (the radio edit
fades out before the outro). On the album, the solo was played by Robertson from the end of the solo to the beginning, and then the audio was reversed. When played live, the solo is played by Kevin Hearn
. When played acoustically, the solo is often whistled.
, the line was often changed to "change into Alanis's clothes".
The band widely promoted the single and their new album, appearing and performing the song on The Tonight Show
and Late Night with Conan O'Brien
, though they did not appear on The Late Show with David Letterman for any song from Maroon, as they had in the past ("Brian Wilson '97", "One Week"). They also performed the song on the third season premiere of the television show Charmed
, as well as on MadTV
, the MuchMusic Video Awards, and Farmclub. The song has achieved success beyond the album promotion period as well. It was featured as incidental music on the second season finale episode "My Dream Job" of the sitcom Scrubs
.
A classic schoolyard joke in the third verse, "I could hide out under there/I just made you say 'underwear'," spawned a fan trend of throwing underwear onstage at that point in the song. This has caused Robertson to sing the line as "I just made you throw underwear" when this happens. The band members tend to each take an article of thrown underwear and hang it from the headstock of their guitars for the guitar solo outro. When performing in the UK, to fit in with the British nomenclature, the line is sung as "I just made you throw pants," accompanied with a knowing wink or nod. While in the UK, Robertson also adds a line when leading into the last chorus: "All my stuff's here anyway, in the UK. Like a dream try to remember but it's gone...".
magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that "the production is tight, and the melody alternates between minimalist verses and Ed Robertson's trademark hyperkinetic delivery." He goes on to say that the "quirky lyric doesn't go for the wit as past hits have, but it still captures the band's friendly side, which had earned it a strong cult following long before it tore up the charts."
for "Pinch Me", directed by Phil Harder
, features Robertson as a fast food
worker while the other band members and several extras are customers. Page also acts as the restaurant's mascot
in some shots. The treatment was written by Page. The logo for the restaurant is a thumbs-up logo, which is played in the video by showing the logo upside down in several shots as a thumbs-down. The video echoes the message of depression
inherent in the song as Robertson's character seems depressed in his work. Actor Eric McCormack
has a cameo in the video as a customer. He happened to be on the lot in which the video was being shot, and since he was a fan, they let him be in the video. The customers in the video are dressed like Steve Burns
from Blue's Clues
. During the first chorus, it reveals that Kevin Hearn, the band's keyboardist is playing a Wurlitzer electric piano.
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian alternative rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, then a suburban municipality outside the City of Toronto...
. It was released in August 2000 as the first single from their 2000
2000 in music
See also:* 2000 in music Record labels established in 2000-Events:*January – Gary Glitter is released from jail, two months before his sentence for sexual offences ends.*January 1**John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List....
album, Maroon, which was a follow-up to their hit album, Stunt
Stunt (album)
Stunt is the fourth full-length studio album by Barenaked Ladies. By far their most successful album, it entered the US charts at #3 and sold over 4 million units by the end of its chart run. Its first single, "One Week" would become the band's breakthrough single in the U.S. market by hitting #1...
. As such, "Pinch Me" is often regarded as an attempted follow-up to the hit single "One Week". This song became the band's second Top 20 hit, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
on November 14, 2000. (The song first reached the Top 40 on October 3, 2000.) This perception is strengthened by the chorus's rap structure, which is reminiscent of "One Week". The song was popular (though it did not achieve the level of "One Week"), and remains a live favourite.
Background
The song was co-written by frontmen Steven PageSteven Page
Steven Jay Page , is a Canadian musician. Along with Ed Robertson, he was a founding member, lead singer, guitarist, and a primary songwriter of the music group Barenaked Ladies ; he left the band in 2009 to pursue a solo career....
and Ed Robertson
Ed Robertson
Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson , better known as Ed Robertson, is the Canadian lead singer, as well as a guitarist and songwriter in the band, Barenaked Ladies...
, but the concept and base for the song came from Robertson. He wrote the song following the "roller-coaster" success of Stunt, and returning to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to find people less interested or aware of the success. "I was trying to get to the root of what I was feeling... 'this is all great, but not right here it's not - not where I live, and not in my heart'... It's this notion that you know things are good - they're just not quite good for you."
The fundamental guitar riff of the song (through the verses) was based on the song "Leaving Las Vegas" by Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
. The recording (and most live performances) is based on a drum loop (along which drummer Tyler Stewart
Tyler Stewart
Tyler Joseph Stewart is the drummer for the Canadian music group Barenaked Ladies. He was the last of the original five Barenaked Ladies to join the band.-Role in Barenaked Ladies:...
plays). The loop was created by taking the best two bars of Stewart himself playing drums, and then looping them. The song was originally written with the chorus rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
as the less prominent "underpinning" half of the vocal, with the melody being more prominent, but as the writing process went along, the rap became the foreground. Noting that the melody line was now the background, they took the lyric and also used it for the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
of the song.
The song has a guitar solo outro which exists on the album version (the radio edit
Radio edit
In music, a radio edit is a modification to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form...
fades out before the outro). On the album, the solo was played by Robertson from the end of the solo to the beginning, and then the audio was reversed. When played live, the solo is played by Kevin Hearn
Kevin Hearn
Kevin Neil Hearn is a Canadian musician who is currently the keyboardist of Barenaked Ladies and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He is also a former member of Rheostatics.-Early life:...
. When played acoustically, the solo is often whistled.
Live performances
The song is one of several in which the band consistently alters the lyrics humorously at live performances. Often changed lyrics include: "And run through with my gym shorts on" (substituting out "my gym shorts", for example, "with no clothing on"); "And change into some drier clothes" (substituting out "some drier clothes", such as "change into my sister's clothes"). Sometimes lines like this are changed to reference something topical about the performance. On a tour with Alanis MorissetteAlanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
, the line was often changed to "change into Alanis's clothes".
The band widely promoted the single and their new album, appearing and performing the song on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
and Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
, though they did not appear on The Late Show with David Letterman for any song from Maroon, as they had in the past ("Brian Wilson '97", "One Week"). They also performed the song on the third season premiere of the television show Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
, as well as on MadTV
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
, the MuchMusic Video Awards, and Farmclub. The song has achieved success beyond the album promotion period as well. It was featured as incidental music on the second season finale episode "My Dream Job" of the sitcom Scrubs
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
.
A classic schoolyard joke in the third verse, "I could hide out under there/I just made you say 'underwear'," spawned a fan trend of throwing underwear onstage at that point in the song. This has caused Robertson to sing the line as "I just made you throw underwear" when this happens. The band members tend to each take an article of thrown underwear and hang it from the headstock of their guitars for the guitar solo outro. When performing in the UK, to fit in with the British nomenclature, the line is sung as "I just made you throw pants," accompanied with a knowing wink or nod. While in the UK, Robertson also adds a line when leading into the last chorus: "All my stuff's here anyway, in the UK. Like a dream try to remember but it's gone...".
Critical reception
Chuck Taylor, of BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that "the production is tight, and the melody alternates between minimalist verses and Ed Robertson's trademark hyperkinetic delivery." He goes on to say that the "quirky lyric doesn't go for the wit as past hits have, but it still captures the band's friendly side, which had earned it a strong cult following long before it tore up the charts."
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Pinch Me", directed by Phil Harder
Phil Harder
Philip Harder is a music video director and commercial director represented by Bob Industries in Santa Monica, California. He had a music video company Harder/Fuller Films, 1985 - 2005...
, features Robertson as a fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
worker while the other band members and several extras are customers. Page also acts as the restaurant's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
in some shots. The treatment was written by Page. The logo for the restaurant is a thumbs-up logo, which is played in the video by showing the logo upside down in several shots as a thumbs-down. The video echoes the message of depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
inherent in the song as Robertson's character seems depressed in his work. Actor Eric McCormack
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School...
has a cameo in the video as a customer. He happened to be on the lot in which the video was being shot, and since he was a fan, they let him be in the video. The customers in the video are dressed like Steve Burns
Steve Burns
Steven Michael "Steve" Burns is an American entertainer. He is best known as the original host of the long-running children's television program Blue's Clues.-Early career:...
from Blue's Clues
Blue's Clues
Blue's Clues is an American children's television show airing on the Nickelodeon family of channels. The show premiered on September 8, 1996 and airs on Nick Jr. and other channels, although production of new episodes ceased by 2006. Versions of the show have been produced in other countries,...
. During the first chorus, it reveals that Kevin Hearn, the band's keyboardist is playing a Wurlitzer electric piano.
Charts
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
4 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
28 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks Top 40 Tracks Top 40 Tracks is a defunct airplay chart from Billboard Magazine. It was created in 1998, when Billboard Magazine changed the airplay profile of The Hot 100 Airplay to include more R&B, Country, and Rock stations to its profile . To preserve the notion of the former chart, Top 40 Tracks was... |
11 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
30 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 | 2 |