Released 1992 Recorded 1992 Length 4:07 | Format CD; cassette Genre Alternative rock Label Reprise | |
"Enid" is a song by the Canadian alternative rock group Barenaked Ladies. It was released as the lead-off single from their 1992 debut album, Gordon. It was written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson.
Contents
Background and content
The song's title was inspired by Enid Léger, a waitress at Spanky's Pub in Moncton, New Brunswick. The band found it interesting that "Enid" spelled backwards is "dine." Although she was the inspiration, the song is about Steven Page's first girlfriend.
The original studio version has been described as one of the most complex recordings of the band's earlier career by Steven Page in the liner notes for Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits. It includes a horn section, pedal steel guitar, a cuica and a pastiche of Depeche Mode as an intro (the voice in which is that of producer Michael Phillip Wojewoda).
Music video
The music video was made in 1992 and was the band's second official video. It features the band playing in a room with a red-white-and-blue ball theme, similar to the Gordon cover. The band stated in Barelaked Nadies (probably jokingly) that the video was originally supposed to be a parody of the film Delicatessen. One of the video's gimmicks is that the film keeps cutting without the camera being moved, resulting in the band members disappearing and reappearing and moving around in shots. Also in the room are TV screens, showing the band playing in other locations, such as Kensington Market and St. James Park.
The song was nominated for Single of the Year at the 1993 Juno Awards, although it lost to "Beauty and the Beast" by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson.