Released August 29, 2000 Recorded 2000 Label Reprise | Format CD, 7", 12" Genre Alternative rock | |
Length 4:45 (Album Version)
4:37 (Radio Edit w/o Fade)
3:49 (Radio Edit w. Fade) | ||
"Pinch Me" is 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 number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 14, 2000. The song first reached the Top 40 on October 3, 2000.
Contents
Background
The song was co-written by frontmen Steven Page 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.
Critical reception
Chuck Taylor, of Billboard 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 video 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. Those of the customers in the video who are not members of the band 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.