#365songs (61 / 365)

Might as well do all my high school Guys Whomst Sing Fast entries in one go and get through this period of my life. I mean. It's fine, everyone should have an opportunity to let their cringe flag fly in high school and I'm no exception, but I'm not proud of this one.

I'd actually go to bat for Barenaked Ladies, and I probably will sometime this year. But I cannot go to bat for "One Week" in 2026, at least not without serious reservations. I really think this song may have been the first thing to make me think that I should give actual rap music a try, which feels like an embarrassing admission because I now think much of the "rapping" part of "One Week" is pretty awful. "I'd like a stinkin' achin' shake" is execrable. "Boom anime babes that make me think the wrong thing" is indefensible. Ed Robertson raps about his golf clubs. No, not even his golf clubs. The golf clubs he wants but doesn't have. It's not great!

But it's not all embarrassing. I still think the chorus, and the awkward relationship arc it describes, are pretty good, which makes sense because Steven Page was always the best part of Barenaked Ladies (certainly the best singer and songwriter). "Like Kurosawa I make mad films / 'Kay I don't make films / But if I did they'd have a samurai" is kind of funny. I like that the song is kind of a meme now. It's appropriate for what's practically a novelty song that somehow became a ubiquitous hit for a while in the 90s. And like... I didn't have to look up any of these lyrics. Granted, I dedicated considerable effort to memorizing them, but that was over 25 years ago. Boy, was it ever.