I lived in St. Louis for a decade and a half—the second-longest I’ve lived in any one place. I lived longer in California where I was born and grew up, making me a California girl. Still, I consider myself a St. Louisan somewhat. I still perk up at the sight of the Arch on a TV show or commercial or the mere mention of the city. I am a Cardinals fan, though now displaced. I will still sing “Gloria” for the Blues and grouse about the Rams. I don’t mind the square cut, cracker-thin crust of St. Louis style pizza; hold the [bleah] Provel cheese, please (there are some things about St. Louis I refuse to adopt).
All this leads me to a joke: A woman is complaining to her friend about her husband: Lately he’s been obsessed with the musical group the Barenaked Ladies. He’s been listening to their music, reading articles about them, trying to find out their tour schedule, etc. Finally the friend asks, “Just how long has this been going on?” The woman answers, “It’s been. . .”
“One Week” was a chart-topper for Barenaked Ladies. It mixes stream-of-consciousness rap lyrics with a sung chorus about a man and woman who had a fight. The rap part is not designed to correlate to the story in the chorus. All in all, it’s rather a weird song when one stops to think about it; still, it’s an awesome song.
It takes a number of listenings to quite hear what they’re really saying, and even then a person may miss many of the pop culture references. The words fly by so quickly. Even now, I can’t keep pace with the line, “Gonna get a set of better clubs/Gonna find the kind with tiny nubs/Just so my irons aren’t always flying off the back-swing.” Someday. . .
Of course, with so many words coming at the listener so fast, there is ample opportunity for misunderhearing. This is where St. Louis comes in.
The fast-food chain Steak N Shake may have originated in Illinois, but it is beloved by St. Louisans. Most in “the Lou” know the iconic “In sight, it must be right,” and that “Takhomasak” means to bring home a bag of burgers. Of course, everyone knows the name is what they sell—steak burgers and delicious milkshakes.
All that said, it is no surprise that I believed the lyrics said, “I like Steak N Shake/ I like vanilla it’s the finest of the flavors.” Of course, who wouldn’t want Steak N Shake and a delicious milkshake? Well, of course that’s not the lyrics. It is “I’d like a stinking aching shake.” I don’t even know what that means.
When we
lived in St. Louis, I won tickets through the radio station WARH [The Arch] to
see Barenaked Ladies in concert. It was
a great concert, despite being in the nosebleed seats (hey, they were free!). They even sang “One Week”. I’d like to think that maybe, just maybe,
they went to Steak N Shake and then changed the words. Yeah, right.
Busch Stadium, home of the Cardinals.
