"Lucas with the Lid Off" is a song by Danish rapper Lucas Secon that was released as the lead single from his second album, '' Lucacentric'' (1994). It features a sample from the 1935 Benny Goodman song "When Buddha Smiles". The song was a hit in the United States, reaching number 29 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 22 on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was most successful in Australia, where it reached number 15, and it peaked within the top 40 in Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The music video for the song was directed by the French film maker

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

and was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards.

Music video

The black and white music video for the song is known for its technical achievement in that it was shot in one long continuous single take with no edits, cuts or digital enhancement. In an ''RES'' magazine interview, Gondry explained: "Michel called this video 'a big turn for me, because it was so challenging. Nobody really believed - even me - that we could pull that off when we made it after 17 takes, because it was really done all in-camera in one shot. There is no post-production at all. I think this one really gave me a lot of attention.'" ''Lucas with the Lid Off'' was nominated in the Best Music Video (short form) category at the 37th Grammy Awards, (Produced by

whom had two music videos nominated at the 37th Grammy Awards. Sinead O'Connor‘s Fire On Babylon music video was also nominated) The video was also received a MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Male Video at the

1995 MTV Video Music Awards The 1995 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 7, 1995, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1994, to June 15, 1995. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. David Sandlin was commissioned to ...

, and was No. 20 in '' Slant Magazine''’s 100 Greatest Music Videos.

Charts

Cover versions

On the album ''

A Century of Song ''A Century of Song'' is a 6-CD box set by La Musique Populaire. As the title suggests, ''A Century of Song'' is a chronological overview of songs from the 20th century. Recorded from 1999 to 2003, the songs were originally available for downlo ...

'' (Polyholiday Records), the song was covered by the American band

La Musique Populaire La Musique Populaire is an American indie pop band, made of up members Ryan Bassler and Eric Haugen. The band was originally a quartet, Lorenzo Music in 1992, which grew into a 22 member pop orchestra, called the ''Lorenzo Music Philharmonic''. Fa ...

. It was performed in the form of a spoof in an episode of the PBS series '' Bill Nye the Science Guy'' in 1995, but renamed "Whether the Weather" as part of the episode's scientific lesson about climates.

References

External links

Michel Gondry official website: videos: 'Lucas With The Lid Off'
{{Authority control 1994 songs 1994 singles Big Beat Records (American record label) singles Black-and-white music videos Electro swing songs Jazz rap songs Music videos directed by Michel Gondry Songs with lyrics by Arthur Freed Songs with music by Nacio Herb Brown Songs written by Lucas Secon