"Pinch Me" is a song by Canadian rock band

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

. It was released as the first single from their fifth studio album, ''

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'' (2000), on August 7, 2000. The song became the band's last top-10 hit in Canada, peaking at number four on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' 100 Hit Tracks chart. In the United States, the single reached number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in November 2000, becoming the band's final top-40 hit there. It also peaked at number two on ''Billboard''s Triple-A and

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

charts.

Background

The fundamental guitar riff of the song (through the verses) was based on the song "

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" by

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

. The recording (and most live performances) is based on a drum loop (along with which drummer

Tyler Stewart Tyler Joseph Stewart (born September 21, 1967) is the drummer for the Canadian music group Barenaked Ladies. Early life Stewart was born in Toronto, but was raised in Newmarket, Ontario. He is the son of Sandra Stewart and stepson of Robert Stew ...

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 Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

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

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of the song. According to Ed Robertson, during the Austin, TX concert on July 21, 2012, "Pinch Me" has one of his favorite "fake lyrics". He explained, "Often when we're writing a song, we just put in fake lyrics for a while, just to fill the space, 'cause we know what we want the melody to be, but we haven't finished the lyrics." The original chorus of the song was this: "Doesn't anyone, make a Chelsea bun, like they used to back, in the day? Sticky-sweet, it's a special treat. If Chelsea Buns were men, I'd be gay."

Critical reception

Chuck Taylor, of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 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."

Track listings

US CD single # "Pinch Me" (radio edit) # "Powder Blue" US 7-inch single # "Pinch Me" (radio edit) – 3:48 # " Falling for the First Time" (album version) – 3:40 European and Australian CD single # "Pinch Me" # "Pinch Me" (radio edit) # "Inline Bowline" # "Born Human"

Personnel

Ed Robertson Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson (born October 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band Barenaked Ladies. He, along with former member Steven Page, founded the group in 1988. As of Page' ...

– lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars *

Jim Creeggan James Raymond Creeggan (born February 12, 1970) is the bassist for Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies. Early life Creeggan was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. His mother taught piano lessons to neighbourhood chi ...

– electric bass,

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violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

Kevin Hearn Kevin Neil Hearn (born July 3, 1969) is a Canadian musician who is a member of Barenaked Ladies, and his own group, Kevin Hearn and Thin Buckle. He primarily plays keyboard (instrument), keyboards and guitars. He is also a member of Rheostatics ...

–

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

, organ *

– drums *

Steven Page Steven Jay Page (born June 22, 1970) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was a founding member, lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Page left the band in February ...

– backing vocals * Rob Menegoni – shaker

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2000 singles 2000 songs Barenaked Ladies songs Music videos directed by Phil Harder Patter songs Reprise Records singles Song recordings produced by Don Was Songs written by Ed Robertson Songs written by Steven Page