"What a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy."
And when you were born, they looked at you and said,
"What a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl."
We've got these chains hanging around our necks
People wanna strangle us with them before we take our first breath
Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same
When temptation calls, we just look away
This name is the hairshirt I wear
And this hairshirt is woven from your brown hair
This song is the cross that I bear
Bear with me, bear with me, bear with me
Be with me tonight
I know that it isn't right...
But be with me tonight
I go to school, I write exams
If I pass, if I fail, if I drop out does anyone give a damn?
And if they do, they'll soon forget
'Cause it won't take much from me to show my life ain't over yet
I wake up scared, I wake up strange
I wake up wondering if anything in my life is ever gonna change
I wake up scared, I wake up strange
And everything around me stays the same
It's the hairshirt I wear
And this hairshirt is woven from, it's woven from, your brown hair
This song is the cross that I bear
Bear with me, bear with me, bear with me
Be with me tonight
I know that it isn't right...
But be with me tonight
I couldn't tell you that I was wrong
Chickened out, grabbed a pen and a paper, sat down and I wrote this song
I couldn't tell you that you were right
So instead I looked in the mirror, I watched TV, laid awake all night
We've got these chains hanging around our necks
People wanna strangle us with them before we take our first breath
Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same
When temptation calls...
This name is the hairshirt I wear
And this hairshirt is woven from, it's woven from, it's woven from hair
This song is the cross that I bear
Bear with me, bear with me, bear with me
Be with me tonight
And when I was born, they looked at me and said,
"What a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy."
When you were born, they looked at you and said,
"What a good girl, what a smart girl, what a pretty girl."
Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached mainstream success in Canada when their debut with Reprise Records, Gordon, featuring the singles "If I Had $1000000" and "Brian Wilson", was released in 1992. The band's popularity subsequently spread into the US, beginning with versions of "Brian Wilson" and "The Old Apartment" off their 1996 live album Rock Spectacle, followed by their fourth studio album Stunt, their breakout success in 1998. The album featured their highest-charting hit, "One Week", as well as "It's All Been Done" and "Call and Answer". Their fifth album, Maroon, featuring the lead single "Pinch Me", also charted highly. In the 2010s the band became well-known for creating and performing the theme song for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory.
Initially a duo of Ed Robertson and Steven Page, the band quickly grew to a quintet, adding brothers Jim and Andy Creeggan and Tyler Stewart by 1990. Andy Creeggan left the band in 1995 and was replaced by Kevin Hearn. Page left in 2009, reducing the group to a quartet.
The band's style has evolved throughout their career, and their music, which began as exclusively acoustic, quickly grew to encompass a mixture of pop, rock, hip hop and rap. The band's live performances feature comedic banter and freestyle rapping between songs. They have won multiple Juno Awards and have been nominated for two Grammy Awards. The group has sold over 15 million albums and singles and were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in March 2018.
