"Enid" is a song by the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

alternative rock group Barenaked Ladies. It was written by

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 a primary songwriter of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Page left the band in Februar ...

and

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's ...

and released as the lead single from their 1992 debut album, ''

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

''. The song was successful in their home country, reaching number two on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles chart to become their highest-charting single until "

It's All Been Done "It's All Been Done" is a song by Canadian alternative rock group Barenaked Ladies. It was released as the second single from their 1998 album, ''Stunt''. The song was successful in Canada, peaking at 1 on the '' RPM'' Top Singles chart and be ...

" reached number one in 1999. "Enid" was Canada's 28th most successful song of 1992.

Background and content

The song's title was inspired by Enid Egers, a waitress at Spanky's Pub in Moncton,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. The band found it interesting that "Enid" spelled backwards is "dine." Although she was the source of the title itself, the main thrust of the song is about Steven Page's first girlfriend. The original studio version has been described as one of the most complex recordings of the band's earlier career by

in the liner notes for '' Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits.'' It includes a horn section, pedal steel guitar, a cuica and a pastiche of

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

as an intro (the voice in which is that of producer

Michael Phillip Wojewoda Michael Phillip Wojewoda is a Canadian record producer and musician. He has been nominated for eight Juno Awards and has received one for Recording Engineer of the Year and one for Producer of the Year. History Wojewoda began recording bands ...

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was made in 1992 and was the band's second official video. It features the band playing in a room with a red-white-and-blue ball theme, similar to the ''Gordon'' cover. The band stated in ''

Barelaked Nadies ''Barelaked Nadies'' is the second DVD release from Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, though it is the first full-length release. It is a compilation of their music videos from 1991–2002, with one exclusion: the video for the ''Rock Spectacle'' v ...

'' (probably jokingly) that the video was originally supposed to be a parody of the film ''

Delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

''. One of the video's gimmicks is that the film keeps cutting without the camera being moved, resulting in the band members disappearing and reappearing and moving around in shots. Also in the room are TV screens, showing the band playing in other locations, such as

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...

and St. James Park. The song was nominated for Single of the Year at the 1993

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

, although it lost to "

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

" by

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

and

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

Personnel

– lead vocals, moronic intro synth *

– acoustic & electric guitars, bionic intro synth, backing vocals *

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 Scarborough, Ontario. His mother taught piano lessons to neighborhood children, which Creeggan c ...

– double bass, backing vocals *

Andy Creeggan Andrew Burnett Creeggan (born July 4, 1971) is a former member of the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies. He was also a member of the trio The Brothers Creeggan, and a solo artist having released three albums. Career Barenaked Ladi ...

– cuíca, piano, backing vocals *

Tyler Stewart Tyler Joseph Stewart (born September 21, 1967) is the drummer for the Canadian music group Barenaked Ladies. Role in Barenaked Ladies Stewart met Steven Page, Ed Robertson, and Jim Creeggan at the Waterloo Busker Carnival in Waterloo, Ontario ...

– drums * Lewis Melville – pedal steel guitar *

Nic Gotham NIC may refer to: Banking and insurance companies * National Insurance Corporation, Uganda * NIC Bank, a commercial bank in Kenya Politics, government and economics * National Ice Center, an agency that provides worldwide navigational ice a ...

– baritone saxophone *

Gene Hardy Gene Hardy is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. He performs on saxophone, violin, musical saw and theremin. Career Hardy's early music training began in Victoria, British Columbia—first on violin at age 9, then on saxophone a yea ...

– tenor saxophone * Chris Howells – trumpet * Tom Walsh – trombone *

– tambourine, teutonic intro vocal

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1992 singles 1992 songs Barenaked Ladies songs Reprise Records singles Songs written by Ed Robertson Songs written by Steven Page