For You (Barenaked Ladies song)

Infobox Single
Name = For You


Artist = Barenaked Ladies
from Album = Everything to Everyone
Released = 1993, 1996
Format =
Recorded = 2003
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 3:27
Label = Reprise Records
Writer = Steven Page Ed Robertson
Producer = Ron Aniello
Chart position =
Last single = "Testing 1,2,3" (2003)
This single = "For You" (2003)
Next single = "Celebrity" (2004)

"For You" is a single from Barenaked Ladies' 2003 album "Everything to Everyone". It was cowritten by Steven Page and Ed Robertson. Robertson sings lead; on the album all of the backup vocals seem to be Page, while in most live performances, all four of the other band members sing parts of the backups. The song features Kevin Hearn playing the mandolin, including a solo riff which recurs throughout the song. Hearn credits this as the song he learned to play mandolin for. Ron Aniello, the producer of the album, played five-string banjo on the recording.

The song is nearly always played in the band's one-mic setup, featuring the entire band standing around one condenser microphone. Robertson plays acoustic guitar, Hearn plays mandolin, and Jim Creeggan plays double bass. The song is among very few in which drummer Tyler Stewart does not play any percussion.

The song was almost not recorded for the album, as it was seen to be the kind of song the band would just mess around with backstage, and not be album material. However, while the band was set up to record "Have You Seen My Love?", they decided to also record "For You".

During a 2004 tour rehearsal at the Molson Amphitheatre, the day after a performance on The Today Show which included "For You", Robertson has said that he received a phone call from Ricky Skaggs complimenting the band on their "real fine job" with the performance, singling out his enjoyment of the mandolin playing. Robertson said that it was "thoroughly exciting" and that it "made his day". [Concert banter: Cuyahoga Falls, OH July 13, 2004]

References