The band has said that this song is about a big fight in a relationship. The lyrics are essentially meaningless, but wildly entertaining, showing off their clever wordplay in a rapid-fire interplay between their lead singers, Ed Robertson and Steven Page. Robertson wrote the song.
Fittingly, this spent one week at #1 in the US. "I maybe should have called it 'Fifty-Eight Weeks,'" BNL frontman Ed Robertson joked in a Songfacts interview. "But the title was more prophetic than I ever could have hoped."
This was the first big hit for Barenaked Ladies. They formed in 1988 and developed a large cult following, especially in their native Canada and among college students. They made inroads in America when their 1996 single "The Old Apartment" cracked the Hot 100, landing at #88 in May 1997. A live version of "Brian Wilson" was issued later that year, and in 1998, when "One Week" was released as the first single from Stunt, they pushed it hard, promoting the song by playing a series of radio station concerts. Most acts wouldn't do well playing to a handful of contest winners in Poughkeepsie, answering some dumb questions from a disc jockey, then doing it again the next day in Scranton, but Barenaked Ladies stayed remarkably gracious throughout the process. Humor and improvisation were always a big part of their repertoire, and that came in handy during the promotional cycle. Radio stations rewarded them by spinning the single and talking up the band.
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