| "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Cake | ||||
| from the album Comfort Eagle | ||||
| Released | August 14, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, funk rock | |||
| Length | 3:24 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | John McCrea | |||
| Producer(s) | Cake | |||
| Cake singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is the first single by American alternative rock band Cake from their 2001 album Comfort Eagle .
The lyrics begin to describe an ideal fantasy woman, beginning with the simple desire for a woman with a short skirt and a long jacket, but then the descriptions go on to become much more elaborate and very specific, as if to tell a story about a particular woman.
John McCrea said the song was "about prosperity and depression" and the strange behavior of the human mating ritual. [1]
During the verses of the song, the band plays a variation of the chord structure from The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane". [2]
The associated music vox pop video is composed entirely of people listening to the song on headphones and their reactions. Responses include enthusiasm, critique, and apathy; some dance, while one Ralph Walbridge, poet, gives the headphones back partway through, stating "uh... I've heard it all a million times, all the way back to all of the old records - which were much better - when they first came out, back in the 1940s." Other comments include Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen's (aka Dr. B.L.T.) "as a psychologist, I'd have to say it has therapeutic value because it releases something deep inside". The video was nominated for Breakthrough Video at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, but the White Stripes ultimately secured the award.
MuchMusic released an official "Canadian" version of the video that uses footage of people in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. The video humorously censors some foreign words spoken by non-English speakers due to the words' strange pronunciations. The video also featured an appearance from Ed the Sock.
There were various versions of this music video. Additional versions were filmed after the record company suggested the first video would not hold up well to repeated viewing. The videos filmed for an estimated cost of less than $20,000. [3] The Mexican version was directed by Alejandro "Chicle" and edited by Alejandro Davalos Cantu.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" | 3:24 |
| 2. | "Arco Arena" (vocal version) | 2:10 |
| 3. | "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (video) | 3:45 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (LP version) | 3:24 |
| 2. | "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (radio mix) | 3:23 |
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) [4] | 44 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) [5] | 87 |
| Scotland (OCC) [6] | 74 |
| UK Singles (OCC) [7] | 63 |
| US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles ( Billboard ) [8] | 19 |
| US Adult Top 40 ( Billboard ) [9] | 31 |
| US Alternative Airplay ( Billboard ) [10] | 7 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [11] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
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On "Short Skirt", listen close and you'll hear a variation of the guitar chords from "Sweet Jane."
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