It's All Been Done by Barenaked Ladies

Album: Stunt (1998)

Charted: 28 44

License This Song

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This song appears to follow the stages of a relationship.

We start from when the couple initially meet:
"I met you, before the fall of Rome and I bet you to let me take you home."

The next verse is a date that didn't go so well:
"I knew you before the west was won. I heard you say, 'the past was much more fun.'"

Though he knows that they we get together again:
"You go your way, I'll go mine but I'll see you next time."

The couple then go on to make love, though she is bored:
"If I put my fingers here and If I say I love you dear and if I play the same three chords will you just yawn And say, 'Ah, I hate it.'"

They then split up, and he wonders if he'll ever see her again:
"Alone and bored on a thirtieth century night will I see you on The Price is Right?"

He also considers what he will do when she finds somebody else:
"Will I cry, will I smile as you run, down the aisle?"
>>>
Suggestion credit:
Rich - London, England
Steven Page wrote this song and sang lead.
This was used as the theme song for the short-lived animated TV series Baby Blues. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Rob - Opelousas, LA

Comments: 9

AnonymousTo me, it sounds like a fanciful tale about two immortals, living over the course of centuries, insofar as they meet in ancient Rome, live through the Wild West, are aware of present day TV shows, and he's looking forward to seeing her again in the 30th century. That's a span of at least 3,000 years.

( And I do love the joke about seeing her running down the aisle on the Price Is Right in the 30th century, a sly comment on how that game show has been on TV forever...)
Keith from St. Joseph, MoI agree Kelli. Through the centuries, they keep running into each other.
Colin from New JerseyReally feel this song pays homage to classic 60's tunes musically. It really has an early "Beatles" vibe to it that I've always thought was neat.
Adrian from Crossville, TnThe line "If i play the same three chords is a direct comment on their GORDON album which so many of the songs were simple three chord progressions. A
E D and G D C
Pete from Royal Oak, MiI know -- knew -- a woman like this, off and on and off again, for more than twenty-five years. I daresay we remain too familiar and yet not particularly friendly to this day. The times we were back together had the same sort of wistful sense of starting something new and yet old, antediluvian really, that "It's All Been Done" captures here. Also the same sort of amused condescension on her part, the feigned forgetting, to match my breathless hopefulness and, to be frank, cloying.

I hear the chorus a little different, though:
"If I put my fingers here, and if I say 'I love you, dear,'
And if I pray the scene records
Will you just yawn and say, 'Ha! As if!'"

Alone, and bored, on a Thirtieth Century night, will I see her on "The Price Is Right"? Will I cry, will I smile, when she runs down the aisle? It will, it has, all been done before.
Jean from Cupar, ScotlandThey wrote this song as they felt their previously released song had been too wordy, and they wanted to write a song with a simple chorus ("woo hoo hoo").
Jon from Juneau, AkJust my personal take on what someone else has already commented on: my understanding is that the lines "Will I cry, will I smile as you run, down the aisle?" are also referring to the Price is Right (from the previous line), since contestants run down the aisle when they are selected to play a game.
Kevin from Quebec, Canadathey had andy creegans wife speak french in the middle in this song but i cant decipher what shes saying
Kelli from Cedar Rapids, IaThis song makes me think of lovers being reincarnated through time, and meeting again, over and over, always ending up together.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

She BangsRicky Martin

The Ricky Martin song "She Bangs" found new life when William Hung performed it so horribly on a 2004 episode of American Idol that it went viral.

Beautiful LoserBob Seger

Bob Seger's song "Beautiful Loser" was inspired by book Leonard Cohen published in 1966 called Beautiful Losers.

Rock of AgesDef Leppard

The "Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen" intro in Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages" is something their producer Mutt Lange came up with when he got tired of counting them "1, 2, 3, 4..."

RocketDef Leppard

The line "satellite of love" in the Def Leppard song "Rocket" came from the title of a 1972 Lou Reed song.

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)Sly & the Family Stone

Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" was a huge hit in 1970 and found new life when Janet Jackson sampled the bass riff on her 1989 hit "Rhythm Nation."

ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson conceived "Dancing Queen" as a dance song with the working title "Boogaloo," drawing inspiration from the 1974 George McCrae disco hit "Rock Your Baby." Their manager Stig Anderson came up with the title "Dancing Queen."