Jane

This article is a work in progress.

"Jane" is a song written by Steven Page and Stephen Duffy and originally performed by Barenaked Ladies. It first appeared on their second full-length album Maybe You Should Drive in 1994.

Music video


The song's music video was directed by Peter Henderson and was released in 1994. The video features the band wearing entirely blue clothing in a blue room interspersed with footage of actors portraying Jane and the song's narrator. According to Steve, the video intends to portray Jane as an aquatic being (a brief shot shows that she has webbed feet) and the band is meant to look as though they are playing underwater.

According to Peter Henderson: "'When I heard the original song, it was clear to me that the song was about a guy who was in love with a girl who was never going to give him an easy time, and ultimately in the end they were never meant to be. It sort of eluded to a limbo that this guy was in, so that's where the idea for the video, which is very water-oriented. When you're in water, you move with the water. So a lot of idea behind the video is suspend limbo, you're never really on solid ground, you're never sure where you stand.'"

Trivia

 * According to Steve, the song stemmed from co-writer Duffy having a crush on a girl who worked at a health food store near Steve's house; he came up with the name "Jane St. Clair" after seeing the intersection of Jane Street and St. Clair Avenue on a map of Toronto and remarking that it sounded like the most beautiful intersection in the world (which it isn't).
 * The line "no Juliana next to my Evan" refers to Juliana Hatfield and Evan Dando, two American alternative rock musicians known for playing together in the bands The Lemonheads and Blake Babies.