The Persuasions

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The Persuasions are an a cappella group that began singing together in Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1960s. They have performed in a wide range of musical genres.

The five original members were lead singer, arranger, and producer Jerry Lawson, Jesse "Sweet Joe" Russell, Jayotis Washington, Herbert "Toubo" Rhoad, and bassman Jimmy "Bro" Hayes.

The Persuasions can be categorized as an a cappella group that has covered gospel and popular music of each decade in which they performed and recorded. They have covered artists such as Frank Zappa, the Grateful Dead, Roy Hamilton, Jerry Butler, Sam Cooke, and Elvis Presley, and toured, performed, and recorded with Joni Mitchell, Liza Minnelli, the Grateful Dead, and Ray Charles. In addition to their own recordings, they have appeared on albums by artists such as Joni Mitchell, Don McLean, Phoebe Snow, and Paul Pena, and their version of "Papa Oom Mow Mow" appeared on the soundtrack of Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Barenaked Ladies

Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Canadian rock band. The band is currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart. Barenaked Ladies formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario (now incorporated into the City of Toronto) as a duo of Robertson and Steven Page. Jim Creeggan and his brother Andrew "Andy" Creeggan joined at the end of 1989, and Stewart was added in 1990 while Andy was on a brief hiatus from the group. Andy left the band after its second album in 1995 and was replaced by Hearn. Page left in 2009, leaving the group as a quartet.

Upon forming, the band quickly developed a cult following in their native Canada culminating in their self-titled 1990 cassette becoming the first independent release ever to be certified gold in Canada. The band then received a major record deal with Reprise Records. Its label debut, Gordon was released in 1992.

The Old Apartment

"The Old Apartment" is a song by the Canadian alternative rock group Barenaked Ladies. It was the band's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, and appears on the albums Born on a Pirate Ship, Rock Spectacle and Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits. The music video for the song which garnered a Best Director nomination at the 1997 MuchMusic Video Awards, was directed by fellow Canadian and fan Jason Priestley at his own suggestion.

Steven Page has said that the song was partly inspired by "Back to the Old House" by The Smiths. While some have misinterpreted the lyrics to mean that the man in the song is stalking an ex-girlfriend and breaks into her apartment to terrorize her, Page has said that this is definitely not the case. The person in the song and his girlfriend are still together and happy, having "bought an old house on the Danforth" (Danforth Avenue in Toronto). However, he goes back to visit "the old apartment" "where we used to live," and winds up breaking in to reminisce. Although recalling "broken glass," the "crooked landing, crooked landlord," and other disadvantages, he nonetheless feels nostalgia for "fading memories / blending into dull tableaux."