Understanding Cake's Lyrics 

What rock band/artist should be next?

I really love Cake. One of my favorite bands ever. I once walked by a free Cake Concert in DC. They weren’t playing yet but I saw the big crowd in the park and thought huh, “wonder what’s going on there?”I got home later that night to PA, and realized it was a free Cake concert and I just strolled on by. I deeply regret that mistake to this day.

I think short skirt/long jacket is definitely meant to be ironic.

Cake is one of the most underrated and consistently awesome bands of all time. They're one of the rare bands who've never released a bad album. I'm almost always content to play their full discography from beginning to end, and the band clearly take their time in creating quality albums. That being said, holy shit, they haven't released an album since 2011. To quote from a song off that particular album: it's been a long time.

this is less understanding cakes lyrics and more editorializing your own ideas at many points

Great band. They've been sorely missed since 2011. A new album would be awesome.

Motorcade of Generosity is a nearly-perfect album, and remains among my personal favorites.

It’s so nice to see someone acknowledge and notice CAKE for once

Understanding Type O negative would be cool

The most impressive part of the band as a whole is their ability to "layer" all of the sounds in their music. Each instrument has its OWN part. But each part is interesting on its own, there are no "supporting" instruments. "Friend is a Four Letter Word" is a great example.

My first CDs were Cake “Fashion Nugget”, 311 “311”, & Bush “Sixteenstone”; Always interpreted “Short skirt/long jacket” as a lady in the streets & freak in the sheets; Speaking of Bush, Gavin Rosdale had some interesting songwritings...

When the house was standing You'd never have believed it When the house was standing You'd never have believed The bricks and mortar Have all given way At first they resisted but then they began to sway How can you say forever is at your command How can you say the future's in the palm In the palm of your hand 🙌🥰❤️

How about Morphine ? They're so underrated...

Beastie boys next!

To be honest I never cared what the singer was on about; to me the best thing about this band is the bass player.

The Clash!!!!!!!!!!!

short skirt long jacket is clearly about wanting a successful/overachiever type woman with a wild side

Mr. Bungle or Jane's Addiction

Fashion nugget is a big influence on me

8:10 now i may be a dumb college student and not a licensed professional, but maybe the reason that young people are more depressed nowadays is because A) there's more of an understanding in pop culture of what it is, B) they feel disconnected to people around them because it's harder to interact to people in person because we spend most of our time online, C) we're all working way too hard to reach an arbitrary goal (monetary success) that's harder to reach thanks to the assholes of the previous generation who fucked the planet and raised prices while stagnating wages, or D) all of the above idk might be wrong tho

Why is William Osman in this video's thumbnail picture?

I see Short Skirt/Long Jacket as commentary against what is expected of women or at least what is expected of them if they want to find someone- the problem being that every time he mentions a trait he'd like a girl to have, the next trait is the complete opposite.

I mean if you take the distance at face value sure... but its really about struggling with both an amphetamine addiction and a crippling histrionic personality disorder, and McCrea has confirmed this, boyo

Dammit. This made me reflect more on my own life than I would like to admit. My own overworking mentality, the way it crashed down as I fell into depression. And trying to climb back out. As a teenager I listened to alot of cake. It slowly moved down in the playlist as things got heavier and heavier.(alot of dark metal) these songs all meant more the older I got.

Stick shifts and safety belts is the only song I know from this band. It has been my favorite song since the first time I heard it.

Good job. You're great at finding bands that I personally love. And when you speak about them it feels like it's coming from someone who's actually a fan, but also so smart and inquisitive.

Ironically, Cake is exactly the kind of thing that inspired grunge artists to create. To be fair, grunge artists eventually fought to be called alternative instead to stop being pidgeonholed or restricted to the grunge sound and branch out to new sounds. I wouldn't be surprised if Cake was one of the influences of that change.

So strange, I knew The Distance from when it came out, and picked up Fashion Nugget about a month ago. And now here's your video that gives this gem some meaning beyond the comedic dead-pan lyrics. Strange coincidence. Thanks for the awesome vid, Lie!

I literally just started listening to this band like a week ago lol, this is perfect timing.

I have loved Cake for years, and this makes me appreciate them even more 🎂

Understanding Jane’s Addiction

I always thought that the distance was about bad sex, like trying to get off without any consideration for his partner? “Trying to think of someone for whom he still burns/he’s going the distance/he’s going for speed/she’s all alone her her time of need”

oh. my. god. I have never seen a video about Cake! Finally!

Understanding Death from Above, Bloc Party, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Jesse Hughes, Led Zeppelin.

Short Skirt Long Jacket is definitely a sarcastically observant commentary on how specific men are when it comes to choosing a woman to date.

One of the most unique vocalists ever

Your channel is so addicting, please keep it up

How could you not talk about Comfort Eagle!? Jk lol still a good video. More people need to listen to Cake they really are an amazing band!

So glad you did Cake! Such an underrated band

Ah the band from town. One of my co-workers back in the 90's was dating one of the members, and they would come by the restaurant near closing time to eat Tappa's, and drink wine. Good time's, saw them a few times at the local show venues back in the day in Sacramento. Thanks for the video good sir!

YES! I didn't know I needed this.

Its crazy theres so many diffrent views I've always thought of short skirt/long jacket to be about expectations men have for woman.

It's ok if despair drives ambition. Often I see these songs as cautionary tales. There's a lot baked in that cake

As a wiser 52 yr old Conspiracy Theorist, I find I appreciate CAKE's lyrics all the more now. And Comfort Eagle is a great MP3 song just prior to SENDING in the ski/snowboard terrain park!

Great idea fora channel. You should do some 'they might giants' songs. I love listening to their albums with a friend of mine and delving into what we think theyre trying to say with any particular song.

I like how you tied it up with a nice bow at the end. deeeep. Good video

Oh hell yea love cake thanks for this. Instant sub.

Pertaining to your analysis of short skirt long jacket: I can tell you first hand that a girl just like that exists. It's basically my wife's theme song. Voice like tinted glass, eyes that burn like cigarettes, eccentric style, changing her name and her car almost as often as her mood (that one is a long story). But still.... the resemblance is uncanny.

To me, quintessential cake is the music video for Short Skirt, Long Jacket---they don't take themselves too seriously and that's what made their music so enjoyable to me

I had The Distance going through my head as I passed this.

This video gave me a completely different perspective on a band that I just thought was boring and overplayed on the radio. I really like all the messages behind their upbeat music now. BUT I'M STILL WAITING FOR YOU TO DO A VIDEO ABOUT BECK.

I can't recall where I read it, but Short Skirt Long Jacket also highlights the double standard we hold women to (short skirted sexuality and long jacketed modesty), as well as following a narrative of the idealised woman in question, changing her name and car to the more mature Karen and sensible Chrysler respectively. It fits with your assertion that the lyricist is a critic of modern society, who frames his analyses in comic or sarcastic ways.

Please do Mild High Club next! Love your series, really i formative

Cake is the 1st band iv seen live! They opened for No Doubt(when N.D.was still ska).I want my Cake and eat it too.Love his voice,very distinct.

Great video!

Back in 11th grade I used to go on CAKEs website and read the daily quotes anytime I was in the library lol

John McCrea : THE CAKE" I love you man

I feel this helps sum up why I always say that CAKE is a Punk band in spirit. That said, I still have no clue what "Mr. Mastodon Farm cuts swatches of all materials" means.

0 views, 5 likes, 23 comments...seems legit. Anyway, great video as always.

I love Cake.

Understanding Jeff Mangum/Neutral Milk Hotel

Cake is great! Favorite album of theirs is “Fashion Nugget”.

I just want to say I love you man.

I always thought Short Skirt/Long Jacket was about how men expectations on women are unreasonable, impossible to achieve and how being the "girl of a man's dream" demands a huge amount of traits that no person in the world has.

First concert in 2001 in Berkeley weekend after 9/11 I was six years old

I definitely think "Meanwhile Rack James" is their best song.

I think your video is great and your commitment to its production is an homage that should be acknowledged and celebrated as the fan/respectful listener that I suppose you must be for realizing this project in the first place; but, when it comes to your synopsis of Short Skirt Long Jacket, which is by no means their best song or the one (in my opinion) that is anywhere near the most worthy of reflection or emphasis, you gave a lot of scenarios of what the song could be alluding to except consideration of a scenario in which it could be written about a specific woman that exudes all the qualities the song describes. In fact, I feel you’ve fallen short by failing to either realize for yourself, or acknowledge if you did consider it, that the lines about Citibank are so specific that it seems to lead credence to a counterpoint that it was written with an actual real life muse as its inspiration and not the idealized woman that you make claims it was written for/about in several different hypothetical scenarios.

And The Blues Robert Johnston, BB King, Howlin Wolf, Albert King, Leadbelly, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Billie Holiday, John Lee Hooker, etc.

Fucking love your channel dude...please do Interpol

Cake is my favorite band... So I guess that's why this popped up in my recommended it. I always thought Short Skirt is ironic. Like he's aware of how silly it sounds. "Voice that is dark like tinted class"

Made me want to listen to cake.. never there

This was fun listening to some one talk about cake! One of my favourite bands... I think their lyrics are darker than they were given credit for in this video. I definitely think of short skirt long jacket as a fun but depressing song. It's set to a happy beat and superficially fun - a bit like hey ya by outkast - but if you really think about the lyrics they hit you . And same with sheep go to heaven. When I listen the song, I'm left with the sense that mccrae is actually telling the goats to go to hell at the end of the song Or as some guy once said 3000 years ago: It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. There's something about pleasure that can leave one feeling even hollowed once it's over. Anyway - what a cool band

How do I block a channel from showing up on my RU-vid page?

Sublime

I think you missed the point of short skirt long jacket. The song starts with him fantasizing over what sounds like a fictional archetype for women. But by the end of the song, we reslize he's singing about how much he respects responsible mature women. "Changing her name from kitty to karen" "she wants a car that will get her there" "I want a girl with good dividends". As the song progresses we realize that he isn't looking for a Hollywood-esqu interpretation of a girlfriend, but rather a responsible partner in his life. Personally I think the song is very sweet

One of the best bands ever

I fucking love this man and cake dawg!!!!

Understanding the 13th Floor Elevators, the story of their lead singer is harrowing, not enough know

I’ve never understood really who Spooky Black/Corbin is and came from understanding his lyrics and who he is and why he’s so emotional would be amazing

I discovered Cake ages ago but forgot about them. Recently, my girlfriend got me back into them!

new order please

Depeche Mode next

Chuck

Man what about “Comfort Eagle”

Understanding Tom Waits!

The Distance is *not* sonically "easy going."

Saw cake live at dc 101 chili cook off 2012 with incubus and awolnation probably the best show I seen in person.

Love Cake

Can you do Those Poor Bastards? Such an underated and diverse band.

We need Type O Negative NOW!

An interesting video, thanks. You came up with several meanings for Short Skirt Long Jacket and you may be right but I always understood it differently. I thought it was a comment on the pressures faced by modern women to be everything, to be assertive successful career women, as well as sexy and feminine.

The Voidz would be great. Julian Casablancas' solo career in general from 2009 onward.

You have got to do R.E.M. my dude

Awesome video. Thank you! I agree, Modest Mouse next!!!!! Or Built to Spill or Pavement!!!!!

My mom went to prom with the original drummers cousin, they're from Sacramento

I'd like to understand the sometimes nonsensical, yet great lyrics of Soul Coughing.

Me an intellectual: The Distance is about racing cars 😌🙃

The nearest thing the US has to Half man Half biscuit.

Great video. Faith no more please my friend

You should do a video about Neutral Milk Hotel. Because there is a severe lack of videos like yours about them and there is quite a lot to talk about.