Short Skirt/Long Jacket

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Short Skirt/Long Jacket"
Single by Cake
from the album Comfort Eagle
Released August 14, 2001
Format CD
Recorded 2000
Genre Alternative rock, funk rock
Length 3:24
Label Columbia Records
Writer(s) John McCrea
Producer(s) Cake
Cake singles chronology
"Sheep Go to Heaven"
"Short Skirt/Long Jacket"
"Arco Arena"

"Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is the first single by American alternative rock band Cake from their 2001 album Comfort Eagle. It is often misconceived to be named 'I Want a Girl'.


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 and go on to become much more elaborate and very specific, as if to tell a story about a particular woman.

The details range from mundane (At Citibank we will meet accidentally/We'll start to talk when she borrows my pen) to archetypical and hyperbolically poetic (With fingernails that shine like justice/And a voice that is dark like tinted glass.). The woman is likened to an investment portfolio on the stock-market, in that she should have the "right allocations", "with uninterrupted prosperity", "with a smooth liquidation" and "good dividends". The lyrics suggest a girl who has left the party lifestyle and joined corporate America, switching from an expensive sports car to a more affordable family car. (She's changing her name from Kitty to Karen/She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler LeBaron).

John McCrea said the song was "about prosperity and depression" and the strange behavior of the human mating ritual.[1]

Music video[edit]

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 Bruce Thiessen's "as a psychologist, I'd have to say it has therapeutic value because it releases something deep inside".

MuchMusic released an official "Canadian" version of the video that uses footage of people in Toronto, near its headquarters. The video humorously censors some foreign words spoken by non-English speakers due to the words' strange pronunciations.

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.[2] The Mexican version was directed by Alejandro "Chicle" and edited by Alejandro Davalos Cantu.

Track listing[edit]

Initial pressing
No. Title Length
1. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"   3:24
2. "Arco Arena" (vocal version) 2:10
3. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (video)  
Alternate pressing
No. Title Length
1. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (LP version) 3:24
2. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" (radio mix) 3:23

Chart positions[edit]

Year Chart Position
2001 Bubbling Under the Hot 100 19
2001 Adult Top 40 31
2001 Modern Rock Tracks 7
2001 Triple J Hottest 100 10


Uses in other media[edit]

  • An instrumental version of "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is used as the theme song for the NBC series Chuck.
  • "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was used in the film Waitress starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, and Andy Griffith.
  • The instrumental section (similar to its usage in Chuck) was used in the films All About Steve, The Change Up and Date Night.
  • Apple used the song in an advertisement for their 6th generation iPod nano.[4]
  • "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was used in the 2001 episode of TV series ER titled "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic".[5]
  • "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was mentioned in the comic strip Frazz as one of the students getting trouble for playing the trumpet part over the P.A. system as a prank.
  • "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was used in a Fastrack commercial for Summer Bags.[citation needed]


External links[edit]