"Laid" is the title song from 1993 album Laid by Manchester alternative rock bandJames. The song was a commercial success, charting in the US, UK, and Australia, and has received attention as a theme song for the American Pie film series.
Composition and reception
Emotionally evocative and featuring the risqué opening lyrics, "This bed is on fire with passionate love, the neighbours complain about the noises above, but she only comes when she's on top", it quickly gained popularity on American college radio and remains the group's best-known song in the United States. The American release of its music video replaced the ending of its opening lyrics with "she only sings when she's on top". Today, a number of alternative rock stations, including Boston's RadioBDC, WBOS, Maryland's WRNR-FM, Chicago's WXRT, Missoula's KDTR-FM and Philadelphia's WRFF will play "Laid" with the original controversial line. Along with Radio X in the UK. The song peaked at number 61 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on the BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart, in part due to its cult status as a popular college song in the United States. The song was more successful in the band's native United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 25, becoming the band's ninth top-forty hit. One Of The Three, the 'unofficial archive of the band James', has said this of the song:
Originally viewed by the band as a throwaway song and a possible b-side, Brian Eno soon convinced them of the potential of this track. Whilst only reaching a disappointing 22 in the UK charts, it made serious inroads for the band in the US where it lead to performances on prime-time TV shows such as Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the song gained some additional exposure and popularity when it was used as the theme song for the American Pie films starring Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott. A cover by Matt Nathanson was recorded exclusively for the third film, and was later included on the film's soundtrack. When performed by Matt Nathanson live he often creates a lot of banter over the vocals after the second verse, where he encourages the audience to sing along with him. The seventh installment in the franchise, ', contains a new cover of "Laid" by singer Aidan Hawken; as of 2012, it had yet to be released on any album or as a single. The eighth and final film, American Reunion, features the original version by James in the film for the first and only time in the series' history. The song was featured at the end of an episode of the second series of E4 show My Mad Fat Diary, the film The To Do List and on an episode of Hindsight. It was featured in Episode 4 of the Netflix Original seriesLove. It was played on season 3 episode 4 of Broadchurch. It was featured in 2003's American Wedding, ' and American Reunion. It was also featured in Season 2, Episode 6 of the Netflix Original series Friends from College. "Laid" was covered by New Orleans alt-rock band Better Than Ezra on their 2005 greatest hits compilation. It has been covered by the Butch Walker-led band 1969 on a hidden track on their album Maya, and has also been covered by Thomas Ian Nicholas on his Tnb EP. English band Palma Violets performed a version of the song in July 2015 for The A.V. Club A.V. Undercover series. The New York Cityindie pop band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart covered the song "Laid" on their November 16, 201, Hell EP. Matt Nathanson covered the song, which was featured on the American Wedding soundtrack, as well as on American Pie PresentsBand Camp. It plays as the final song in the final episode of Shameless, broadcast on May 28, 2013. The main cast dance to the song in the Jockey pub as characters reunite. The song was featured at the end of the season four premiere of the acclaimed AMC television series Halt and Catch Fire.
