Push th' Little Daisies

"Push th' Little Daisies"
Single by Ween
from the album Pure Guava
B-side
  • "Ode to Rene"
  • "I Smoke Some Grass (Really Really High)"
  • "Mango Woman"
ReleasedMay 30, 1993 (1993-05-30)
Genre
Length2:50
LabelElektra
Songwriters
ProducerWeen
Ween singles chronology
"I'm Fat"
(1992)		 "Push th' Little Daisies"
(1993)		 "Sky Cruiser"
(1992)

"Push th' Little Daisies" is a song by American band Ween from their third album, Pure Guava, and released as a single in 1993. A music video was released, featuring Dean and Gene Ween eating various foods while fooling around with cuts to a girl and interspersed with them performing the song. The video (which replaced the word "shit" with a sample of Prince squealing—taken from his song "Alphabet St.") and the song gained exposure after being critiqued on the MTV show Beavis and Butt-head.[3]

The song was a hit in Australia, spending 13 weeks on the Australian Singles Chart and peaking at number 18 in August 1993. At the end of the year, it was ranked 40th on Triple J's annual Hottest 100 music poll.[4] The song was also successful on US alternative rock radio, charting at number 21 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Critical reception

Reviewing "Push th' Little Daisies" for Melody Maker, Simon Reynolds characterized Ween as 'slacker pathetique' (in reference to the knowing amateurishness of punk pathetique) and a "lo-fi Notsensibles next to Sebadoh's ATV". Reynolds wrote that the song "could have been a gorgeous Stevie Wonder/Isley Bros ballad, but the singer has inhaled helium and sounds like a goblin."[5] The Age critic Richard Plunkett deemed it among the more unusual novelty songs since the Wurzels' "The Combine Harvester" (1976), situating Ween's style between the Violent Femmes and They Might Be Giants and noted that the song's vocal imitates "a 13-year-old love-obsessed creep over a tinny backing of guitar and drum machine."[6]

The A.V. Club said, "there's something undeniable about the madness of 'Push th' Little Daisies', with its roots in alternative-nation open-mindedness, pop subversion, and lots of drugs. It's crazy catchy, too, even as it's deliberately annoying."[7] Andrew Earles of Spin comments that it was inspired by the Barnes & Barnes song "Fish Heads" (1978).[8] In his book Gimme Indie Rock (2014), Earles calls it a "Barnes and Barnes/Dr. Demento-style romp with helium-pitched vocals", believing it to be "one of the oddest three minutes of music to reach a wide audience".[9] Noting the improved production qualities of Pure Guava over its two predecessors, Ira Robbins of Trouser Press noted how "Push th' Little Daisies", a "peppy and irritating old-lady-voiced ode to flowers (or is it burial?)", was "presentable enough for radio play".[10] Pitchfork critic Stuart Berman writes: "Even in the midst of a '90s alt-rock boom that encouraged the masses to turn and face the strange, the song was odd, sounding like a nursery rhyme performed by a Casiotone-toting hotel-lounge act fronted by a six-year-old."[11] The song is mentioned in the book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

Push th' Little Daisies EP

  1. "Push th' Little Daisies" (Shitless radio edit—no shit) – 2:49
  2. "Push th' Little Daisies" (Happier Than Shit album version) – 2:49
  3. "Ode to Rene" – 2:21
  4. "I Smoke Some Grass (Really Really High)" – 7:45
  5. "Mango Woman" – 2:23
  6. "Push th' Little Daisies" (Funky Drummer mix) – 2:52

Charts

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Push th' Little Daisies"
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
Australia May 30, 1993
  • CD
  • cassette
 White [15]
United Kingdom August 30, 1993
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
 August [16]

References

  1. ↑ Phares, Heather. "Pure Guava – Ween". AllMusic. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  2. ↑ Modell, John. "Off the Charts". The A.V. Club.
  3. ↑ "Push th' Little Daisies - Ween | Song Info | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  4. ↑ "Hottest 100 1993". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. December 26, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (August 28, 1993). "Singles". Melody Maker: 33.
  6. ↑ Plunkett, Richard (11 June 1993). "Singles". The Age Entertainment Guide. Melbourne, Australia: 4. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
  7. ↑ Modell, John. "Off the Charts". The A.V. Club.
  8. ↑ Earles, Andrew (January 8, 2013). "Blame Nirvana: The 40 Weirdest Post-'Nevermind' Major-Label Albums". Spin. p. 34. Archived from the original on January 11, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  9. ↑ Earles, Andrew (September 15, 2014). Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996. Voyageur. p. 357. ISBN 978-0760346488. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  10. ↑ Robbins, Ira. "Ween". Trouser Press. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  11. ↑ Berman, Stuart (September 1, 2024). "Ween: Chocolate and Cheese Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Ween – Push th' Little Daisies". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Alternative Airplay". Billboard. March 20, 1993. Retrieved August 20, 2023.
  14. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  15. ↑ "New Release Summary – Product Available from : 30/05/93: Singles". The ARIA Report. No. 173. May 30, 1993. p. 18.
  16. ↑ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. August 28, 1993. p. 27.
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