New Brunswick

From Spanky's Pub to Barenaked Ladies songbook: Enid Egers enjoys claim to fame

Growing up, Enid Egers never liked the sound of her own name. That is until the Barenaked Ladies wrote a song about it.

Enid Egers has a place in music history, thanks to the Barenaked Ladies

Steven Page was lead singer with Barenaked Ladies when a Moncton waitress inspired the band's song Enid. Page will be at Casino New Brunswick on Saturday night at the Heart and Truth Gala. (Steven Page)

Growing up, Enid Egers never liked the sound of her own name. That is until the Barenaked Ladies wrote a song about it.

Egers was a waitress at Spanky's Pub in Moncton and served Barenaked Ladies band members, who turned her name into a sing along sensation.

The song Enid is the lead-off single to the band's 1992 debut album Gordon.

"To hear it on the radio and even to this day when I hear the song, it sends me goose bumps," said the Moncton woman, who was often picked on by other kids because of her name.

When the band members arrived at the pub that day, she didn't really think anything of it. At the time, the band was opening for Corky and the Juice Pigs.

"I treated them as though they were in my home," she said. "They just liked the way I made them feel I guess."

But they remembered her. And they remembered her name tag.

After the album came out, Egers found out about her new claim to fame from her cousin when they were at Kmart.

She rushed home, turned on Much Music and waited for the interview she heard was coming.

"They said, 'Oh, she was a waitress in Moncton, New Brunswick,'" said Egers, who recalled being shocked.

"At the time I think I was the only Enid in Moncton, probably the only waitress with that name."

A reunion for two

Now, the soon to be 52-year-old will be meeting Steven Page, the former lead singer with Barenaked Ladies, again.

Page will be in Moncton at the Heart and Truth Gala at Casino New Brunswick on Saturday night.

Egers has backstage passes to the Heart and Stroke Foundation fundraiser and will be bringing along her younger sister.

I think my family is quite thrilled that their Enid got a song named after her.-Enid Egers

"I don't think of them as any better than anybody else," she said, remembering the Ladies as friendly and down-to-earth.

"Ed [Robertson] chatted me right up," said Egers. "He ignored everyone else and just talked to me.

"I was starstruck."

To this day, Egers never gets tired of telling the story of how she became famous. 

"I think my family is quite thrilled that their Enid got a song named after her," she said.

'I like my name now'

The name has grown on her, as it's probably grown on Barenaked Ladies fans around the world.

"I like my name now," she said. "I'm just like Tigger, 'I'm the only one.'"

With files from Information Morning Moncton

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