"Excuse Me Mr." is a song by American band No Doubt for their third studio album, Tragic Kingdom (1995). The song was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont, while produced by Matthew Wilder. It was released as the fourth single from the album on August 21, 1996. The song has also been included on the band's 2003 greatest hits album, The Singles 1992–2003. Musically, the former is a rock-influenced ska track with lyrics describing a woman trying to get the attention of a man. A country version of the song was also created but never released. The single received positive reviews from music critics who labelled it a successful breakup song and as one of the best tracks on Tragic Kingdom.
Commercially, "Excuse Me Mr." had a minimal impact on record charts, reaching the top 40 of the alternative charts in both the United States and Canada and peaking at number 11 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart. Sophie Muller directed the accompanying music video in January 1997. The visual features two different storylines, with the first showing No Doubt playing the song to an empty room that eventually becomes crowded with paparazzi, while the second storyline has Stefani tying herself to train tracks in the hopes that a man will come to her rescue. No Doubt has performed the song for a number of live appearances, including during their 1995–97 Tragic Kingdom World Tour, on Saturday Night Live in December 1996 while serving as the guest musical act, and at the band's Return of Saturn Tour (2000).
Background and release
"Excuse Me Mr." was written by Gwen Stefani and Tom Dumont, while produced by Matthew Wilder. It was featured as the second track on No Doubt's third studio album, Tragic Kingdom, which was released on October 10, 1995. The album was the band's first record with minimal contributions from Gwen's brother, Eric Stefani, who had left the group due to creative differences earlier in 1995. Kenneth Partridge from The A.V. Club felt that this encouraged the members of No Doubt to incorporate the influences that helped popularize the band; Partridge later stated that this allowed Tragic Kingdom songs like "You Can Do It", "Hey You!", and "Excuse Me Mr." to be recorded. The original version of "Excuse Me Mr." was more melodic and mellow, according to Tony Kanal, but the members preferred the "harder version" that was released as a single. No Doubt disagreed with their then-producer Wilder, who wanted the band to record a country-influenced rendition. Member Adrian Young said: When we recorded ['Excuse Me Mr.'], we used to play it the way it is now, and our producer wanted us to play it almost kind of like a country-shuffle, and so we gave it a shot. We later decided that we didn’t really like that, but the other version was erased from the tape. We had to go back in—it must’ve been months later—we re-recorded it the way we used to play it.
According to the liner notes for No Doubt's 2003 greatest hits album, The Singles 1992–2003, the debate over which version of "Excuse Me Mr." would be featured on Tragic Kingdom became a debacle. The band told Interscope Records that they would refuse to record "Spiderwebs", the latter's eventual second single, unless they could re-record the punk rock version of "Excuse Me Mr.". The song was first released as an airplay single in the United States on August 21, 1996. Commercial CD singles for "Excuse Me Mr." were not distributed in the United States; however, promotional CD singles were created and sent to radio stations across that country. A Japanese promotional CD single was also made using the same cover art from No Doubt's "Sunday Morning" (1997).
Composition and lyrics
Musically, "Excuse Me Mr." is a ska punk, ska and punk rock song that is reminiscent of No Doubt's previous releases. Partridge described the track as a rock-influenced song that pays homage to the music which helped form the band. Diffuser.fm's Brendan Manley noted the track's "Dixieland brass breakdown" during the bridge and cited "Excuse Me Mr." as an example of the one of many different styles of songs on Tragic Kingdom. David Browne discussed in his Entertainment Weekly review of the album that the track is able to combine various genres within a duration of three minutes.
According to Musicnotes.com, "Excuse Me Mr." is set in common time, with a double time-like feel and has a very fast tempo of 146 beats per minute. The key of the song is set in F major, with Gwen Stefani's vocal range spanning nearly an octave and a half, from A3 to F5 in scientific pitch notation. The song progresses in the following chord progressions of F–C–Dm–C in each of the two verses.