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Ana Ng
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| song name | Ana Ng |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| album | Lincoln, Ana Ng (Single), Then: The Earlier Years, Direct From Brooklyn, Best Of The Early Years, Severe Tire Damage, Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants, A User's Guide to They Might Be Giants: Melody, Fidelity, Quantity |
| year | 1988 |
| first played | Sep. 28, 1988 (386 known performances) |
| run time | 3:23 |
| sung by | John Linnell |
[edit] Trivia/Info
- The title of the track came from an experience the Johns had when they found a huge number of "Ana Ng"s in the phone book.
- Flans has referred to the guitar sound in the song as one of the coolest the band had created, and he has said that the song has a "Latin feel."
- Ng is a common Cantonese family name, and it is correctly pronounced like the last sound in 'Dong.'
- The line, "I don't want the world; I just want your half," is said by Lisa Klapp, a friend of John and John's, and recorded through a telephone. TMBG likes to mess around with the delivery of the line in concert:
- On Severe Tire Damage, Flans can be heard screaming it into his guitar pickups in the manner of a racetrack announcer.
- On Live!! New York City, Linnell sings no words and imitates the sound of radio static. (Note: The Live!! New York City version and the Severe Tire Damage version are the same recording; on STD, the radio static was replaced with the pickup screams in studio)
- In 1996, Linnell would occasionally open the song with the chant of "OVERSIZED LOAD," and this line would, in the bridge, replace "I don't want the world; I just want your half."
- Most often, he has also been known to sing the aforementioned line in a trembly falsetto to a melody similar to "Love people are there / The smell of love is everywhere" from "I've Got A Match."
- In Louisville 2005, fireworks started during this song. Linnell sang "When I was driving past I saw this painted on the fireworks," and Flans replied, "I don't want the world; I just want your fireworks."
- The line "Eighty dolls yelling 'Small Girl After All'" is a reference to the ride "It's A Small World", created for the Worlds Fair and now residing in Disneyland.
- Flansburgh sometimes sings "It's a small girl after all" during the bridge instead of the part about the bridge when played live.
- Linnell habitually sings "human hair" instead of "humid air" when played live.
- Filming location: FDNY Training Academy, Randall's Island, New York City (exterior shots).
- Adam Bernstein discusses the video thoroughly in a 1995 interview with Myke Weiskopf.
- Throughout the music video, portraits of John and John's grandfathers can be spotted.
- The video for Ana Ng includes a shot of cards from "Mille Bornes" [One Thousand Milestones], a French game popular in the United States during the early 1960s.
- SportsCenter's John Buccigross referenced "Ana Ng" on one broadcast. While announcing a homerun he said "I don't want the world, I just want your half."
- In the early 90s show Clarissa Explains It All, Clarissa says that she likes John Linnell and a bit of "Ana Ng" plays. A picture of TMBG from the "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" video follows. Watch the clip.
- SeLF covered "Ana Ng" for the Hello Radio: The Songs Of They Might Be Giants tribute album.
[edit] Song Themes
1964 World's Fair, Backwards, Cities, Geography, In Back, Kingdom Of Loathing Reference, Loneliness, Love, Me, Oxymorons, Paradoxes, And Contradictory Statements, People (Imaginary), Non-John Vocals, Questions, Real Estate, Recursion, References To Other Songs Or Musicians, Size, Talking, Not Singing, Telephony, Tongue-Twisters, Trade Names, Transportation, Upside Down, Water, Weather
[edit] Videos
- Watch it on
Current Rating Ana Ng is currently ranked #2 out of 797. (1582 wikians have given it an average rating of 9.12)
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- This page was last modified 05:23, 29 May 2008.
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