Damn Good Times

From This Might Be A Wiki
YouTube
Music video for "Damn Good Times"
Screenshot

song name Damn Good Times
artist They Might Be Giants
releases Dial-A-Song, Selections From The Spine, The Spine, TMBG Clock Radio, Venue Songs, Them Ain't Big Eye Ants, Idlewild, 50,000,000 They Might Be Giants Songs Can't Be Wrong
year 2004
first played January 25, 2004 (606 known performances)
run time 2:38
sung by John Flansburgh


Trivia/Info

  • The lyrics reference David Lee Roth, original lead singer for Van Halen. The song title itself is a reference to the David Lee Roth song "Damn Good" from his 1987 album Skyscraper.
  • The first line in Eddie Cochran's song "Twenty Flight Rock" bears an uncanny similarity to a line in this song: "I got a girl with a record machine, when it comes to rockin', she's a queen".
  • The clapping at the end of "Au Contraire" (the track before "Damn Good Times" on The Spine) leads into the beginning of this song. This clapping was originally present in the demo version as well, giving the song a "live" feel.
  • Some of the vampires in the music video, animated by Divya Srinivasan, bear a strong resemblance to Count Orlock from Nosferatu (1922).
  • During a few occasional "all ages" shows with children present, Flansburgh introduces this song as "Dang Good Times," and all the "damn"s are changed to "dang"s.
  • The guitar instrumental begins with a (cut-time) tempo around 58 BPM and ends around 130 BPM (Check for yourself here). Compare this with "Gazing Out Toward", "Mrs. Train", and "Contrecoup", other songs with varying tempos.
  • As of 2004, "Damn Good Times" is the third collaborative effort between John Linnell and John Flansburgh and members of their backing band, the other two being "AKA Driver" co-written by Brian Doherty and Tony Maimone, and "I Should Be Allowed To Think" co-written by Tony Maimone. As of 2022, it is the only song co-written by members of their current backing band, in this case Dan Miller and Marty Beller.
  • For the music video's release on the Venue Songs DVD in 2005, two minor changes were made compared to the version previously on tmbg.com: the main character's dress is a more yellow shade of orange, and she now transforms into a vampire in the final seconds of the ending shot.

Song Themes

Animals, Bad English, Clothes, Dancing, Food, Forgetting And Remembering, Holidays, Insects, Islands, I've Got A, Jumping, Medical, Music, Musical Stores, Problems With Liner Notes, Questions, Recursion, Recycled Material, References To Other Songs Or Musicians, Religion, Supernatural, Songs With Handclaps, Swear Words, Swing Feel, Telecommunication, Traded Tracks, Transportation

Videos

Current Rating

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Damn Good Times is currently ranked #167 out of 1005. (170 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.81)