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I'll Sink Manhattan

From This Might Be A Wiki
song nameI'll Sink Manhattan
artistThey Might Be Giants
releasesThey'll Need A Crane (EP), Don't Let's Start (LP), Miscellaneous T, Then: The Earlier Years
year1988
first playedJun. 17, 1988 (22 known performances)
run time2:32
sung byJohn Flansburgh

Trivia/Info

  • The unusual vocal sample in the introduction of the song is a message left on Dial-A-Song (back when it was taking messages) by a member of the New York Police Department, played backwards. When played normally, it says: "Thanks a lot guys. From the NYPD. We love you." File:NYPDmessage.mp3.
  • Flansburgh: "This song is about falling in love, and then falling out of love with that person, and then killing everyone in Manhattan." (Shows/1989-11-25)
  • Linnell: "A song about a guy who somehow figures out how to sink the island of Manhattan just to kill his ex-lover, so it's his apology to the other people he's gonna kill in between. He's just gotta do it!" (NME Magazine, March 11, 1989)
  • The title came from lamppost graffiti, and it turned out to be the name of a band, although Flansburgh didn't know it at the time he wrote the song. Apparently the band didn't appreciate Flans using their name.

Song Themes

Backwards, Bad English, Cities, Criminal Activities, Death, Fire, Forgetting, Remembering, Friendship, I've Got A, Love Gone Sour, Me, New York City, No, Not In 4-4 Time, Oblique Cliches Or Idiom, Plans, Sea, Size, Telephony

Videos

 
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I'll Sink Manhattan is currently ranked #451 out of 846. (59 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.31)
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