Recycled Material

TMBG is known for reusing song titles, lyrics, musical phrases, etc. Some of the correlations listed may seem forced depending on your point of view - please do not worry! Definite links between songs are hard to prove without John intervention.

Contents 1 Reusage 2 References 3 Song couples 4 Song triples 5 Song septuples 6 Honorable mention 7 See also

[edit] Reusage

• About Me - same idea further developed as "I'm All You Can Think About"
• Anqui - tune, style from "Idaho"
• Coke Radio Ad - "Who's gonna wear my sandals stained with Coca-Cola?" from "Poison Flowers"
• Dan Vs. Cog - tune and many lyrics from "Glockenspiel Intro - Born In A Graveyard"
• Experimental Film - "I already know the ending it's / The part that makes your face implode"
  • compare with: "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes" - "All the people are so happy now, their heads are cavin' in"
• Also in the "Experimental Film" video, when Strong Sad falls into the football field, there are a bunch of signs that spell out "it's a lion".
  And in the "Figure Eight" video, they show a book that says "it's a lion" on the page that also says "Figure 9". And the two "it's a lion"'s are written in very similar hand-writing.
  • Also has a similar chord structure to "Purple Toupee"
• Goodbye - melody taken from "Glasgow"
• Happy Doesn't Have To Have An Ending - the dancing hippie cat recalls "Birds Fly": "cats dance under my feet"
• Hide Away Folk Family - The music during "Better hide away" is very similar to the chorus in "I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die"
• I Blame You - reuses the tune of "Free Bird's Rebirth" with changed lyrics
• I'm Just A Note - "I am just a note", "singing in harmony" same rhythm as "I'm all alone", "behold the mystery" from All Alone
• I'm Sick (Of This American Life) - "I didn't come here to socialize...I'm sick...I like staring at two glass eyes"
  • compare with: Cyclops Rock - "I'm sick...But I'm not here to socialize...I just stare / With my one glass eye"
• I've Learned The Value Of Human Sacrifice - Contains lyrics from "I'm Sick (Of This American Life)" which, in turn, takes lyrics from "Cyclops Rock"
• Ike Was A Handsome Man - A 10-second reprise of the melody to "It Could Be Worse"
• La Dolce - melody partly taken from "Tres Quatro"
• Lazyhead And Sleepybones - "When Sleepy Bones says he's feeling tired / Lazy Head wants to rest...Both take naps so long"
  • Compare with: My Evil Twin - "He always wants to start when I want to begin...Then sleep all through the day"
• Letter/Not A Letter - music behind kids speaking is a faster version of "Z Y X"
• Lie Still, Little Bottle - borrows the bridge of "I Need Some Lovin'
• Ondine - "I dreamed I killed you again / Don't make me kill you again"
  • compare with: Extra Krispy - "I'm gonna rock you just one more time / Don't make me rock you again"
• All three processionals from the House Of Mayors EP feature the melody from the title track in some form.
• Robot Parade - adapted from a song for The Chopping Block called "Robot Design"
  • The original line goes "Robot design / Rest your head on the Chopping Block"
• Sleepwalkers - melody line from "What Is Everyone Staring At?"
• Spiraling Shape - chorus taken from "Rocket Ship"
• Thunderbird - very musically similar to "James K. Polk"
• Upside Down Frown - "Black is white, and the rainbow has a beard"
  • compare with: (She Was A) Hotel Detective In The Future - "She walks with the beard of a rainbow"
  • The title of the song is similar to a line in "The Big Big Whoredom" - "Turn that frown upside down"
• Who's Gonna Guess The Dead Guy? - tune of "Boss Of Me"
• With The Dark - "Busting my pirate hump, rocking my peg leg stump"
  • Compare with: Puppets Gonna Fuck You Up - "Busting my puppet hump, grinding my puppet stump"
  • The song also uses some instrumentation from "Mono", a track from the They Might Be Giants Podcast
• Wreck It Apart - "Don't make me kill you again" from "Ondine"

[edit] References

• Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal - "Well, I told you about the world, its address" (The World's Address), "You know the rabid child is still tuning in", "Chess Piece Face's patience must be wearing thin"
• I Am A Grocery Bag - references Dead's line: "I came back as a bag of groceries..."
• Impossible - "If you wish you had violet hair" recalls "Purple Toupee"
• Nightgown Of The Sullen Moon - "There's a feeling of boredom, of the big whoredom" ("The Big Big Whoredom")
• Rabid Child - "Chess Piece Face and the Big Duluth"
• Piece Of Dirt - "I find myself haunted by a spooky man named Me;" this song precedes "Mr. Me" on Lincoln
• The Songs Of The 50 States - After the last instance of the line "I can't wait for my favorite one," an instrumental version of the chorus of "Arkansas" plays
• Stalk Of Wheat - References a line from "They Might Be Giants": "They might be frying up a stalk of wheat"

[edit] Song couples

• Counterfeit Fake
• Counterfeit Faker

• Spine (JL)
• Spines (JF)

• Thunderbird (forwards)
• On Earth My Nina (backwards)

• The Bloodboat
• The Bloodmobile

• Drink!
• Drinkin'

• Why Does The Sun Shine?
• Why Does The Sun Really Shine?

[edit] Song triples

• (She Was A) Hotel Detective (JF)
• She Was A Hotel Detective (JL)
• (She Was A) Hotel Detective In The Future (JL)
  • See Hotel Detective Series

[edit] Song septuples

• Planet Of The Apes
• Return To The Planet Of The Apes
• Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes
• Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
• Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
• Beneath The Planet Of The Apes
• This Ape's For You
  • See Planet Of The Apes (Theme)

[edit] Honorable mention

• The Flood liner notes are "Printed on recycled paper".
• TMBG has also been known to recycle lettering, for example, here and here.

[edit] See also

• Album Lead-Ins
• Song Themes - For examples of thematic recycling
• TMBG Remakes - Songs written by other bands, but recycled by TMBG

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