Robot Parade

From This Might Be A Wiki
From the enhanced "No!" CD

song name Robot Parade
artist They Might Be Giants
releases tmbg.com, No!, No! Preview, TMBG Clock Radio, Podcast 2A
year 2000
first played April 13, 2000 (383 known performances)
run time 1:22
sung by John Flansburgh


Trivia/Info

  • This song was previewed in August 2000, on tmbg.com's No! section.
  • This song is actually the first song written for The Chopping Block for an as of yet unreleased version of their website with a robot theme. The version to appear on the future www.choppingblock.com site is titled "Robot Design". It was then adapted for No! as "Robot Parade". The CB version goes, "Robot design, robot design - rest your head on the Chopping Block".
  • From the band's song-by-song analysis of No!:
Robot Parade is based on a traditional melody sung by robots before robot uprisings and unicorn battles, but because a lot of the lyrics of the original songs are actually explicitly anti-unicorn it seemed inappropriate for kids—especially girls going through a unicorn/princess phase.
  • An early mix of this song appeared in 2000 as one of several free MP3s offered through eMusic that predated TMBG Unlimited.
  • At some shows (including in the video from tmbg.com) Flansburgh sings: "Children obey what the robots say!"
  • Live performances accompany a rock tune of this song rather than a duet version. Additionally, the song has been performed live in the key of G major.
  • This song, along with "Shoehorn With Teeth" was performed live on Late Night With Conan O'Brien in March 2002.
  • This song was used over the ending credits of The Simpsons episode "Them, Robot", which first aired 18 March 2012.

Song Themes

Altered Voice, Children, Recycled Material, Robots, Science, Size, Time, Transportation

Videos

Current Rating

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Robot Parade is currently ranked #615 out of 1005. (71 wikians have given it an average rating of 7.96)