Sally Boy Candy Bar

From This Might Be A Wiki

song name Sally Boy Candy Bar
artist They Might Be Giants
releases 1983 Demo Tape, TMBG Unlimited - July, DialASong.com (2000-2006), TMBG Clock Radio, Podcast 32A
year 1983
first played July 7, 1983 (3 known performances)
run time 2:28
sung by John Flansburgh


Trivia/Info

  • Recorded in 1983 for TMBG's first demo, according to the newsletter accompanying Podcast 32A.
  • The first two lines echo the first two of "Boys" (Dixon/Farrell): "I've been told when a boy kiss a girl, take a trip around the world."
  • The line "I've been told when a fish needs a bike" refers to the feminist adage "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle," originally said by Australian writer and activist Irina Dunn.
  • "Circle gets the square" is a reference to the tic-tac-toe based game show Hollywood Squares. When the "O" (generally female) contestant answered a question correctly, the host of the show would say "Circle gets the square!"
  • Flansburgh described the recording process for this song:
"Sally Boy Candy Bar was assembled the way a lot of our early tracks were—recorded on a TEAC 4 track probably three individual tracks of drums played individually (thumb on a mic as a kick, or the moog as kick) real hi hat or a moog hat) and a real snare played by John L. in that case. We had bongos and they came into the mix a lot. Everything was then bounced down to one track, and the[n] we added bass and possibly an additional synth sound."[1]
  • Flansburgh has also expressed regret that this song never made it onto a proper album, and was rarely played live.[2]
  • In 2023, Flansburgh explained that the song's title came from a shop name in Chinatown, NY.[3]

Song Themes

Animals, Clothes, Food, Gender Issues, Heads, Puns, References To Other Songs Or Musicians, Shapes, Traded Tracks, Transportation

Videos

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Sally Boy Candy Bar is currently ranked #93 out of 1005. (71 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.97)