They'll Need A Crane

From This Might Be A Wiki
YouTube
Official video for “They’ll Need a Crane”
Screenshot

song name They'll Need a Crane
artist They Might Be Giants
releases Lincoln, Lincoln Sampler, They'll Need A Crane (EP), Ana Ng (Single) [European Release], Then: The Earlier Years, Direct From Brooklyn, Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants, A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants: Melody, Fidelity, Quantity, 50,000,000 They Might Be Giants Songs Can't Be Wrong
year 1988
first played January 16, 1988 (71 known performances)
run time 2:33
sung by John Linnell, John Flansburgh sings harmony during chorus


Trivia/Info

  • John Linnell in a 1989 interview: "The song itself basically started with an old Gerry and the Pacemakers riff. We had the riff and the title. A lot of our songs start that way... we think up a good title and then write the song round it."
  • John Flansburgh has also mentioned The Housemartins as an influence on this song.[1]
  • The song's video was directed by Adam Bernstein. It was filmed in Central Park, New York City at the Bethesda Terrace.
  • The three actors portraying TMBG's backup band in the music video are Johnny Blowers (former drummer for Frank Sinatra), Ernie Furtado (bassist and New York Times crossword puzzle writer) and Fred Barby (character actor on keyboard), according to a contemporary press release. The '90s tmbg.com Q&A called them "professional old guys." Flansburgh: "We put an advert in Backstage saying 'Wanted... 80-year-old musicians for pop video'."[2]
  • In the Direct From Brooklyn DVD commentary, Flansburgh said of the bass player in the music video, "He wrote crossword puzzles, which was really strange, and actually had sold a bunch of them to the New York Times, which I thought seemed like a dream job." Linnell also mentioned the backing group in a 1989 interview: "They were actors we got through an ad. They're interesting guys — the drummer played with Frank Sinatra. He couldn't really play our song − it was totally modern for him."
  • This song was performed on Late Night with David Letterman in 1989, which marked TMBG's network television debut.

Song Themes

Addiction, Compulsion, Aversion To Work, Body Parts, Drinking, Food, Funny But Sad, Love Gone Sour, Music, People (Imaginary), Real Estate, Sadness, The Senses, Telecommunication, Trade Names

Videos

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Current Rating

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They'll Need A Crane is currently ranked #5 out of 1005. (354 wikians have given it an average rating of 9.30)