Where Your Eyes Don't Go
From This Might Be A Wiki
| song name | Where Your Eyes Don't Go |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Lincoln, Lincoln Sampler, Then: The Earlier Years |
| year | 1988 |
| first played | March 28, 1988 (184 known performances) |
| run time | 3:06 |
| sung by | John Linnell; John Flansburgh sings the outro |
Trivia/Info
- In "Everything Sticks Like A Broken Record", John Linnell mentioned that this song was inspired by a dream he had in the mid-70s:
I think it was about my mom coming into the room, and then there was some kind of mocking demonic snowman behind her that she couldn't see. Every time she turned around, it would pivot around and still be behind her back where she couldn't see it. That was the initial idea and then I went from there.
- The introduction portion is loosely based on the J. S. Bach composition "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", but in 2025, Linnell stated that he "couldn't say what the Bach piece has to do with the song. Probably nothing. Just goofing around with music."[1]
- The verse of the song is musically based on the classic American folk song "I've Been Working on the Railroad," specifically the "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" portion. The exact tune appears in the song before the last sung stanza, and Linnell actually sings this stanza during the melody in the song's original demo, heard on The Frank O'Toole Show in 1987.
- In 2022, Flansburgh noted the guitar solo was inspired by the Perry Mason theme song.[2]
- British author (and TMBG fan) Terry Pratchett said that this song was the scariest he's ever heard.[3] A line in his book Reaper Man appears to reference its lyrics:
'Should we worry when he's in front of us?' said Ridcully, 'Or is it worse because we know he's behind us?'
Song Themes
Body Parts, Different When Played Live, Dreams, Eyes, Fading, Falsetto, Flying, Heads, In Back, Not In Common Time, Not In Major Or Minor, Paranoia, People (Real), Personification, Questions, Recursion, References To Other Songs Or Musicians, The Senses, Skulls, Zombies Or The Undead
Videos
- Watch it on
– Recorded live on June 17, 1990
Current Rating You must be logged in to rate this. You can either login (if you have a userid) or create an account with us today. Where Your Eyes Don't Go is currently ranked #19 out of 1059. (357 wikians have given it an average rating of 9.17) |
Other Links for “Where Your Eyes Don't Go” [edit]
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Categories:
- Songs Released In 1988
- Sung By Both Johns
- Songs On iTunes
- Songs
- Songs In A Harmonic Minor
- Songs In A Minor
- Songs In C Major
- Songs In C Phrygian
- Songs In C Mixolydian
- Songs In E Flat Major
- Songs In E Flat Phrygian
- Songs In E Flat Mixolydian
- Songs In A Melodic Minor
- Songs In A Dorian
- Songs In A Major
- Songs In A Harmonic Major
- Songs In A Mixolydian
- Songs In A Lydian