Alienation's For The Rich
From This Might Be A Wiki
| song name | Alienation's for the Rich |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | 1985 Promotional Demo Tape #7, 1985 Demo Tape, They Might Be Giants, Then: The Earlier Years |
| year | 1985 |
| first played | July 18, 1982 (40 known performances) |
| run time | 2:25 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh |
Trivia/Info
- John Flansburgh wrote this song in 1980 or 1981 for his college band, The Turtlenecks.[1] It was one of the earliest songs to enter They Might Be Giants' repertoire, and they performed it at their first show.[2] Flansburgh discussed the idea behind the song in a 2014 Tumblr post:
It's actually not a concept we invented, and I can't remember the older iterations of the expression, but the current popular expression that runs parallel is "first world problems" (although I wouldn't ever want to make a song called that!). The notion is that because their troubles and issues are immediate, working people don't have time to feel alienated from the world in the abstract, highfalutin way that existential dread is described. THAT seemed like an interesting point of view to write a song from—just like "Okie from Muskogee" has an interesting point of view that isn't necessarily first person direct. But the more I write about the whole concept here the more suspect the basic notion seems!
- The song appears to have been recorded at a slower tempo and then sped up, raising its pitch from the key of G to G#. All live performances and the song's original demo are in G. In the original key, Flansburgh's vocal range extends from C#2 to G#5, with an A4 sung without falsetto, demonstrating a range of over three octaves.
- Flansburgh spoke about recording the song in a 1988 interview:
The first record, on a lot of tracks, we didn't really map out the arrangements enough. On a song like "Alienation's For The Rich", there's this really good harmony part that never even made it to the record. That's the kind of thing that sort of crushes your soul when you're recording a song, to not actually get a whole part of the song on it. But we were dealing with very limited financial resources at the time.
- This is one of a few songs on the band's debut album that was not substantially changed from the version included on their 23-song 1985 demo tape. A slightly different mix appears on that tape, which features additional acoustic guitar during the final verse and chorus, no accordion chords in the bridge or harmony line in the final verse, less reverb on the drums, accordion, and laughter, and ends with Bill Krauss saying, "That last thing's kinda weird."
- During live performances in the 1980s, Flansburgh often jokingly credited his father, Earl Flansburgh, with writing the song. In a 2024 TikTok live, Flansburgh clarified, "He didn't, I just thought it was a funny thing to say."[3] He has also credited Earl with writing "Hell Hotel".[4] Live performances in the 1980s also frequently included an improvised spoken-word part by Linnell during the instrumental break, in which he often took the role of Earl Flansburgh leaving a phone message for his son.
- Esperanto is a constructed international language created by L. L. Zamenhof in the late 19th century. It was intended to serve as an easy and flexible universal second language and to foster peace and international understanding. The lyric "And the TV is in Esperanto" was originally "And the TV's talkin' Spanish", as heard in early live performances and the song's original demo.
Song Themes
Aversion To Work, Bad English, Criminal Activities, Drinks, Happiness, Language, Loneliness, Money, Numbers, Occupations, Sadness, School, Self-Reference, Spoken Word, Swear Words, Swing Feel, Television, Trade Names, Transportation
Videos
- Watch it on
(Static upload of the song)
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