Interpretations:Too Tall Girl

• Song
• Lyrics
• Interpretations
• Credits
• Guitar Tab
• Bass Tab
• Chronology

This is fun

This is just a funny and goofy song, no deeper meaning as far as I can tell. Kinda 60's style, maybe it's a tribute to the Beach Boys, it sounds that way. Anyway, I think she's actual size. But she might be giant, who knows. --Freakiosis 13:55, 7 March 2013 (EST)

Falling in love with someone "too good" or "out of your league"

I find this song to suggest the singer is falling in love with someone of higher status or social stature (or perceived to be thus). The best he can hope for is to be a sort of fan-boy or tag-along, his love unrequited. -- CJSF 14:18, 7 March 2013 (EST)

Good insight! The last bit about the months turning into days is a clever bit of Flansburgh phrasecraft, which might be read as as the protagonist's panic that he's running out of time. --Nehushtan (talk) 01:36, 8 February 2020 (EST)

Obsession

I get the impression that the protagonist has fallen in love with a billboard model who is literally too tall. That this isn't healthy is noted early on (deleterious) but he's into much of a dream to care. The music underpins this with a wonderful late 50s Pre rock melody. Flansburgh's high moment of the album. Reminds me a bit of the Tales of Hoffman opera when the protaganist falls in love with a doll. Not sure if Flans had that in mind though on this really pretty song.

(Mr Tuck)

It's about the "Everywhere Girl" Jen Kind.

“I still go to this Red Robin outside of Portland, and there’s a huge picture of me, half the size of the wall,” Kind, now 41, says. “Both my niece and my nephew, in different states and at different grade levels, found my picture in their textbooks.” https://nypost.com/2017/07/13/how-these-stock-photo-models-became-the-face-of-everything/

Surprised I didn't see this idea yet

I'm kinda shocked that this interpretation wasn't up yet, given the TMBG fan base I'd assumed it would be the first one. But, as a too tall girl myself, I think that the song is a love song to a trans woman (probs sung from the perspective of a shorter guy). I mean, lets go lyric by lyric here:

"Fall in love with a too tall girl"

Pretty simple, just, falling in love with a trans girl.

"deleterious and delirious"

I've seen this line discussed as the singer, but I always thought it described the girl. Outside of this interpretation it could just be a way to metaphorically say that her head is in the clouds (she's delirious from lack of oxygen). But under this interpretation it'd be akin to autism making us feel kinda like we're in our own world, which happens to be much more common in the trans community than the broader population

"With her magazine"

This line and its follow up is really vague, literally speaking, she just has a magazine. But magazines usually contain clothing and images of stereotypically attractive women, so it could be that she's comparing herself to those and trying to buy clothing, but yea, vague

"Dressed in aubergine"

Again, just a detail about her, she's wearing a color, specifically purple. Purple symbolizes royalty so it feels more like a romantic line than something to really detail about her. She's his queen.

"Too-tall girl can see / Past the rooftops and the trees / Too-tall girl can see / Past the crosstown mall and townie sprawl"

I grouped these ones together because they don't tell us much, she's tall, she's REALLY REALLY tall.

"There's no kind of guidebook or catalog"

This is where things get interesting, this line is trying to say that the situation is novel and difficult to understand.This is a perfect way to describe being trans and in a relationship, you were never taught how interactions go both with your partner as a trans person and with your trans partner and you don't know how to be there for each other properly but you do your best anyways.

"There's no kind of parallel or analog"

This is meant to reflect the previous line, with novelness, comes a unique and great feeling. Being with someone who is unabashedly themself will make you more willing to be yourself too. And transness can be the ultimate mode of self expression.

"Soon you'll just be playing some tag-along / In the world of a girl in a too-tall fog"

The second line here doesn't mean much, but the first line could be interpreted as meeting her friend group? Overall a pretty hollow line in terms of this interpretation.

"Whispers pretty tones in a megaphone"

Here we go, something good here. The joke is obviously meant to be that she is so tall she has to use a megaphone to be heard, but it could also be interpreted as public speech. I feel that this is indicative of some form of public advocacy, probably trans rights related because of the overall situation here. "Pretty tones" also shows that it's a good thing, a good cause, so she's doing some public advocacy work, which is pretty common in the trans community because when your rights are on the table, you'll fight tooth and nail for everyone at said table.

"Knows more etiquette / Than Connecticut" The Connecticut line is supposed to show that she has a lot of etiquette, I'd best interpret this as being the state of panic having to learn as much as possible about being a girl after missing the x number of years of learning how to woman you were supposed to get growing up.

"Too-tall girl can see / Past the rooftops and the trees / Too-tall girl can see / Past the crosstown mall and townie sprawl" She's tall

"To get to her a boy's got to calculate / To get to her a boy's got to estimate / All the walls to clear and the hills to climb / As the months turn to days in this too-tall time" These feel like lines about her being closed off, which isn't EXCLUSIVE to trans people, but dysphoria can definitely make relationships harder for us.