Madam, I Challenge You To A Duel
From This Might Be A Wiki
Dial-A-Song (2015) artwork
| song name | Madam, I Challenge You to a Duel |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Dial-A-Song (2015), Glean |
| year | 2015 |
| first played | January 10, 2015 (27 known performances) |
| run time | 1:58 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh |
Trivia/Info
- In an interview with Grantland, Flansburgh said:
The entire conceit of the song is that it’s about an extremely formal person, like the kind of person that would challenge someone to a duel — only that the twist is that they are challenging a lady to a duel, which breaks every code of behavior in the world of dueling. This is not based on a personal experience of mine.
- When introducing the song at an in-store performance in Minneapolis in April 2015, Flansburgh implied that the protagonist of this song was inspired by British actor Oliver Reed and his hostile encounter with Shelley Winters on The Tonight Show in 1975. For more info on the encounter, see this Grunge article.
- A bumpkin is an uneducated individual, especially one from a rural background. In dueling, a second was an acquaintance of a dueling party whose role might include resolving a dispute without violence, ensuring fairness in a duel, or even engaging in a duel with a rival's second.
- The music video for this song was directed by William Shum of I Think We're Still Thinking, which would later also direct "Unpronounceable" and "The Velvet Ape". The video uses an animation technique called rotoscoping.
- This song debuted during a live in-studio performance on Michael Shelley's radio program on WFMU, and was released 3 days later on January 13, 2015 via Dial-A-Song (2015). The song was meant to premiere on Slate's The Gist on Monday, January 12, but "Music Jail, Pt. 1 & 2" was mistakenly featured instead. The podcast was reuploaded the following day with "Madam, I Challenge You To A Duel" in place of "Music Jail".
- This song was tracked on October 21, 2014.[1]
- Often during live performances of this song, Flansburgh asked the audience to hold up their cellphones to illuminate the band for the duration of the song. A similar request has often been made during live performances of "Careful What You Pack".
Song Themes
Animals, Bells, Bodily Mutilation, Body Parts, Music, Occupations, Religion, Supernatural, Titles And Honorifics, Violence, Weapons
Videos
- Watch it on
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