Number Three (1984 Demo)
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(Redirected from Number Three (1984 Promotional Demo))
| song name | #3 |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | 1984 Promotional Demo Tape, 1985 Promotional Demo Tape #5 (as "Number Three"), Bill Krauss Demos |
| year | 1984 |
| run time | 1:38 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh, John Linnell |
Trivia/Info
- This demo was the first known recording of "Number Three" to contain the skipping polka sample of Lou Monte's "Skinny Lena" and the rapid acoustic guitar track featured in all of this song's recorded versions. The bass parts in this demo have a more bouncy sound compared to later recordings, and had a slightly different arrangement for the song's instrumental breaks. John Flansburgh and John Linnell's vocals also have a delay effect, and both provide an erratic vocal when performing the line "He just started talkin' like he was on TV".
- John Linnell found the "Skinny Lena" sample in May 1984, so this recording must not date to earlier than that. He wrote about finding the record in a 1995 Info Club newsletter:
In May of 1984 I got a new, better job working in a darkroom and moved from a grim section of Park Slope in Brooklyn to Hell's Kitchen on the west side of Manhattan. [...] Chris [Lawrence] was also the building's super and he and I spent a few days cleaning out several of the apartments. One of them contained all the possessions of an Eastern European couple that had lived there right up until they died, so many of the things we removed were the accoutrements of the last days of a person's life, which was kind of disturbing. Some of the records they left were instant favorites of ours, especially an album called "Polka Time" and a single called "Skinny Lena." Skinny Lena was an Italian song in 6/8 with a humorous verse in English and a staccato Bari Sax riff. At some point I figured out a way to make the record skip in 4/4 during the riff while the 45 was played at 33, which became the repeating figure on TMBG's recording of Flansburgh's "Number Three."
- On the cover of the 1984 Promotional Demo Tape and its accompanying card, this version is labeled under the shortened title of "#3".
- An alternate mix of this demo's backing track was used for "Greek Number Three", a version of "Number Three" sung entirely in Greek by John Linnell.
Song Themes
Animals, Creative Drought, Mathematics, Money, Music, Occupations, Precious Metal, Presidents, Questions, Self-Reference, Titles And Honorifics
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