Songs Incorrectly Attributed To TMBG

From This Might Be A Wiki

In the early days of the internet, songs that had nothing to do with They Might Be Giants were often mistaken or mislabeled as being songs by them (much like hundreds of songs have been incorrectly attributed to "Weird Al" Yankovic). Often these songs were passed around on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks like Napster, KaZaA, and Limewire with incorrect tags and filenames.

This phenomenon is largely an issue of the past in the era of officially uploaded streaming music, and as such, this list has not grown much since the aughts.

  • The Banana Slug Song - This song, which discusses eating banana slugs, is by the band Severe Tire Damage.[2] It's available for free download on their site (with all other STD songs). Notably, They Might Be Giants titled a live album Severe Tire Damage.
  • Big Bang Theory Theme - This song is by Canadian band Barenaked Ladies. Occasionally referred to as "The History of Everything", this is the theme song for the TV show The Big Bang Theory.
  • Can't Find My Eye - This song is by American band Snot Patties.[3] It was tacked on the end of the then-unreleased "Mr. Xcitement" before Mink Car came out.
  • Chewbacca (mistagged as "Chewbacca, What A Wookie") - This song is by American band Supernova. It was featured in the film Clerks.
  • Existential Blues - This song is by American singer Tom "T-Bone" Stankus. It's a 6-minute bout of nonsense loosely based on The Wizard of Oz.
  • Flight of the Barking Death Squirrels - This song is by The Gland Puppies.[5] It almost seems as if they were intentionally trying to spoof TMBG - soundalikes for each John are very obvious.
  • Gin and Juice - This song is by American alt-country band The Gourds, as a cover of the classic rap song by Dr. Dre with Snoop Doggy Dogg. In addition to TMBG, it has been misattributed to Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Oar, Phish, and Ween.
  • I Be An Retarded (aka "I Am Retarded") - This song is by Hemorrhoy Rogers and the RRhoid Boyz.[6] It is doubtful TMBG would do a song that mocks mentally handicapped people.
  • Icon - This song is by American singer James Call (son of rock star Alex Call of the band Clover), who cites TMBG as a direct influence. It was once the only previewable song on TMBG's Last.fm page, though they are not affiliated with this song at all.
  • The Incredible Shrinking Day (or "I'm Not Coming in Anymore") - This song was written by Cartoon Network writer Stuart Hill[7] and performed by musician Garrett Freireich.[8] Perhaps due to the Cartoon Network "Groovies" the band did for Courage The Cowardly Dog and Dexter's Laboratory, this song has been misattributed to the band.
  • Internet Sandman - This song is performed by Johnny Crass, who reacted with this song when Metallica sued Napster. It is also sometimes called Metallica vs. Napster.[9]
  • King of Spain - This song is by Canadian band Moxy Früvous. Not only is TMBG emphatically not Canadian, but it should also be noted that the band's name is actually in the song, thus making the TMBG credit even more ridiculous! Included on Working Undercover For The Man (Bootleg).
  • Mexican Radio - This song is by American band Wall of Voodoo, and sung by Stan Ridgway. It also came out in 1982, which is a little early for it to be a TMBG song.
  • New Jersey - This parody of several of John Linnell's State Songs was spread among TMBG fans, at some point being incorrectly labeled as actually by Linnell. The MP3 is labeled as being a "style parody of 'Iowa' and 'Nevada'," though the track itself is very bizarre. Roughly half the song is a strange, reverb-filled sound collage that features, among other things, a guy talking about Pokemon. In 2024, the song was found to have been recorded by Ross Dickinson.
  • Puttin' On the Ritz - European singer Taco performs this cover of an old Irving Berlin song, in a manner that might be misinterpreted to be TMBG. The song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", written by Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon (1953), is covered by the Giants and is based on the tune of "Puttin' On the Ritz".
  • The Safety Dance - This New Wave hit by Canadian band Men Without Hats about pogo dancing is sometimes misattributed to TMBG, and also occasionally mistitled "We Can Dance If You Want To."
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