Talk:A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants: Melody, Fidelity, Quantity

From This Might Be A Wiki

Don't Lets Start on this album is slightly different from the one on Then, whats the difference (there deffenitly is one)

12/4/05: The Don't Let's Start used on Then is the Single Mix. The Don't Let's Start on this compilation is the original mix, off the Pink Album. -CapitalQ

the rhino page lists I Wanna Be Down - (Remix featuring Queen Latifah, Yoyo & MC Lyte) as one of the tracks...:s

The following songs are listed on the album liner notes, but are not on the wondrous wiki. Other anomolies are listed as well.

So what's with all the school-themed songs? And who is this Stewy? BigJohn

Actually, some of these songs are on the Songs That Need Pages page...we just don't have enough info to add them. If you have any info on these songs, please add pages for them! --Duke33 21:14, 9 May 2005 (EDT)

just speculation. Badqueso 23:32, 9 May 2005 (EDT)

From an article by Ann Powers in the June 16, 1999 New York Times- "Flansburgh popped one tape after another into his stereo. 'This is a theme we've done for a new Nickelodeon series, "Stewy the Dogboy,"' he said as human barking filled the room."

So that's sort of answer, I guess.

"Dog Rock Intro" and "Dog Rock Crispy" are probably variations of the Daily Show Theme Dog On Fire. I'm guessing many of these - "Beth Littleford", "This Just In"- are explainable as incidental music. I also suspect they simply reproduced publishing records without editing very well. You can search BMI by writer using one or the other of the Johns and turn up alot of these things. I think many of these are more songs through legal necessity than part of the catalogue. (Thanks to J.D. Mack on alt.music.tmbg for the BMI info) -Tisher 2:33, 11 May 2005 (MDT)

I thought that "Dog Rock Intro" and "Dog Rock Crispy" might be variations of the Daily Show theme as well, but Daily Show with Jon Stewart is listed separately. No other variations are listed separately that I can see. For instance, Clowntown is listed, but not C-town, nor are Chopping Block (Instrumental) or Boss Of Me (Instrumental) listed, though Oranges Testimonial and Boss Of Me are. Of course, those are instrumental variations. Fake Believe is listed only once as well. BigJohn

I haven't actually seen the liner notes, so I'm speculating on what you've told me. I suspect all this is just sloppiness. I think they probably did a copy and paste from the BMI website and edited out some of the obvious redundancies and inappropriate things (look at all the "Bumper-Newsy" and so forth) but didn't really care enough or actually remember the songs. Is it even clear that the Johns (or more likely Flansburgh) actually did these notes themselves? -Tisher 16:07 11 May (MDT)

Just to note: The User's Guide information box about "U.S.Presidents in TMBG Lyrics" is incorrect. Washington is mentioned in two songs- Lincoln, Washington, And That Jefferson Guy, and Violin. I'm also not sure Where the second reference to James Buchanan is, and perhaps "The Yellow Roosevelt Avenue" bit from Cowtown should be credited as a refence to a president as well.. although it's an indirect one. --Mongoose


Also, they don't mention both "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" and "She Was A Hotel Detective".

Some of the track numbers on the "Track-Related Timeline" are incorrect, too.

it really bothers me that they don't have Fingertips on this album.... Bluething 13:18, 25 Jul 2005 (EDT)

They should have had "Experimental Film," and more than just two off of "Factory Showroom." Aside from that, It's a good compilation.

I don't have this cd, and I don't really plan to get it since I already have all the songs, but what is this discussion about songs listed that aren't on the wiki? Is there a list of all TMBG's songs in the liners? --BlarJotunn

Keep in mind too that they wrote hundreds of cues and scene transition type stuff for Malcolm In The Middle. There are worlds of complicated legalese surrounding the copyright-ability of such stuff, so this might be why a certain bunch of sounds put together constitute a "song" and require a title, and another bunch of sounds don't count as a song. I know people in the legal department at BMG and you could power a good-sized suburb with the legal complexities of copyright. --DKC 18:50, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

James K. Polk[edit]

Which version is on here? The disc itself has a graph of reltaively how many songs were taken from each album, and it seems like they would have James K. Polk with Factory Showroom. I'll check the liner in the morning. I've only heard the version on here and the NPR one, so please don't shoot if I seem like an idiot for this. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 04:08, 10 Apr 2006 (CDT)

Worth Buying?[edit]

So, what does everybody think--is this CD worth getting? I'd really only be getting it for the extensive liner notes (which sound cool!) and the original version of Don't Let's Start (which I don't have because I just have Then). I'd really like to get some feedback on this if I can. Thanks. ~Drew

I'm gonna go ahead and say this would be worth getting for the alternate version of James K Polk, which is also on Dial-A-Song but is more expensive, and is not available a la carte online (for some reason). Then again, I still have yet to shell out twelve bucks for a set of songs I already have...--Oddjob 03:57, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
Well, I never bought it, and if you are on a quest to become the truest TMBG fan via magbatz emulation, then I would advise against buying User's Guide. The liner notes are cool, and the weird trivia lists are fun, but in this prize-winning economist's view, it is simply not worth the money. The way I see it, the Wiki is kind of a substitute for this strange and extensive bundle of lists, and I'm sure after the first two or three days of having it, you'd never look at the User's Guide info/stats again. ~ magbatz 04:27, 17 October 2007 (UTC)
it may have been the first CD i bought, but it is certainly not my favorite. But I had no choice of buying it cause it was the only CD in the store. I would think that next time that a "best of" would have more accurate information, and have some better song. I seriously don't know why Spider or Minimum Wage are on there. Those songs aren't the best. Maybe before making this kind of thing, fans should be polled to see what songs should be put on. --Nerdy4ever95 11:54, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Japanese?[edit]

Is this a Japanese User's Guide? -- DidgeGuy (आ ज) 17:23, 29 September 2010

definitely not; cds aren't usually that fictional. however, i have seen a far-eastern edition on ebay. the lack of kana (as well as seller location) leads me to believe it's taiwanese. --ant 17:35, 29 September 2010 (UTC)
Dam. This (sorry about the daleks)
And yeah, it is Taiwanese. This should be included in the release details, right? -- DidgeGuy (आ ज) 18:49, 29 September 2010
not until we find out the technical details. i'm willing to bet it's an export version. --ant 19:07, 29 September 2010 (UTC)
Hmm... I'll contact the guy. -- DidgeGuy (आ ज)

is there something that exists...[edit]

Are the exact liner notes available online anywhere? I kinda just wanna look at all the lists and graphs. --You&Me!! (talk) 09:04, 9 September 2021 (EDT)

Yeah, they're on the discogs page. TitanicFog (talk) 10:19, 9 September 2021 (EDT)
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