Talk:TMBG.ORG FAQ/Revisions

How can I find out more about They Might Be Giants? How do I join the TMBG fan club?

First, listen to all of their music.

Secondly, you can surf the official They Might Be Giants website (theymightbegiants.com) and check out TMBG's Tumblr (tmbgareok.tumblr.com), John Flansburgh often answers fan questions on there.

Thirdly, go see them in concert. Check theymightbegiants.com/shows for tour dates.

Lastly, you can join the official They Might Be Giants mailing list. That's where you can get updates on all things TMBG. Go to theymightbegiants.com/mailing-list to join.

How do I get off the mailing list?

There's a link to unsubscribe in all mailing list emails.

What are TMBG doing now and when will the next record be released? What are the tour dates?

TMBG's most recent album BOOK came out in November of 2021, and they are working on a new album right now, according to John Flansburgh. TMBG are currently on tour right now. Most of the shows are sold out but some are available at theymightbegiants.com/shows.

Is Dial-A-Song for real?

Yes, it is. The correct number for Dial-A-Song is 844-387-6962. Always just a regular call to Brooklyn. Toll-free.

Are there TMBG lyrics and/or archives of the mailing list available? Where can I get the latest TMBG discography?

Why, ALL of those things are available on this very site. Check out the pages Lyrics, Mailing List Archive, and Discography.

Where does the name "They Might Be Giants" come from?

They Might Be Giants is the name of a film starring George C. Scott, as a classic paranoiac who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes, and Joanne Woodward, as his psychiatrist Dr. Watson. Said film was previously a broadway play. The play's title . . . comes from a section of Don Quixote da la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes, where Don Quixote's trusted servant Sanch Panza asks the Don why is preparing to attack several windmills (common in Spain) with his lance. Don Quixote replies "Why, because they might be giants."

(TMBG, the play, was never performed on Broadway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Might_Be_Giants_%28film%29)

What is the "long long trailer"?

The Long Long Trailer is a film starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. They take a trip towing their house trailer behind them. The dishes get broken. The car keeps driving. Nobody stops to save her (because Desi can't hear her, she's in the trailer).

What does the Morse code spell in "The Pencil Rain"?

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, canta y no llores

It is a Spanish folk song translated the first line means "Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, sing and don't cry."

What are the lyrics to the bridge section in "Letterbox"? Why did they leave out one line of "Road Movie to Berlin"?

Too late or soon to make noise about love and there's no time for sorrow. Run around in the rain with a hole in the brain till tomo-rrooooow.

They cut the line in "Road Movie to Berlin" out because They thought it made the song too long.

What is the dialogue in "Snowball in Hell"?

Paul: I didn't expect to find a salesman drinking coffee this late in the morning. How long you been here, Joe?

Joe: I don't know. I guess 30, 45 minutes maybe. Why do you ask?

Paul: You must be making a lot of sales. Piling up a good income.

Joe: Ohhhhaaaa I'm doing alright. I could do better, but.... Ohhhahaha I get it Paul. Back on that old Time Is Money kick, right?

Paul: Not back on it Joe, still on it.

Why does "Where Your Eyes Don't Go" sound so familiar?

The bridge part is the melody to "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah", and the final section seems to be a twisted mixture of the theme to "Perry Mason" and the theme to "Mayberry R.F.D."

Who is speaking in the song with no name? (track 13 on Miscellaneous T)

According to John Flansburgh:

This is a very frequently asked question. Back when very few people called Dial-A-Song the phone machine that played the songs took messages. I came home one day and found the message tape full, instead of the ten or twenty messages it usually had. I rewound the tape and found that most of it was taken up by a woman who had called on a conference call with her friend, listened to the song and then proceeded to have a private conversation unaware that the Dial-A-Song machine was recording them. The recording on track thirteen is just an excerpt of the first couple of minutes of their conversation. It actually got much stranger, but it was unrelated to the band, and too freaky to put on a record.

What is the backwards voice saying in "I'll Sink Manhattan"? What is the backwards message in "Which Describes How You're Feeling"? What's the backwards message at the end of "Hide Away, Folk Family"? What's the backwards music at the end of "Subliminal"?

In "I'll Sink Manhattan", the voice comes from a New York Police Department member who left a message on Dial-A-Song. The message is: "Thanks a lot guys." "From the N.Y.P.D." "We love ya." It's actually three separate messages; the first is at normal speed and the other two are slowed down a bit.

In "Which Describes How You're Feeling", the message is: "THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS WANTED TO INCLUDE A VERSE ABOUT THE SUFFERING PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, BUT WE COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHERE TO PUT IT INTO THE SONG." This message only appears on the DEMO version of "Which Describes How You're Feeling", which is available on "Then: The Earlier Years" and on some of the singles for The Statue Got Me High.

About "Hide Away, Folk Family", the secret message wasn't even recorded backwards, John and John just babbled into the mic while recording it backwards.

And finally, regarding "Subliminal", the backwards section is just the drums and vocals from the ending of the song reversed.

Whose face is in the video for "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head"?

William Allen White. His face was also used for props at TMBG concerts, appears on the CD single of "Don't Let's Start", appears in the "Don't Let's Start" video, and otherwise can be found associated with TMBG.

Who are the two guys on the cover of Lincoln?

John and John's grandfathers: Louis T. Linnell and Brigadier General Ralph Hospital.

Who are "They May Be Giants"? How did TMBG get where they are today?

The two founding members of They Might Be Giants are John Flansburgh and John Linnell. John Conant Flansburgh was born on May 6, 1960, and is married. John Sidney Linnell was born on June 12, 1959, and is married and has a child.

Find out more about the early years of They Might Be Giants at the They Might Be Giants page.

Currently the band also features the drumming of Marty Beller, the excellent bass playing of Danny Weinkauf, and Dan Miller on lead guitar.

Who originally performed "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"?

"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" was originally recorded in 1953 by The Four Lads. Its lyrics were written by Jimmy Kennedy and music by Nat Simon.

Did TMBG write that kid's song about the sun?

"Why Does The Sun Shine?" is a remake of the song by Hy Zaret And Lou Singer, performed by folk singer Tom Glazer on the album Space Songs (Motivation Records, 1959).

What does "Ana Ng" mean?

In a 1988 interview on MTV, John Linnell said: The name Ng seems to be a Vietnamese name... So if you look at the globe and you find Vietnam, you'll see that the opposite side of the world from Vietnam is Peru. So the song, presumably, is about someone in Peru, writing about somebody in Vietnam. But I didn't know that when I wrote it.

In a 1996 interview with Pitchfork Magazine, Linnell also said: I think I was collecting possible song ideas and, for some reason, I ended up looking in the phone book, and there were about four pages of this name that contains no vowels, Ng. I was fascinated because it's a name I didn't know about before, and it was filling up a large chunk of the Manhattan white pages. I called up some of the numbers kind of experimentally to find out how it was pronounced, and I got the phone machine of a Dr. Ng and I was kind of relieved. The message said, "Dr. Ng is not in," and I had my material.

What are they wearing on their heads in the "Don't Let's Start" video?

Carpet hats, built entirely by John Flansburgh out of felt, cardboard, and duct tape. These hats were a regularly-used prop in TMBG's early live shows.

What is "Particle Man" about?

John Linnell in a 1994 radio interview: "It's pretty on the surface, you know? And people really, they really want to know what the secret message behind 'Particle Man' is, you know, and there just isn't one. It's what it is."

Check Interpretations:Particle Man to see what the people think about this song.

I like TMBG, what other bands might I like?

Check This Might Be A Wiki:Other Bands You Might Like If You Like TMBG to see what the people think.

What is the sample at the beginning of "Boat of Car"?

The "daddy'll sing bass" sample is from the Johnny Cash song "Daddy Sang Bass."

What are the palindromes in "I Palindrome I"?

In the bridge section of the song, the lyrics are a WORD palindrome (rather than the usual LETTER palindromes):

"Son I am able", she said "though you scare me." "Watch", said I "beloved," I said "watch me scare you though", said she, "able am I, Son".

"Egad, a base tone denotes a bad age!"

"Man o nam" or "man oh man"

Who is "dead uncle allotheria"?

Allotheria was a now-extinct class of mammals from the Mesozoic era.

What are the lyrics of "James K. Polk"?

Check Lyrics:James K. Polk.

What is "The Statue Got Me High" about?

While the lyrics share some similarities with the story of Don Giovanni, John Linnell said in the book In Their Own Words: Songwriters Talk About the Creative Process:

It's kind of a song about having an epiphany or something. The song actually started with completely different lyrics. That's what I was saying about dummy lyrics. I think the song was called "The Apple of My Eye". When I came up with the line "the statue got me high", it amused me. It was taking two things and putting them together - not a non sequitur but something sort of interesting and odd about the juxtaposition of those two things. Part of it is that it's the idea that the statue would be in a public square, a monument. Not necessarily a work of art, but something that's just utterly immobile and represents something that's in the past - just the idea of that blowing somebody's mind. It seems like one of the least likely things to make the top of your head come off, and that's what happens in the song.

What is "Purple Toupee" all about?

Reminiscing on 1960s culture. Check Interpretations:Purple Toupee to see the fan interpretations.

Where did the cover of Flood come from?

That photograph was found by Flansburgh in the basement archives of Life magazine. It existed as only a contact print on a roll of film shot by famous photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White. It was in a series of photographs of Kentucky flood victims from around 1930. Another photograph from that very same shoot has become quite well known. It is of people standing in a bread line in front of a billboard poster of a happy family in a car with the words "America: Highest Standard of Living." It is featured in the Best of Life and has become synonymous with the Great Depression, even though the events surrounding the photograph are unrelated to it.

What is the Hello Recording Club and how do I join?

The Hello Recording Club (also known as The Hello CD of the Month Club) was a subscription-only record company run by John Flansburgh and Marjorie Galen from 1993 to 1996. The Hello Recording Club released about ten exclusive CD EPs per year, from artists such as Laura Cantrell, Brian Dewan, and Frank Black.

Did you know that Nightgown of the Sullen Moon is a book?

In a 2002 interview on WBUR, John Linnell said, "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon is a song that... there was a misunderstanding about the origin of that. Somebody showed me a drawing that their kid had done. I think I had this sort of fantasy of doing a 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' kind of thing. I was like 'oh, it's cute, what an amazing expression for a kid, and of course no adult could ever think of something as interesting as that.' So I cook up this whole song, and then it turned out it was the name of a children's book."

What is the song "Birdhouse in Your Soul" all about?

John Linnell said in a 1994 interview: "We're not really into writing songs with secret meanings or coded messages. I mean, for example, 'Birdhouse In Your Soul' is a song about a nightlight. That's it. It's written from the perspective of a nightlight serenading the occupant of its room. The thing is, there are so many syllables in the songs that we have to come up with something to fill the spaces. So it ends up being kind of Gilbert and Sullivany."

Linnell also said in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview: "The melody and chords were cooked up years earlier, and the lyrics had to be shoehorned in to match the melody, which explains why the words are so oblique. I mean beautiful."

Can someone tell me who Marvin Gaye and Phil Ochs are? Who is Kurtis Blow?

Phil Ochs was a folk singer. TMBG covered Phil's "One More Parade" on the Rubaiyat compilation.

Marvin Gaye was a quite famous & successful soul music (Motown) singer/musician/songwriter. He was shot (and killed) by his father.

Kurtis Blow was a funk singer/rapper of the late 70s/early 80s.

Who originally did the song "Frankenstein" that They play at live shows?

The song "Frankenstein", played live by They Might Be Giants mainly between 1992 and 1995, was originally performed by The Edgar Winter Group.

Where did the song "Lady is a Tramp" from?

Due to Flansburgh's fascination with Sinatra, They Might Be Giants covered the song live along with other songs from the Frank Sinatra adaptation of the musical Pal Joey ("There's A Small Hotel", "My Funny Valentine", "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", "I Could Write A Book") as part of their "Pal Joey Revival" segment. The song is recycled from the Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms (1937).

Is the song "We're the Replacements" a mockery or a tribute?

In a 1996 interview with Pitchfork, John Linnell said: "I wrote 'Ana Ng' and 'We're The Replacements' while crashing at a friend's apartment, Jonathan Gregg, in Manhattan. [...] It was supposed to be this sort of light-hearted, "Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees" type of thing. I was listening to his records and looking at his stuff -- and he had a copy of Let It Be by The Replacements, which is what kind of got me going on that song.

In a Barrymore Theatre interview, John Flansburgh said: "[The song] basically plays on the name, The Replacements. And it's about being in a band, and it uses The Replacements as an example, but it's also about the replaceable nature of being on the road."

What are the strange background vocals in "Dinner Bell"? What are they singing in "See The Constellation"?

As for the "experimental dog, salivating dog" vocals, the tmbg.com FAQ archive quotes Linnell as saying: "The song does indirectly refer to Pavlov's famous experiment involving a dog's reaction to the ringing of a bell after associating the sound with food."

The list of body parts ("shoulder, bicep, elbow, arm", etc.) was generated using a complicated process: Linnell listened to a tape of the words being played backwards, which he then attempted to imitate. For example, "elbow" backwards sounds something like "wuh-bleh." The tape of Linnell's backwards imitations was then itself reversed, creating the unusual-sounding words heard in the song. You can hear what Linnell actually sang here.

Who is James Ensor?

John Flansburgh said in a 1994 alt.music interview:

In my art history class, while in college, we were bored and all of a sudden [Ensor's] works came up and we were surprised at how exciting it was. He was an expressionist, like other 20th century expressionist painters, who was ahead of his time and was very eccentric. The line "Dig him up and shake his hand" is actually very specific - a parallel idea to a lot of his paintings which involve resurrections, skeletons and puppets being animated. It's not an accident that the language of the song reflects his work. He did a painting - titled something like "Self Portrait in 1970". It's a skeleton, wearing his clothes. He became a phenomenon right before the turn of the century. With the song, I'm trying to encapsulate the issues of his life - an eccentric guy who became celebrated and was soon left behind as his ideas were taken into the culture and other people became expressionists.

James Ensor's Wikipedia page is here.

Who is Edith Head, and where does the song She Thinks She's Edith Head come from?

Edith Head was the costume designer for nearly four hundred films between 1932 and 1982. She created the costumes for such classics as Saigon (1948), The War of the Worlds (1953), Sabrina (1954), The Ten Commandments (1956), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) as well as most of Alfred Hitchcock's & Jerry Lewis's films. For a complete list of Head's work, check the Internet Movie Database.

John Flansburgh has said that the song is based on a woman he knew in college, and that this woman actually thought she was Napoleon Bonaparte. However, since it's very rare for a woman to think that she's Napoleon, he changed it to Edith Head to make it more "universal".

Why aren't the lyrics to "AKA Driver" printed in the liner notes?

In an interview with Peter Koechley, John Linnell was asked that very question, and he says:

We're afraid of getting sued because it mentions a product name. We can't print the word NyQuil on the record, so we had to call the song something else besides "NyQuil Driver". But we can say it in the song all we want, we're just not allowed to [print it on the record]. We didn't want to get sued. . . I don't even know why NyQuil would be upset. Is it that we are suggesting that there is something wrong with their product? Or, is it that we would be stealing their customers away by getting them to buy records instead of cold medicine?

Does the song "The End of the Tour" mean that They Might Be Giants will never play live again?

No, TMBG is still actively and eagerly touring. You can get tickets to see TMBG live at https://www.theymightbegiants.com/shows

What was the countdown that TMBG used during the They Might Be Giants tour?

This countdown intro was used to introduce the show during the tour to support TMBG's debut album, They Might Be Giants. It is transcribed as follows:

Countdown to the program! Checklist: 10! Your ten fingers reach into the air. 9! You wiggle your nine toes in anticipation. (Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention. They Might Be Giants have just crash-landed their glass bottom car into the control tower at Jim Baker International Airport.) 8! Already you've forgotten what you ate for dinner. A creeping numbness consumes you. (This just in, the human egg has been sighted plummeting from the sky. Scientists standing by to assure us that nothing is wrong have already been found murdered in their laboratories.) 7! Seven members of the band They Might Be Giants have quit the group over bitter disagreements about the introduction to tonight's show. 6! You begin to feel six. (Watch Professor Psycho-Fuckup, arrested and convicted of gate-crashing the show tonight, has hung himself by his watchband in his prison cell. He is listed in perfect condition!) 5! Your five senses swell as you realize that history is not being made tonight, rather it is being consumed by a creeping numbness standing next to you. 4! No one seems to know what this is for. (Overturned tractor trailers rubbernecking bumper to bumper!) 3! Only three seconds remain until They Might Be Giants hits the stage over and over again. 2! It's time 2 sit back and make way for the 1! band that can overcome the 0! in their bank account. I don't mean to be the -1! but you'd be -2! if it weren't for the fabulous show you're about to enjoy. Ladies and gentlemen, make way for They Might Be Giants!

What was the countdown that TMBG used during the John Henry tour?

Here is a transcription of the countdown intro that was used during the John Henry tour, as recited by John Linnell.

10! Your ten fingers reach into the air. 9! Your nine toes wriggle in anticipation. 8! Already you've forgotten what you ate for dinner. 7! Seven stagehands reach for the one remaining beer. 6! You feel six. 5! Only five seconds remain until They Might Be Giants hits the stage over and over again. 4! No one seems to know what this is for. 3! Only three things stand between you and this evening's event and 2! of them are huge security guards. Which means the 1! obstacle remaining is the 0! holding up the show with this countdown. I don't mean to be the -1! but you'd be -2! if it weren't for the fabulous show you're about to enjoy. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome They Might Be Giants

Which John sings this song?

• Songs sung by John Linnell are listed here: Sung by John Linnell
• Songs sung by John Flansburgh are listed here: Sung by John Flansburgh
• Songs sung by both Johns are listed here: Sung by both Johns
• Songs sung by other people are listed here: Sung by other people

What is the difference between the Don't Let's Start collection and Miscellaneous T?

The Don't Let's Start collection is the European release of Miscellaneous T, preceding Misc. T by approximately 18 months.

They are essentially the same album, except that Misc. T has an extra track (Hello Radio), and a slightly altered track list. (The single mix of Don't Let's Start is the first track on the DLS collection and the last track on Misc. T.) The Don't Let's Start collection also has completely different artwork.

Is there really a hidden track on the Factory Showroom CD? How can I find it?

Yes. On your CD player, start the CD, then hold down the "rewind" («) button. At 1:03, let go; the secret track (track 0, entitled "Token Back To Brooklyn") will play. On some CD players, you may need to press "pause" before rewinding, and many CD players do not recognize this track at all. Sorry, tape owners, this track is only on the CD. And some non-USA CDs do not include the track either. But you can now hear Token Back to Brooklyn on Long Tall Weekend.

What is this tribute album I keep hearing about?

We Might Be Giants, Too! is a They Might Be Giants tribute album released in 1998. It was the brain child of various members of the USENET newsgroup alt.music.tmbg.

What's the deal with On Earth My Nina?

On Earth My Nina, track number 14 on Long Tall Weekend was created by John Linnell as a kind of joke. One day he was fooling around with a recording of another TMBG song, Thunderbird. He had reversed it and was interested to hear what sounded like the phrase 'On Earth My Nina'. Then he had the idea that he could create a song that sounded kind of like Thunderbird when you play it in reverse, so that's what he did. Married with the idea that anyone who is downloading the MP3 has access to the technology to reverse it, it was the perfect candidate for Long Tall Weekend.

Who is Brian Dewan, and how does he tie in with TMBG?

Brian Dewan is a solo musician who has known the Johns since the early years. He shared an apartment with John Linnell, which is where the video for The Guitar was shot. Brian plays autoharp, accordion and a homemade electric zither, among other things. He is also a carpenter, and he has his own line of furniture: Dewan Luxury Products. He also built the structures found on the covers of Lincoln & Miscellaneous T. Brian performed two of the Fingertips on Apollo 18 (I Found a New Friend Underneath My Pillow & Who's Knocking on the Wall) and he has opened for They Might Be Giants and Mono Puff on numerous occasions throughout the years. Since 2004, Brian Dewan and his cousin Leon Dewan have built solid-state handmade electronic synthesizer instruments called "Dewanatrons."

Did TMBG record Fish Heads, 88 Lines About 44 Women, The Beer Song, etc.?

No. There are many songs that are labeled as They Might Be Giants being offered on such services as Napster, Scour Exchange, iMesh, etc. Usually this happens when someone downloads a song that is unlabeled in terms of the artist, and the song sounds like TMBG to said person. Here is a list of some of these songs, followed by the artist(s) that actually recorded them.

Fish Heads - Barnes & Barnes
88 Lines About 44 Women - The Nails
The Beer Song - Matt Stone & Trey Parker (of South Park fame)
Spiderman - Moxy Fruvous (sometimes labeled as Superman)
Puttin' on the Ritz - Fred Astaire, Taco (some people think this song sounds like Istanbul)
The Banana Slug Song - Severe Tire Damage (you can see why this one was labeled as TMBG)
Flight of the Barking Death Squirrel - Big Poo Generator
I Be an Retarded - Big Poo Generator

End of They Might Be Giants FAQ