Talk:Things We Weren't Meant To Hear (Or Other Mistakes)

Are we sure that the elevator music at the end of See The Constellation isn't intentional? There's all sorts of crazy stuff going on at the end. I'm pretty sure it was there on purpose.

the dogs barking at the end of tiny doctors could be a refrence to the beach boys song, Caroline, No. Which TMBG has also covered?

• I think the dogs barking in Tiny Doctors was only because it was a hastily recorded demo. I seem to remember another demo (Free Bird's Rebirth I think) where you can hear a police siren in the background that doesn't sound intenetional either. --Anextrafacelol 04:36, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Ana Ng

Anyone else hear in Ana Ng that near the end (the chorus repeated part) Linnell seems to cut a bit short on one of them? Should I add this? I just want to know if anyone else heard this. --Lemita 11:12, 18 Mar 2006 (CST)

Here Come The ABCs

I was watching the DVD on my computer the other day and noticed that in most of the Puppet John scenes that you can see the very top of someone's head in the lower left-hand corner. You can't see it on the TV though. Can anyone else back me up?-- hermy-o-ninny 12:23, 24 June 2006

I noticed that, I just figured it was one of the Johns heads. Usually Linnell. --INeedACrane 13:01, 24 Jun 2006 (MDT)

I never noticed that before. Going through the DVD just now, I also found this at the very beginning of Who Put The Alphabet In Alphabetical Order?. You can see alot of some guy's head. Don't think it's Linnell. Heads --Valerie 17:15, 24 Jun 2006 (MDT)

It's not Linnell in that one... but I'm pretty sure it is in the puppet intros.--INeedACrane 17:20, 24 Jun 2006 (MDT)

So do I. Think that the others are Linnell. --Valerie 17:25, 24 Jun 2006 (MDT)

The Spine Surfs Alone

Right after "calamine lotion", the "nothin" in "nothin's gonna help you now" seems kinda cut off or forced or something. Anybody else hear what I'm talking about? --Valerie 11:57, 6 Jul 2006 (MDT)

Whirlpool

I don't know if Linnell sounding far away from the mic in Whirlpool was intentional or not, but it sure sounds cool. --Anextrafacelol 04:36, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

(She Thinks She's) Edith Head

"At exactly 2:15, you can barely hear Flansburgh say, 'I ate a bug.'"

I removed the part that said it's only in the Long Tall Weekend version, because it is in the Mink Car version, also. And personally, I think it was on purpose seeing as how they kept it in the latter release. Akagi 16:05, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough, but I don't hear it at all in the Mink Car version. I even tried messing with the track and still couldn't hear it. Arguing whether it's on purpose or not, though, is kind of pointless. How do we know they don't want us to hear breath intakes on other songs? thevince 13:53, 19 May 2007 (EST)

It's in the ending, when you overhear John and John talking in the background. But I haven't listened for it in the LTW version, so I'm not sure if it's in the ending or in the middle of the song. Though if it is in a different place, I doubt he would accidentally eat a bug twice. Akagi 18:01, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay, now that's bizarre! It's a different clip AND it IS in a different spot on the LTW version. You can just barely hear it on the LTW weekend version. Perhaps Flans was pretty proud of eating a bug? Have a listen. 14:35, 19 May 2007 (EST)

Hmmm...I listened for it at 2:15 (and even started at 2:10 just in case), and I couldn't hear it. All I heard was "Do you guys wanna listen to the whole thing?" "One more, one more!" "Okay, one more!" Then came the screaming and the chorus again, but I didn't hear the mention of bug-eating. Akagi 20:49, 19 May 2007 (UTC) Okay, yeah, it's definitely there. And they're different clips, too, so it must've been intentional. I mean, the chances of eating a bug twice? Akagi 21:16, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Do you think it's some type of reference to Edith Head? Was she known for eating bugs? thevince 20:03 19 May 2007 (EST)

Let's never inhale

Since when is it a "mistake" to breathe?--Dan 17:08, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Anytime you can hear it in a song. It's possible to sing without loud breathing. Our guess is that in a song, there wasn't intended to be a gasp for breath in the middle of an unrelated line. -curious and questioning (t) 20:07, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

But with today's recording equipment, it is extremely easy to remove unwanted breathing in songs, so I wouldn't assume all the breathing sounds heard in songs are unintentional. Particularly in "I'm Impressed."--Dan 00:54, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

With the version of I'm Impressed in Podcast 26A, it sounds staccato, but there isn't the breathing. Does that mean that they don't have the same effects to make the breathing noises, or that they aren't meant to be in the studio version? -curious and questioning (t) 00:59, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I think the breathing on the studio version is an intentional studio effect that is not done live.--Dan 02:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Planet of the Apes

What about "sounds like valley of the dolls" in planet of the apes? It's not a mistake, but in my opinion, neither are most of the things on that list.

Employee of The Month

At the end, you can here the recorder players breathe in every once in a while. --Dunklekuh81

Executive Decision

No more of the breathing ones people. It is not a mistake. It's a tactic for living for humans. Also removed the otherwise obvious entires, such as instruments clicking. Personally, I dislike this section altogether, really isn't clear or helpful. Weigh in, you nutty wikians. --Luke 01:53, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Delete the whole page! It's impossible to know what is intentional and what is not. Even so, I'd say that we were "meant to hear" everything and I'm hesitant to call anything these professionals put out a "mistake." --badqueso 02:16, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, all you doubters are heretics, nonbelievers in the all-aware, ever-deep songcrafting process of They Might Be Giants! Why do you forcibly lower Them from the Heaven these gods deserve to dwell in? And while that's sarcastic, it's not. Half of the songs left on this page are demos, and for those the background noise really is a non-issue and disregarded by the band, who were obviously just demonstrating the songs. Then others are just different releases of songs, with some going on longer, which is no mistake in my opinion. As for the songs with pops, I know I could hear the various pops in Experimental Film on first listen, so They and Pat and everyone would have to be deaf not to pick up on it. And then others like Reprehensible or Whirlpool really cannot be decided by us as unintentional (especially Whirlpool). The long-winded point: This page is pointless. Unless we can know the Johns'/producers' intentions perfectly, we cannot judge what they did or did not miss.

I never did like the page anyway. ~ magbatz 03:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah this page is moronic. If the Johns didn't want us to hear something they wouldn't have released it.

There are a couple exceptions, for example the way the guitar solo breaks into the end of the flute solo in Au Contraire, which is strange (in a way TMBG songs aren't usually strange) and seems like it COULD be a mistake, although I don't really see how this could happen by accident in the world of digital editing.

Some of this stuff could be considered interesting to some people, not the stupid mentioning of background noise on demos but genuinely odd little things that pop into a song here and there. Maybe change the name of the article to "Anomalies", which is what Beatle websites call things like this, and not be so presumptuous as to assume everything is a mistake. --Oddjob 13:29, 13 March 2008 (UTC)