Whistling In The Dark
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| song name | Whistling in the Dark |
| artist | They Might Be Giants |
| releases | Flood, Flood + Apollo 18 |
| year | 1990 |
| first played | November 15, 1989 (480 known performances) |
| run time | 3:25 |
| sung by | John Linnell, John Flansburgh harmonizes |
Trivia/Info
- The saying "whistling in the dark" means to try to act courageous in a frightening or unfortunate situation. However, the saying is not used in the usual or correct context in the song.
- "The bass drum sound was something we actually worked on for quite a while in the studio and we weren't so happy with it even in the end — but I think in our imaginations even an atomic blast would have been too small. We actually recorded it and possibly sampled it so we could retrigger the biggest sound." - John Flansburgh in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview
- Linnell commented in the same 2009 Rolling Stone interview, "I thought it would be funny if there were two guys who have a seemingly brief, hostile interaction and the camera pulls back and they're in jail together. Bear in mind, if you insist on interpreting the words to this peculiar song, that the narrator is comfortable and capable in the role of being what he's like. However, as the wise men say, an 'is' is not an 'ought.'"
- During some live performances, John Flansburgh discards his guitar (often during the accordion solo of the previous song, "Hearing Aid") and picks up a large chest-mounted bass drum, which he strikes zealously through the song. A performance of the song featuring the drum was played on PostModern MTV in 1989.
- Additionally, the song is usually played in the key of G Minor instead of E Major. The song sometimes begins a cappella, and the second verse starts slower and speeds up in pace to match the usual tempo.
- The liner notes read "I merrily walked away" instead of the correct "I happily walked away."
Song Themes
Accents, Criminal Activities, Different When Played Live, Fading, Heads, Jail And Imprisonment, Mind Control, Hypnotism, Not In Common Time, Oblique Cliches Or Idiom, Poison, Problems With Liner Notes, Recursion, Violence, Writing
Videos
- Watch it on
(Static upload of the song) - Watch it on (The Johns performing the song on PostModern TV in 1989)
Current Rating You must be logged in to rate this. You can either login (if you have a userid) or create an account with us today. Whistling In The Dark is currently ranked #284 out of 1113. (183 wikians have given it an average rating of 8.67) |
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