Doctor Worm

Official video for "Doctor Worm"

He's not a real doctor, but he is a real worm.

Choreography!

KaBlam! video for "Doctor Worm"

Trivia/Info

• John Linnell ("The J Files" radio broadcast, November 1998):

Somebody said, 'That song doesn't make any sense. Typical of They Might Be Giants songs, the lyrics don't make any sense, how do you know, who knows what that's about.' And I thought about it for a second and I thought well you know, really, I feel defensive immediately hearing somebody describe it that way. But to me, the song makes perfect sense.

It's about somebody who has an idea of their identity that, you know, other people don't agree with. And specifically, it's about the kind of person who has a fantasy about [wanting] people to call them a nickname that nobody will agree to call them, and has an idea of their status that nobody else agrees on, and it's a pretty common problem, you know. I mean I grew up with people like that, who lived in their mothers' basements and had an idea that they were on TV and stuff like that, and that's all the song is really about, it's about somebody who has a fantasy and nobody else will buy into it.

• In an interview with Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, Linnell said that this song's origins can be traced back to the KISS song "Calling Dr. Love", when the two Johns would make up alternate lyrics to it. John Flansburgh also discussed this in a later interview:

Well, for a long, long time we have been riffing on the song "Dr. Love" by the band KISS. And I think just the weirdness of the conceit of that song was kind of rolling around in John Linnell's head. I know a million, billion times we've talked about the song "Dr. Love." It's such an absurd song. So I think "Dr. Love" was kind of the springboard for the idea behind "Dr. Worm."

• John Linnell would detail the evolution of this song in an interview with KMSU for the 2024 They Might Be Playing They Might Be Giants marathon:

"Doctor Worm" was originally more of a rock song with just a simple rock band arrangement. I demoed it and we recorded it, and then there was this feeling like: "We could make this song sound more big in some way". Eventually, what that led to was adding this whole horn arrangement, which included Mark Pender playing his terrific trumpet "super-high" notes. "Doctor Worm" I think went through at least three versions, really starting out much more simple before it got to the final version.

• The song's official music video features animation by cartoonist Gary Leib. According to the Direct From Brooklyn DVD's commentary, nobody who appeared in the video actually participated in the recording of the song except for the Johns themselves.
• A video which did not feature John and John was created for the Nickelodeon show, KaBlam!, by the design studio The Ink Tank. The video was produced by Richard O'Connor and Brian O'Connell, who would later found the studio Asterisk.
• Has been a staple of the Cornell University Big Red Marching Band's concert repertoire since its introduction in 1998.
• Between the late 90s and 2010, a confetti cannon manned by Iggy Ingoglia was often used during live performances of this song. Right after the guitar solo, the colorful pieces of paper were fired into the audience. The confetti also made appearances in "James K. Polk", "Older" and "Bed, Bed, Bed".
• Covered by Relient K on their EP K is for Karaoke.

Song Themes

A Cappella, Animals, Bells, Doors, Drums, Friendship, Medical, Music, People (Imaginary), Religion, Supernatural, Titles And Honorifics

Videos

• Watch it on
• Watch it on 
• Watch it on  - music video for Nickelodeon's KaBlam!
• Watch it on  - soundcheck, bonus footage from Gigantic DVD