Interpretations:Butcher's Tale

I was shocked to see that They Might Be Giants covered one of my favorite Zombies songs! I haven't heard their version yet, but when the Zombies sing it it's a pretty straight-forward anti-war song (just like the lyrics imply).

But I have no doubt that John and John could make it say anything they want to...I'm going on a scavenger hunt for this one now!

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It's hard to see what they were going for with this one. JL's accordion backing is fairly faithful to Rod Argent's harmonium playing on the original track, but JF's aggressively-bawled vocal is jarring and appears to be playing for laughs, which seems uncharacteristically disrespectful to the serious nature of the original track and the subject matter, especially considering its graphic content. Chris White's song is a fairly unflinching portrait of the horror of the WWI trenches, but is undercut by TMBG's almost sarcastic delivery.

- Agreed, this being my favorite zombies song by my favorite band should be great but no it's just a wreck. Rerecord should be made where either Linnell or maybe even Weinkauf should take vocals. Long live the Zombies! -PW