Interpretations:Untitled

I guess it's just a recording of someone who called the Dial a Song hotline and forgot to hang up. I don't think it has any meaning; it was just something they couldn't resist adding to their album.

I wonder what the relationship between Gloria and the man on the phone is. Are they friends, are they married? Are they having an illicit affair? Siblings? I like to imagine that he's just some random person she calls whenever she has urgent questions. -Martorano

"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."

Am I the only one whose "teeth [are] chattering for more" after reading this? I desperately want to hear the rest of that tape, and to know what John is talking about!

There's a small section of the rest of the conversation available via the TMBG Clock Radio; entitled Gloria Says "Blast Her Out", it deals with Gloria's friend and his desperate struggle with the woman upstairs.--64.131.249.17 19:58, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Agreeing with the above commenter, I absolutely am chattering for more about this too. I posed the question to the Johns who are going on KMSU's Shuffle Function show on They Might Be Playing They Might Be Giants today (18 Nov 2016). We'll see if I get any answers!

EDIT: John Flansburgh answered, saying they indeed do still have the tape (It's labeled “Gloria”) but that the TMBG-unrelated segment might be too personal for wide distribution. --User:MrDJ

A brush with the unknown.

My interpretation of this is probably convoluted, but let me try.

The woman listened to They Might Be Giants' Dial-a-song, and is trying to grasp the idea of music for the idea of music.

The man seems unwilling to talk about the entire thing. Ignorance is bliss in a way.

Trying to understand the point behind something which is only existing to be pointless.

Whenever something is presented in such a way, humans tend to look for the ulterior motive. In this case, the woman alludes to the idea that it's for money, but Dial-a-song asks for nothing.

We try to make sense, and put patterns and order to the noise. Put pictures to the clouds, per se.