Self-Reference

References to They Might Be Giants themselves (as well as their songs and albums).

Songs referencing TMBG

• Ask Me Another - "...and us, They Might Be Giants"
• Battle For The Planet Of They Might Be Giants
• Cast Your Pod To The Wind - Refers to the free TMBG Podcast
• Countdown Intro - "They Might Be Giants have just crash-landed their glass bottom car into the control tower at Jim Baker International Airport!", "Make way for They Might Be Giants!"
• Critic Intro - "Every once in awhile, a band comes along that changes the course of human history, and that band is They Might Be Giants!"
• Become A Robot (Live) - "Ha! Mr. John Linnell"
• Cyclops Rock - "Dan!"
• D Is For Drums - Conversation between the two Johns during which they say each other's names numerous times
• Dan Vs. Cog - References to John F, John L, and Dan H
• Doom Doom - "Doppelgängers of They"
• Flansy Stays In The Picture
• Goatee - The Avatars Of They talk about themselves
• The Guitar - "Is it Jim? I don't know" Refers to NASA calling TMBG Jim and Jim
• He's Loco - The Avatars Of They discuss each other's "loco" characteristics
• Hell Hotel - "Bellhop takes his flashlight, takes John up to his room", etc.
• Here Come The 123s - "They Might Be Giants!"
• Here Come The ABCs - "They Might Be Giants!"
• Here Comes Science - "They Might Be Giants"
• Hi We're They Might Be Giants
• I Am Not Your Broom - a broom quarreling with John
• I Can Hear You, The Edison Museum (Wax Cylinder) and Maybe I Know (Wax Cylinder) - spoken introduction ("By They Might Be Giants!")
• I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar - "Marty"
• Integrity Project - "This is the new They Might Be Giants Integrity Project"
• Kitten Intro - "They Might Be Giants are not Satanists", "Make way, ladies and gentlemen, for They Might Be Giants!"
• L M N O - "It's time for an important lesson with Professor Flans"
• Mario Speaks - "Let's give a warm round of applause for They Might Be Giants!"
• Marty Beller Mask
• Maybe I Know (Wax Cylinder) - "Mr. Brian Doherty on the drums, ladies and gentlemen!"
• Miller Time
• Minneapolis - Describes the band having a fight
• Mr. Xcitement - "Like Flansy in a soda can it's trooky trooky trooky"
• Negative Ad - Ad for the 2022 Flood shows.
• New Haven - "Croak me, Dan..."
• No Cops - "Just They Might Be Giants"
• Not Too Clear, Not Too Long - "Every time I sing along to They Might Be Giants Dial-a-Song"
• Once A Year - "They Might Be Giants is the worst Secret Santa in the world"
• Oranges Testimonial - "Hey, this is John of They Might Be Giants; You might know me better as one of the guys from They Might Be Giants"
• The Power Of They Might Be Giants' Dial-A-Song
• Raleigh - "Bo Diddley and They Might Be Giants"
• Read A Book - "I'll ask John"
• Rhythm Section Want Ad - strongly implied
• Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love - "John, I've been bad"
• Songs - "Uninterrupted chain of They Might Be Giants material"
• Spoiled Milk From A Pampered Cow - "Yeah John?"
• Taking It To The Bridge (We Reinvented The Remix)
• Theme From Flood - "They Might Be Giants' brand new album, Flood"
• Theme From McSweeney's Issue 6 - Thank Yous - "...the Free Cooperation, They Might Be Giants ..."
• They Got Lost - "They Might Be Giants got lost driving around" also, on the live version, the announcer says, "Ladies and Gentlemen put your hands together for They Must Be Giants!"
• They Might Be Giants
• This Damn Band
• A TMBG Song
• TMBG Have This Thing
• Touring In Australia
• Unsupervised, I Hit My Head - References John Flansburgh's left-handedness.
• Village Gate Concert Promo - "Weren't you that guy in that band They Might Be Giants that I was in?"
• We Just Go Nuts At Christmastime - "Hi, this is John of They Might Be Giants"
• Welcome To The Jungle - "Welcome to the jungle, Dan, Welcome to it, John"
• When Will You Die - "This is Dan, and that's Dan, and there's Marty on the drums to complete the band, and I'm John and he is also John and all of us are wondering when you're gonna die"
• Whole Lot Of Glean
• You're Watching... - "They Might Be Giants' Dial-a-Song, not too short and not too long"

Songs referencing themselves

• 3 Chords, 2 Teeth, 1 Eye - "Oh I didn't realize we were still recording"
• A TMBG Song
• Alienation's For The Rich - "This song is dedicated to all you modern day troubadours out there"
• Ana Ng - "Showing the home of the one this was written for"
• Black Ops - "We'll sing our special song / And this is it"
• C Is For Conifers - "That's what this song is about"
• Creepy - "This song is called 'Creepy'"
• Disappointing Show - "This, uh, song. This song is called 'Other Show'...'Other Kind Of Show'. It's called 'Disappointing Show."
• Don't Cry - "And this song is all true, dedicated to you"
• Don't Let's Start - "The words I'm singing now mean nothing more than 'meow' to an animal"
• E Eats Everything - "U and V and W / Are worn out from this song"
• Everything Right Is Wrong Again - "And now the song is over now"
• Four Track Mind - Title refers to the four tracks present in the song
• Hall Of Heads - "The song of the Hall of Heads"
• Happy Doesn't Have To Have An Ending - "You've got to shake your tail when you hear this part"
• Hate The Villanelle - As JF put it at the song's first performance, "It's a true story about writing this song."
• Hidden Track - "This is the song I have written to keep my spirit alive and it goes: 'Hidden track hidden track...'"; "I would like to welcome you to the Mono Puff Syndicate's album, It's Fun To Steal."
• High Five - "Sing this song!"
• John Lee Supertaster - "And this is his true story"
• Kids Go! - "If you're hearing this song"
• My Man - "May I direct your attention to the following simile? / You're like the coasts of an ocean..."
• Number Three - "There's only two songs in me and I just wrote the third"
• Oddball - "Like the notes between the chords in this song"
• Olive The Other Reindeer - "And now the song must end"
• On Earth My Nina - "Here's my song"
• Planet Of The Apes - "On the Planet of the Apes, this song is sung"
• S-E-X-X-Y - "This is the way the talking part goes"
• Taste The Bass - Lyrically suggests that you experience its own soulful bass tones
• Three Might Be Duende - "The song is a march"
• To All The Girls I've Loved Before - "We dedicate this song to all the girls we've loved before"
• Tres Quatro - The title (Portuguese for "Three Four") refers to the song's time signature.
• Turn Around - The three verses all conclude with a character in the song singing the song: "So to calm my nerves I sang this song to him, over the phone", "And as dirt rained down she played a xylophone, and sang me this song", "And his face which was a paper-white mask of evil sang us this song"
• The World's Address - "Let them hear this song"
• Walking My Cat Named Dog - "Singing my song, singing my song"
• Weep Day - "I didn't write the words you hear me singing"

Songs referencing their associated release

• Factory Showroom - not actually released on the album; played live only
• Here Come The 123s
• Here Come The ABCs
• Here Comes Science
• House Of Mayors
• Severe Tire Damage Theme
• The Songs Of The 50 States - "State Songs, State Songs"
• Theme From Flood
• Theme From McSweeney's Issue 6
• Theme From McSweeney's Issue 6 - Thank Yous
• Theme From Unlimited

Songs referencing Mono Puff

• Dedicated - "Not only, but especially for, the ladies / Mono Puff"
• Distant Antenna - "Tonight they play a recorded performance of the group Mono Puff"; "a family labors to isolate the sound of Mono Puff from the static"

Honorable mention

• Album Raises New And Troubling Questions

See also

• Recycled Material has a list of TMBG song references
• Dial-A-Song Reference