Talk:Skullivan

Love this song! Kind of reminds me of the Unicorns song "Tuff Ghost" in the dynamics between the ghost/skullivan and the human singers. It's probably a coincidence, but I just LOVE this effect! And I'm glad that Their doing more experimental stuff like this over 20 years into their career...not too many other people doing that...off the top of my head I can think of Tom Waits, The Residents, Sonic Youth, Ween and The Flaming Lips...I can't really think of any others, though I'm sure there's a couple more...but regardless, TMBG belong to a select and elite group of musicians who have a seemingly endless stream of wonderful ideas. And also like several of those aforementioned groups, They've fully integrated internet technology into their lexicon. I downloaded the EP, and I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality (And of course the music quality!). And it made me feel good inside that the money was going straight to Them...hmmm....I kinda went off the subject, which wasthe song Skullivan...so on that note, I'm 100% sure he's saying "Skullivan" in this final version. Not too sure about the demo, though...if he was saying "Skeleton", then why on earth would the song be called "Skullivan"? I do admit, if you go in listening to the song thinking that you're going to hear "Skeleton", it DOES sound like that, but I've gotta say that the lyrics match the title. - Stiddy

Reminds me of Julian Cope - a bit! Very experimental but works well. i can see myself sampling the vocal for reproduction! - Chuckiemustdie

Why do the lyrics here say "when the skullivan walks..." ??? Linnell is clearly saying "skeleton" throughout the whole song. I tried correcting it and it got changed back again. He's saying "skeleton"!!! - jordan

Put on your headphones and listen again...it's definitely "skullivan". -- Duke33

Well, I'll be damned, it is. - jordan

Why would he say Skeleton if the song is called Skullivan? -Tanner

This song scares me...and yet it's my favorite song on this EP. --Checkers Piece Face

This song keeps getting better as Halloween gets closer.

That's kind of the image I get when listening to it, but with more exaggerated hip movement. Possibly with a top hat and cane.

Can anyone else hear that?

I was listening to this for the millionth time, and I noticed at the end of the 2nd chorus Linnell mumbles something... It's around where it starts to sound "off" I'm pretty sure. I think it might be "On the moonlit night" but it sounds... different. Can anybody tell me what this is? --Lemita 14:50, 14 Mar 2006 (CST)

I think I first heard that on the day the EP was released (I listen to things a bit loudly), but I can't tell you what it is, as I've got no idea. I just gave it a listen, and it's pretty much inaudible. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 14:58, 14 Mar 2006 (CST)

I hear it too; I'm almost positve it's the words 'in the moonlit night' played backwards, being played on top of the regular vocal.--McBob 06:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I know, I'm responding to a 12-year-old Talk page section but this is a bit strange. In the 2nd chorus (0:47 - 1:00) each repetition of "Oh when the Skullivan walks in the moonlit night" in the right channel seems to be progressively phasing away (Steve Reich anyone?) from the left channel, like it's just a few clicks shorter or something. The last iteration of "in the moonlit night" in the right channel is played in reverse in that chorus. Pretty interesting and weird tiny detail. Is it worth mentioning on the page? Snagwhag (talk) 19:00, 17 November 2018 (EST)

New fan video

This new video that was just added to the song page yesterday (the third one) is insanely awesome, and I suggest you all watch it. Normally I despise homemade stuff like this (RZ Studios, etc.), but this is easily an exception. :D -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 05:59, 1 May 2006 (CDT)

Is Linnell hosting the party?

How sure are we that Flans is singing the Skullivan's part? There are certain phonemes in these verses that I swear are uniquely Linnell's. That hard "R" he's got--listen to it in the "How does everybody take theiR tea?" line. And his forceful "E" is pretty distinct from Flans's--"...take in your tea-HEE-HEEE..." And his wiggly "O" in "video". My vote's on this one as all Linnell. Can anyone prove otherwise for me? --RonAmoriM 04:00, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I've always thought it was Flans, even before seeing the wiki page on it. -J2

I thought it was all Linnell before I saw the wiki page and then it changed my mind, but you could be right... -Cronny

"I've rented Tootstie / You've gotta check this out" is definitely Flansburgh. -CapitalQ ♫ talk ♪ 17:37, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Just relistened. I can see where Skullivan sounds kind of Linnell-esque, but only in the first verse. Still think it's Flans, though.

It sounds like some ungodly combination of both of them. Yomoneyboat 23:17, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Linnell is definitely Skullivan. Try playing the song with a lower pitch, for example, I'm using the Pacemaker add-on for Winamp and have it set to -3 pitch. It's a little unclear at first, but when it gets to "Tell Skullivan what you want", you can clearly tell it's Linnell. -DrWorm 12:53, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

It's all Linnell. --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 15:43, 3 July 2011 (EDT)

I edited the page before I saw that you posted this! sorry!! I did not mean to rob you of an edit or something! sorry - Apollo (colloquia!) 15:51, 3 July 2011 (EDT)

Ahahaha, don't worry about that, I'm always hesitant before I make any sort of change on the wiki anyway because I'm too scared to mess it up :') It came to me in a revelatory fever-dream. (: --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 15:54, 3 July 2011 (EDT)

I just moseyed over here after FFG mentioned that Linnell sings this track, and I was CONVINCED she was wrong. (I thought it was both Johns!) I love this song so much and have listened to it hundreds of times, especially during Spooky Season, and only realized today, in 2023, that it's Linnell. Mind blown. --Apostrophe T (talk) 14:14, 5 February 2023 (EST)

I had a little bit of deja entendu today. --Droffats (talk) 19:21, 4 September 2014 (EDT)

if i had make a list of tmbg song moments that make me eargasm the most, the way john says "everybody" would be like top 20 - fork (talk) 22:44, 8 July 2021 (EDT)