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| They Might Be Giants |
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| Eeeeeek! Sorry for putting off this page for soooo long! Welcome to my little TMBG page! I became interested when i went to their concert (which was weird weird weird) and now i love them!!!! they have such a sense of humour, so if these lyrics sound depressing, just imagine them singing them (if you know who they are). So far i've provided the lyrics to 3 of their more "interesting" songs, more to come soon! *Contents* 1. Song Lyrics 2. Article in the New York Times 3. Pictures 4. Links PARTICLE MAN Particle man, particle man Doing the things a particle can What's he like? It's not important Particle man Is he a dot, or is he a speck? When he's underwater does he get wet? or does the water get him instead? Nobody knows, Particle man Triangle man, Triangle man Triangle man hates particle man They have a fight, Triangle wins Triangle man Universe man, Universe man Size of the entire universe man usually kind to smaller man Universe man He's got a watch with a minute hand, millenium hand and an eon hand when they meet it's a happy land Powerful man, universe man Person man, person man hit on the head with a frying pan lives his life in a garbage can Person man Is he depressed or is he a mess? does he feel totally worthless? who came up with person man? degraded man, person man Triangle man, triangle man Triangle man hates person man They have a fight triangle wins triangle man Written by They Might Be Giants. All lyrics © 1990 TMBG Music, admin. Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.(BMI). Lyrics reproduced by permission. All rights reserved. BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL I'm your only friend I'm not your only friend but I'm a little glowing friend but really I'm not actually your friend, but I am Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch who watches over you make a little birdhouse in your soul Not to put too fine a point on it: say I'm the only bee in your bonnet make a little birdhouse in your soul I have a secret to tell from my electrical well it's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells so the room must listen to me filibuster vigilantly My name is blue canary one-word spelled l-i-t-e My story's infinite like the Longines Symphonette it doesn't rest There's a picture opposite me of my primitive ancestry which stood on rocky shores and Kept the beaches shipwreck free Though I respect that a lot I'd be fired if that were my job After killing Jason off and countless screaming argonauts Bluebird of friendliness like guardian angels its always near (and while you're at it leave the nite lite on inside the birdhouse in your soul) Written by They Might Be Giants. All lyrics © 1990 TMBG Music, admin. Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.(BMI). Lyrics reproduced by permission. All rights reserved. LIE STILL, LITTLE BOTTLE Lie still, little bottle, and shake my shaky hand Black coffee's not enough for me, I need a better friend One pill at the bottom is singing my favorite song I know I must investigate I hope that I can sing along There's no time for metaphors cried the little pill to me He said, "Life is a placebo masquerading as a simile" I knew that pill was lying Too gregarious, too nice But as he walked I had to sing this twice: Lie still, little bottle Don't twist, it ain't twistin' time With every move you make you just disintegrate my ever-troubled mind Written by They Might Be Giants. All lyrics © 1988 TMBG Music , admin. Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI). Lyrics reproduced by permission. All rights reserved. *An article from the June 16, 1999 New York Times* By ANN POWERS John Linnell answered the door of his bandmate John Flansburgh's work space in Williamsburg on Sunday with the slightly dazed grin of someone caught in the middle of the creative process. The two Johns, who make up the bravely offbeat pop duo They Might Be Giants, had been mixing songs in the room they call the kitchen, not because they think it is a cool rock name for a recording studio, but because that's where the stove was when Flansburgh lived there. Over 18 years, the Giants have passed through many Brooklyn apartments, from the Park Slope tenement with the hole in the ceiling to the duplex over the Fort Greene barbecue joint where they could play really loud. They have gone from releasing their songs via Flansburgh's answering machine (they dubbed the call-in service Dial-a-Song) to becoming stars of the college circuit with seven albums and a touring band. Now each John has a separate residence and rehearsal space, reflecting not only the needs of married men but a prosperity that exceeds what most pop nonconformists can expect. "I love your air conditioner, Flans," Linnell said as he sat between a xylophone and a bank of recording equipment. "Mine just blows hot air." As the vintage contraption cooled the room, the conversation drifted through various happy topics. There was the Los Angeles premiere of "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," whose brilliantly Bond-like opening theme, "Dr. Evil," was composed by the Giants and sung by Flansburgh's wife, Robin Goldwasser. Then there were the five musical segments they created for "Brave New World," a science-and-technology series that will be broadcast on ABC this summer. And their recent work with hit-making producers and the former Ruffhouse Records co-owners Joe and Phil Nicolo, as well as their appearance at Central Park Summerstage, headlining a show that starts at 3 P.M. on Sunday. Flansburgh popped one tape after another into his stereo. "This is a theme we've done for a new Nickelodeon series, "Stewy the Dogboy," he said as human barking filled the room. He switched to the exhilarating "It's so Loud in Here," from the Nicolo sessions. Next came "She Thinks She's Edith Head," a witty portrait of a woman with delusions of being "an obscure cultural figure," which appears on "Long Tall Weekend," the Giants' forthcoming album and the first to be available only on MP3, the digital audio compression format. This sampler was impressive, but it overlooked some things, like the duo's recent appearances on public radio's "This American Life." Not to mention the children's album they plan to release on Rounder next year, the theme they composed for the new Fox television sitcom pilot "Malcolm in the Middle" and the song on Disney Home Video's forthcoming sequel to "Peter Pan." Knee-deep in movies, television and the Web, the Giants are riding a multimedia wave. Especially exciting is the attention connected with the heavily promoted "Austin Powers." After the premiere, the Giants had 20 meetings with film and television representatives in two days. "It was interesting to see how many people involved in the creative side of the film industry are genuine fans of what we do," Flansburgh said. Fans Who Ponder Their Lyrics They Might Be Giants is a classic cult band with an unconventional approach to music and business. Fans spend hours dissecting their lyrics and posting interpretations on the Internet, discussing whether "Ana Ng" might be a critique of the Vietnam War or whether "S-E-X-X-Y" has something to do with a sex chromosome disorder. Aspiring individualists are attracted to the Giants' blithely idiosyncratic sound, and they have helped the band thrive. "They probably have the highest-selling downloadable album of all time," said Gene Hoffman, president and chief executive of Emusic, formerly Goodnoise, the on-line company distributing "Long Tall Weekend." "The Giants have never been afraid of trying new things and they have an adventuresome fan base. That combination makes it work." Changes in the entertainment business brought by technologically driven entrepreneurship are pushing the Giants beyond their familiar realm in the margins. From another perspective, the margins themselves are proving increasingly important, offering antidotes to an overbearing mainstream of Backstreet Boys. New outlets like MP3 and cable television are allowing discerning consumers like Giants fans to choose their niches. At the same time, the cultural center is raiding the edges for novelty at an ever increasing speed. And Generation X, a cohort that grew up negotiating its supposed irrelevance, now fills those entertainment industry cubicles in Hollywood and New York, not to mention producing some of today's biggest stars. "I can confirm that I've seen Mike Myers wearing a They Might Be Giants T-shirt lounging around the house," said John Houlihan, the music director for both Austin Powers films. Houlihan was one of many show-business players to relay his devotion in phone interviews. Joe Nicolo, the producer, called himself a devotee. Hoffman said that the band's connection to Emusic was "born of my own appreciation; I'm a lifelong fan." So is Sarah Vowell, who brought the musicians to "This American Life" through her feature on Dial-a-Song. "We feel a shared sensibility with them, and not just because of their songs," she said of the staff members of "This American Life," for which she is a contributing editor. "It's because every aspect of their project is done with purpose and humor and love. Every album cover, every coffee mug, and the songs, too, are all considered. They treat everything as art." High School Friends With a Lot to Learn Flansburgh and Linnell, who grew up together in suburban Boston and reconnected in Brooklyn after college, made their first demos, powered by drum machines, in 1982. "I couldn't sing and play the guitar at the same time," Flansburgh recalled. "We were not calculating a career path." They were, however, steadfastly developing their sound and sensibility. "All through the 1980's and early 1990's we did two shows a week and had this strangely rigorous routine where we would rehearse for exactly one hour every single night," Flansburgh said. "It was like a homework assignment or going to the gym. We got a lot of material together and had a really tight show." Linnell added, "It wasn't that we were technically that good." The two are now adept multi-instrumentalists. "We were very mediocre singers, but it didn't really matter. As far as the audience was concerned it was a fun show." In the early 1980's quirky bands ruled pop, empowered by punk's anarchistic spirit and the trendy marriage of high art and rock hi-jinks. The Giants felt free to pun with abandon and explore endlessly arcane subjects in songs like "Youth Culture Killed My Dog." With their science-fair style, confidently nasal voices and perverse talent for catchy melodies, they became the idols of young brains and wallflowers. But pop soon grew out of this awkward phase, and most bands who suited it changed or faded away. The Giants persisted, going from the independent label Bar/None to a major, Elektra. They scored a couple of modern-rock hits; one, "Birdhouse in Your Soul," was written from the perspective of a night light. The eight years the Giants spent on Elektra were a fairly long run; they were not surprised when the company cut them loose after a series of corporate power shifts in the mid-1990's. By then the Giants had firmly established themselves as innovative marketers as well as musicians. Their Dial-a-Song gimmick added to their reputation as self-starters, as did the Hello Music Club, a subscription service run by Flansburgh from 1993 to 1997 that released 10 CD singles a year by the Giants and other bands. Promotional items like T-shirts and bumper stickers featured either the work of renowned comic book artists or a postwar Americana look that reflected the duo's fascination with subjects like the 1964 World's Fair. Their videos further developed a kitsch-savvy visual esthetic. Flansburgh stumbled into a second career when he directed a few Giants videos. He now can list clips featuring Frank Black, Harvey Danger, Edwyn Collins and others on his résumé. Flansburgh also has a side band, Mono Puff, which includes Ms. Goldwasser, and Linnell is completing his first solo album, "State Songs," to be released on Rounder Records later this year. "Mono Puff and 'State Songs' are things we get to do without looking over each other's shoulder," Linnell said. "They're what we call 'the Ringo walk," like the part of the movie "Hard Day's Night" where Ringo Starr is walking around by himself, just wrapped up in his own Ringo-ness. They also feed back into what we're doing. We get to define They Might Be Giants better, and it helps our songwriting." A more conventional rock album is in the Giants' future, possibly on a new label headed by Nicolo. "We would like to make this a creative statement and a financial statement," Nicolo said. "We're not going to sacrifice quality, but it would be great for a lot of people to rediscover them." A Surge in Exposure Thanks to 'Dr. Evil' Thanks to "Dr. Evil," hordes of moviegoers already are. Like so many of their lucky breaks, the Giants' "Austin Powers" theme song came about because of their relentless productivity. Before Houlihan had made a decision on whether the Giants should be involved in the film, "the band just took action and wrote a very inspired song," he said. "It was intended to be a demo, but when we got it we just loved it and we put it in the very first frame of the picture." Flansburgh and Linnell admit that they did "Dr. Evil" without instruction. But they are delighted that it may lead to more Hollywood assignments, especially because they are starting families and would like to reduce their touring. There is one catch, however. They have to be able to follow their recipe for success. "Most people who do commercial work are calculating about their relationship to their audience," Flansburgh said. "We've chosen to assume that people listening to our songs are as smart as we are, or smarter. I think that's why people like us." *Links* This is what I believe to be one of the best TMBG link collection around. http://www.tmgb.com/ http://www.tmbg.org/ http://www.ubl.com/artists/001057.html http://members.tripod.com/~Dr_Worm/tmbg.html http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/discography/indexr.html http://www.goodnoise.com/artist/tmbg/tmbg.html http://webusers.anet-stl.com/~imadame/tmbg.html http://homepages.skylink.net/~ziphe/tmbg/tmbg.html |
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