Daily Archives: April 23, 2014

My iPod #289: They Might Be Giants – Dog Walker

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On This Might Be a Wiki – ‘the premier TMBG knowledge base’ – “Dog Walker” is the lowest rated track from “Join Us“. Out of the known 764 They Might Be Giants songs, “Dog Walker” is positioned right near the bottom at 731. I can kind of understand why. With its strange vocal manipulation and laid-back instrumentation, it is one that is hard to get your head around when listening to it for the first time. “Dog Walker” is weird.

Buuuuut there’s something oddly infectious about it. John Flansburgh sounds like he breathed in helium before doing the take but the vocals don’t sound as annoying or grating as they probably should. I think that is helped by the aforementioned instrumentation. Everything’s played at a cool rate. The keyboard, guitar and the rhythm section with extra percussion are all there, but are not overplayed to the extent of ruining the track’s groove.

“Dog Walker” is smooth, man. It took me a few listens to get into in. More so than any other track from “Join Us”. It has now been a favourite for a while, and is a very underrated song in a vast catalogue of material.

My iPod #288: They Might Be Giants – Doctor Worm

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Whilst browsing through game websites and looking for anything good to pass the time; I came across this “Worm” game. It is essentially “Snake”, the popular game that everyone had on their Nokia phones. But instead of circling around in a square trying to eat the object as a snake… you’re a worm.

A thirty second or so sample of music played before coming to an abrupt end and then started all over again as I played. The opening lyrics were from the perspective of a worm who is called “Doctor Worm” by people but isn’t an actual doctor, though it insists that it is an actual worm. I loved this short sample. To me it was jolly music that made playing the ‘Worm’ game more fun.

However, with every listen came a suspicion that the voice who was singing these lyrics sounded familiar…….. The silly, nonsensical but funny subject matter with the upbeat music and blaring horns. There was no way. It couldn’t be.

I searched up the lyrics in Google, and sure enough….. the song was indeed by They Might Be Giants. A song about a fictional worm who plays the drums in a band? What else couldn’t these people write about?

It was first released as a new studio song on the band’s live album “Severe Tire Damage“, released back in 1998.