Tag Archives: james

#822: They Might Be Giants – Meet James Ensor

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‘Meet James Ensor’ is a song from They Might Be Giants’ fourth album, John Henry, from 1994. One of the few in the first bunch of tracks I ever heard from the band when I was about eight or something, it’s a song about the rise and fall of Belgian painter James Ensor. It may just be the only song in existence about the guy. And his story is told in the minute and a half that the track lasts for.

It is a very succinct story. Ensor lived with his mother and made a lot of nice paintings which impressed a lot of people and contemporaries, but as time passed his art was gradually forgotten. So this song was a nice reintroduction or introduction to the man for many a fan of the band. Admittedly, I think I may have googled Ensor’s name once or twice and that’s the extent of my research. But I’m sure a lot of people were more interested after having listening to this.

John Henry is noted for being the first TMBG album where the two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh) were accompanied by an actual rhythm section rather than the programmed drums and bass that were the norm in the four albums before it. John Flansburgh takes the lead vocal on this one; Tony Maimone and Brian Doherty respectively take up the bass and drums. Doherty’s drumming on this is manic. When I first heard the song I wasn’t sure if those drum rolls were real, but I’m sure I saw a video of the band playing it live and it was exactly the same. They’re probably a very easy thing for drummers to do and I might have just been over-excited. They still provide this unexpected hectic energy that keeps the song moving on. Overall it’s a great tune, melody’s all there. Those drums though, just a highlight for me.

My iPod #521: Dananananaykroyd – Hey James

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“Hey James” is the penultimate track on Hey Everyone!, the debut album by former Scottish ‘fight pop’ band Dananananaykroyd. Despite its welcoming title the song is probably the heaviest one out of the twelve tracks, depicting an image of a barren wasteland, war and what could possibly be the end of the world itself.

In a track-by-track guide-through a week before the album’s release, guitarist David Roy confirmed that the ‘James’ in the title is a reference to their former drummer who had left to pursue other music interests in another band. The track is a tribute to him, written as “a furious sort of epic rock thing with a hint of sadness”. That hint of sadness may be an allusion to the the track’s minor key, otherwise the song is a performance of sheer energy and balls-to-the-wall noise. The use of two separate drum kits throughout the album is something to behold but both of them on here have a noticeable role on here, providing a punchy rhythm during the verses before adding to the disorderly nature of the choruses.

The track climaxes with a 6/8 time signature before closing out with nightmare-inducing whispers creepily repeating the phrase ‘hey everyone….’ into your ears. Those go on for about a minute. Although it gives you time to take in what you’ve heard it is a nervy way to end it all, but it’s all okay once they segue right into the more cheerful sounding opener of the following song.