Tag Archives: john linnell

#1253: John Linnell – South Carolina

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I was listening to Prince’s Purple Rain a few months back. When the synthesizers and drums really got going in ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, I thought to myself, “South Carolina sounds a lot like this.” The ‘South Carolina’ I refer to is John Linnell’s song, the fourth one on his 1999 State Songs album. I wrote about another song from that just the other day. Before going through the record the first time, I was quick to judge ‘South Carolina’ before even hearing it after reading that it was meant to be the album’s accompanying single. Because it was too big to fit the vinyl, the record company chose ‘Montana’ instead. But then ‘South Carolina’ came around in the tracklist, and it became very obvious why it was considered single-worthy. I wouldn’t describe it as a banger, I’m getting to old for that sort of stuff. But I can at least say firmly that I have a very good time listening to this one.

Starts off these confident piano chords into these drum/horn stabs, which lead into Linnell’s introduction on the vocals. And from then on, it’s like he doesn’t stop singing until there’s a minute of the song left to go. It’s a very busy song, one in which Linnell sings about a person getting into a bicycle accident and successfully suing the offender. Linnell adopts a lower-pitched vocal to portray the various characters in the story, from the police officers to the neighbour who’s asked to take pictures of the wrecked bicycle for evidence. The song may or may not be influenced by the time John Linnell had his own bicycle accident some years before, which in turn led to the creation of They Might Be Giants’ Dial-A-Song project. The TMBG wiki says the song’s music was inspired by the Kinks’ song ‘Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight’. And I can see that. I still think there’s a little of ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ in there, though. Maybe Linnell was looking at the Purple Rain cover with Prince on the motorbike and got to thinking. Big maybe though.

Although the State Songs album was released in 1999, John Linnell had given just a small glimpse of the project five years earlier on an EP that was exclusively released by a subscription-based record company called the Hello Recording Club. ‘South Carolina’ was the leading track on that collection, and it’s very much the same recording that ends up on the album. Just mixed a little differently. From what I can tell, there’s a bit more reverb on the older version, with the vocals more present in the mix and the deeper ends having a littles less “oomph” to them. As if anyone reading this cares about that sort of thing. I think it’s just interesting to think the guy had a song like this in the back pocket and ready to go for five years. This is the final state song you’ll get from me on here. Not the last time you’ll see something from John Linnell, though. Would like to give a nod to ‘Louisiana’. Would have been a shoe-in for a commentary, had it not been available only on vinyl for 22 years before only becoming recently available to stream four years ago.

#1249: John Linnell – The Songs of the 50 States

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Well, I guess there’ll be thousands of people out there who will have no idea what Grooveshark was. Grooveshark was a website existing for a while where people could just straight up upload music online for anyone to listen to. It was Soundcloud and Spotify all kind of mixed into one. Then I guess record labels caught onto it and realized it was kind of an illegal/copyrighting issue going on, so it got abruptly taken down after a few years. Looks like it’s back up again under a new address, but I don’t think it’s really the same. But I say all this to say that it was on Grooveshark that I got to listen to John Linnell’s State Songs album back around 2012, and its second song, ‘The Songs of the 50 States’ was one out of the few I got into immediately.

The late, late ’90s was a time when They Might Be Giants heads John Flansburgh and John Linnell went on their little separate ways to do their own projects. Flansburgh did his thing with Mono Puff. Linnell made the State Songs album, bringing to fruition a concept he initially started working on some years prior. Fifteen of the 16 songs on the album are named after US states, and ‘The Songs of the 50 States’ acts as the record’s theme song. Linnell tells us to get ready for the songs that are coming up, and that even he can’t help but get the good shakes when thinking about the tracks he has lined up. Funnily enough, he sings about the songs of the 50 states, but only wrote numbers for 15 of them. Actually, 16 including the B-side, ‘Louisiana’. TMBG fans hold onto hope that one day a State Songs II will just appear one day. Or at least be announced.

After the album’s introduction of ‘Illinois’, an instrumental played out by a carousel organ, ‘…50 States’ brings things into more familiar sonic territory by being more of a band-centric performance. TMBG fans will know what I mean when I refer to ‘the Band of Dans’. Dan Miller (guitar), Danny Weinkauf (bass guitar), and Dan Hickey (drums) for those who don’t. They’re the backing musicians present on the track, and a bunch of guys Linnell was familiar with anyway having been playing with the two Johns for a couple years up to that point. It’s a great performance by all involved. An upbeat, optimistic tune that builds that anticipation for the songs that follow.

#911: John Linnell – New Hampshire

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What struck me about John Linnell’s ‘New Hampshire’ when I first heard it coming to a decade ago, was how grand it sounded. From the start it gave me this image of a huge parade going through town with a marching band, floats, balloons, the lot, and that’s always persisted to this day. All of the music was performed via an arrangement that was then cut out on paper and inserted into the carousel organ in Glen Echo Park, Maryland. The video linked doesn’t show the track itself playing through that carousel, but just gives an example of how it works. The instrument is one that is used predominantly in Linnell’s State Songs album, but it’s this track that he imagined to be the ‘big tour de force’, incorporating the drums and glockenspiels that the Echo Park carousel provided. It’s the soundtrack to a grand day out. So it’s a bit of a whiplash when the lyrics describe a character who’s something of a loner and not really liked by anyone.

The track starts off with the narrator looking through a window into a party or some sort of social gathering, only let in by a polite but startled attendee, who is then very much rejected by the people they come into contact with. Linnell really lays it on thick that this character is someone that we shouldn’t like. They’re a gatecrashing parasite, they’re morose, a downer, broken-hearted. At most, they’re “very interesting.” Any stroke of luck they may have had in the past just so happened inadvertently. Very negative pronouns and adjectives abound. So it’s a huge ironic twist to have this person described to the sounds of twinkling glockenspiels, strident organ chords and a somewhat classical-influenced melody. It’s something that probably wouldn’t work if anyone else tried it, but it’s John Linnell, so there’s always a high probability that it will whenever he pursues that approach.

And so, the main message of this track is “No one likes New Hampshire man.” That’s pretty much it. It’s a dramatic march dedicated to an intolerable person. Though I’ve recently come to think that Linnell’s also sneakily singing “No one likes New Hampshire, man.” I wouldn’t put it past him, makes for a nice double meaning. Moments that stand out to me… that part during the second “Woman wonders…” section where it the track turns into a bit of a waltz? And when those clarinets come in right at the end mirroring the ‘No one likes New Hampshire man” line, before the track goes out on these slightly out of time chord strikes. Ends it all on this big “hurrah”. I really dig this live performance of the track with Linnell playing it on the accordion. Why not just watch the whole thing too, it’s one of only a couple Linnell solo 1999 shows you can find at the moment.

#856: John Linnell – Montana

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Hospitals. No one really likes them do they? You go there for reasons concerning your health, and a lot of times they’re never very good reasons. But their general settings can be a source of inspiration for many an artist. That’s a particular case for They Might Be Giants, whose songs sometimes take place in hospitals and are sometimes from the perspectives of people having conversations in them, trying to escape from them, or lying in their deathbed waiting for sweet relief. It’s no different in their solo work. Today’s song, ‘Montana’ from John Linnell’s 1999 album State Songs, falls firmly in that final group.

I can’t tell if this song is meant to be upbeat and tremendously sad. In this track, a person’s lying in their hospital bed – how they ended up there, we don’t know – but after what must have been time of just staring into space, they’re suddenly hit with a revelation. An epiphany. One that makes so much sense thinking about it that they wonder how they never saw it before. The state of Montana… is a leg. It’s a leg. And with that question answered, they’re ready to die. But they’re so happy that they’ve figured this out, that they want the realization to be shared to the other patients and for it to be known as their last words before they pass away. It’s funny, but it’s sad. I think it’s relatable in a way that their are most definitely a lot of people who have said the most random things before they move on to the next life. And I think this song captures a pleasant balance. It’s a bummer that this person’s going to die, but at least they’re content with the world and good to go.

Maybe you’ll listen to this and think the song’s standard band performance. John Linnell sings in his usual style with the standard great melody to boot. But then the chorus comes in and your jaw drops. Linnell really sings “leg” with his chest. I think that note he reaches is the most powerful one he’s sung in any of those he’s written, in solo work and with TMBG. He’s never been the powerhouse vocal style person, so when that “leg” arrives the first time, it’s like where did that even come from. As the only song of his where this fully happens – I guess you could say it happens in ‘Canajoharie’ too – it’s one that always stands out from the rest. The song, despite the somewhat maybe morbid subject matter, was released as the album’s first single alongside B-side ‘Louisiana’, which was made available on streaming and download formats just last week.

#794: John Linnell – Maine

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Another great one from John Linnell’s State Songs. ‘Maine’ seems like an obvious choice for single if it were placed in the hands of any other artist/band/whatever. It wasn’t in this case, and ‘Montana’ was. But ‘Maine’ is a definite ear-pleaser from the second it starts, and something of an ode to bands from the 60s like The Monkees and The Beatles.

I’ve always enjoyed ‘Maine’ just for the way it sounds. Linnell delivers his vocal very calmly over the top of it, and relaxed while these cascading piano lines support the track in 12/8 time. It’s all in triplets. But I’ll try and consider the lyrical content just for you people. It’s something of a love song, but it’s not, and it seems that the main subject is duality (‘the heaven below’, ‘the hell from above’)…. a bit like ‘Hello, Goodbye’ by the Beatles. You see, 60s. There’s also a reference to ‘Daydream Believer’ in there too.

‘Maine’ was released on State Songs in 1999, but had already been recorded five years prior. It was released in a different mix on an EP, and that version is below. It’s all the same goodness. I’ll even put the demo on here too because I like the song so much.