Tag Archives: they might be giants

My iPod #35: They Might Be Giants – Ana Ng

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:’) Another great song.

One of the best They Might Be Giants songs ever. It’s got everything you want. A great chorus, an edgy guitar riff in the verses, and their typical trait of being able to write a melody that gets stuck in your head and never leaves.

The video of this song was one of the first of theirs I saw. I’ve told you guys about the Launchcast site Yahoo had, and how it basically introduced to what is my favourite band. When I saw it, I didn’t know who was singing. Neither John was lip-syncing to the song. The video just gave me everything I needed to know about them. They were synchronising in everything, their pounding on the table, their ‘dancing’, their general (I don’t want to say it) quirkiness just attracted me to them.

I had a good friend in primary school, and I was ten when I watched the video. So seeing that just made me want to force him to watch it so we could mimic the things they did during lunchtime or whatever. Everything is fun when you’re in year five.

Then primary school finished, and it was the summer holidays before I would start year seven. From being the oldest in the school, back to the youngest. I couldn’t handle it. I went out with my sister to Woolworths to buy stationery (pens, pencils, all the stuff) to prepare, and I saw one of my good friends from primary school there. I saw her, but I don’t think she saw me. I realised that’s how it would be from then on. I would never have the same relationship I had with my friends once I moved to my new school. The fact that I was the only person from my school to get into the one I did only emphasised that. I barely saw any of them, when I did it was a small exchange of:

“Hi! How are you?”
“I’m good.”
“Haven’t seen you for aaaaaaages!”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Well, see ya then! :)”
“See ya. :)”

😦 It was never the same.

I remember getting on the bus with my sister after finishing at the shop, ‘Ana Ng’ came into my head and I just kept on humming it and singing it quietly to myself whilst looking out the window feeling the time go by.

‘Ana Ng’ is a really important song for me. It reminds of me of the good times.

Until next time.

Jamie.

My iPod #15: They Might Be Giants – Alienation’s for the Rich

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Oh my god, I’m so late. Sorry guys. I’ve been revising, so… yeah.

“They Might Be Giants again?” Yes. Deal with it.

It is another song from their debut entitled ‘Alienation’s for the Rich’, one of those songs with a title which would make you immediately think, ‘Oh hohoho. Those Giants and their weird, quirky titles derp derp derp.’

No.

I have to say, it did take me quite some time to actually get into this song. I would listen to the album, and it was so quick. You would be listening to songs with great melodies and eclectic instrumentation but they would be over so quickly before you realised.

Then ‘Alienation’ would start, and it just sounded so slow compared to the others. I was even like ‘Alienation’s for the Rich, like wh… what does that mean?’ It was a song on the album that I would skip over quite a bit.

After listening to it a few more times, I have realised that it is probably one of the best songs out of the last five of the album, Rhythm Section Want Ad takes first place. Do you want to know why I changed my mind?

I will tell you anyway.

Yes, the first section of the song is pretty much samey samey, but it definitely captures the ‘couch-potato, lazy sod’ emotion and attitude that the ‘narrator’ is in. To me, just from the lyrics, it’s about someone who ‘needs a job’ and needs to ‘get some pay’, but he doesn’t give a shit and he feels fine.

John Flansburgh is a very underrated vocalist. I think that needs to be said. Both Johns are. They are very good singers. In this case, Flansburgh has a very wide range of vocal ability, ranging from girly-sounded whispers to a giant yelling his triumphs high from the hills. And he is able to use it well in any kind of song.

That is when the song completely changes. With a sudden key change after the instrumental bridge, Flansburgh starts belting out the second verse at the top of his lungs! I don’t really know how to say it to you, I’m listening to the song in my head and trying to write how it sounds.

It’s just brings a real elation to the track. You realise that the narrator is not miserable in the state he is in, but is damn proud of it. He really doesn’t care. I mean, listen to the maniacal laughter at the end. LISTEN TO IT.

If only this was possible in real life.

Until next time.

Jamie.

A-HEY HEY HEY.

My iPod #13: They Might Be Giants – AKA Driver

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Another song by They Might Be Giants.

I mentioned this already in a previous post, but I’ll just remind you again.

Years ago, Yahoo! owned this website/company called LAUNCHcast which was a radio/video music site where you could mark your favourite bands and listen to radio stations based on your preferences.

If it wasn’t for that site, I don’t think I would have any interest in They Might Be Giants as I do now. It doesn’t exist anymore, but I shall thank it for eternity. This is what it looked like for anyone who cares.

AKA Driver was one of the three songs from ‘John Henry’ that I remember playing on a radio station that I would listen to, with the others being ‘Destination Moon’ and ‘The End of the Tour’.

Does anyone remember MSN Spaces? For anyone who doesn’t Windows Live Messenger, formerly MSN, had this blogging network too, similar to this, where you could post anything you wanted and type in the music you liked in these huge lists that you could give names to. I remember putting ‘AKA Driver’ into a list, bearing in mind that I had only listened to it once and never listened to it again until 2010.

MSN Spaces died too. Just like LAUNCHcast. Why does every cool internet thing I encounter die 😦

I digress.

Autumn 2010 was They Might Be Giants season for me. I downloaded almost every album by them during that time. Apparently ‘John Henry’ isn’t a favourite for some TMBG fans because that is when they were considered to have sold out, because before then the band had only performed as a duo comprising of the two Johns.

But I don’t understand that. Yes they did incorporate a full band, but that only added to their sound. The two main guys were still there, but the (then new) real rhythm section just added an extra depth and a fuller sound.

I remember listening to ‘AKA Driver’ in 2010, five years after first finding it, thinking, ‘So this is what it sounded like!’ John Flansburgh sings this one, don’t worry I do like Linnell’s songs too, and it comes right after the song ‘Unrelated Thing’, a much slower song on the album.

‘Driver’ is quite fast paced. It’s got a driving, no pun intended, beat which gets your head bobbing.

And it’s only a song about driving whilst on drugs/intoxicated. I mean, how cool is that!

It is not. I will say that. Don’t do it. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t do drugs either.

It’s only got two verses, a bitchin’ solo and a lot of repeated choruses and motifs: “It’s just a full day’s drive away”, “Heeeeeeeey Nyquil Driver’. But it is still a highlight from the album. Look out for the change in mood of the song near the end, where the electric guitars are replaced by acoustic guitars and a theremin-type instrument whilst still keeping the momentum that the song has already set.

John Henry is a great album. Give it a chance guys.

Until next time.

Jamie.

My iPod #3: They Might Be Giants – Absolutely Bill’s Mood

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Yo.

I don’t know where to start. I could have a whole blog entry dedicated to They Might Be Giants, they are one of, if not, my favourite band ever. They’ve released fifteen albums, their sixteenth one coming soon, and I haven’t been disappointed by any of them. I don’t want to force them onto you, but if you’ve never heard of them and you are into the same music that I have posted so far, please I beg you to listen to one of their albums. Just one. That’s all I ask.

I normally listen to an album twice before the songs really sink in. The first time I probably just nod my head to the rhythm of a particular track or try and hum to a chorus if it repeats over and over again. And this song was probably stuck in my head by the second or third time of hearing it.

I had already listened to, and really liked ‘Don’t Let’s Start’ and ‘Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head’, both of which are on ‘They Might Be Giants’ or ‘The Pink Album’; when I downloaded the album back in September 2010, I was pretty excited because I didn’t know what to expect.

‘Absolutely Bill’s Mood’, the fourteenth track on the debut album isn’t my favourite song on the album. I think some fans will probably agree whilst some may be like WTF, but that’s just my opinion OK?

But it is still great! Once you listen to the lyrics, I think it is very clear that the song is about a crazy person. Lyrics include:
“My room is comfortably small with rubber lining the walls”
“I know monkey see, but monkey’s dead for you it would be wrong”

And the total giveaway:
“I’m insane, I’m insane, I’m insane, I’m insane”

‘Bill’s Mood’ is quite a dark song in comparison with the others, with a strange guitar in the introduction, apparently recorded over the phone, and ominous brrrrrrrrs (keyboard noises) but it lightens the mood with  pretty funny lyrics, a great vocal by John Flansburgh and great conga-sounding drums in the bridge. Nice.

Dig They Might Be Giants.

Until next time.

Jamie.

P.S. THEIR NEW ALBUM ‘NANOBOTS’ IS BEING STREAMED HERE!

LISTEN TO IT!

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Edit: OK, so it seems like you can’t listen to it on the site. Not on my computer anyway.

BUT PRE-ORDER IT!

NOW!

EDIT 2: THE ALBUM IS ACTUALLY HERE!

OK?!