Tag Archives: they might be giants

#887: They Might Be Giants – My Evil Twin

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A lot of times when I’ve posted about They Might Be Giants, I state which out of the two Johns (Flansburgh and Linnell) wrote the track I’m discussing at that particular moment. “Oh, this was written by Linnell”, “Flansburgh wrote this one”, etcetera, etcetera. Well, ‘My Evil Twin’ – the fourth track on the band’s fourth album – stands out from many other songs of They as an actual sort of collaboration between the two. John Linnell came up with a bunch of music, made it all MIDI, and then gave the disc to John Flansburgh who provided the melody and lyrics on top. The result was a peppy, quite hard-rocking number about the misadventures with an ‘evil twin’ who may or may not exist.

This track’s a confusing one. Who is the evil twin that Flansburgh sings about? The lyrics describe the good times that he and this twin have, playing hangman until the early hours of the morning, vandalizing their neighbour’s property. Just a couple of examples. Then they sleep through the day and carry on their mischief in the evenings. This closeness between the two scares Flansburgh because it almost seems like they’re one person, but then at the end it’s revealed he’s never actually met the twin. Maybe it’s an imaginary friend, and it isn’t meant to be that difficult to figure out. I listened to a podcast the other day that suggested that the track is possibly about John Linnell in a secretive, puzzling way. Linnell does harmonise throughout, and then he takes the lead vocal for a short moment on the ‘My Twin’ bridge… maybe Linnell is the twin and he’s been existing all along. It’s all a bit up in the air.

Produced at a time when the duo were possibly thinking of ditching their synthetic rhythm section and getting a proper backing band to play with them live, the track sounds like it’s performed by an a four-piece band even though that’s not the case. The drums sound like an actual drum kit. The bass sounds like a proper bass guitar. But then you listen to some off the rhythms those drums pull off and realise it would be incredibly difficult for a real person to replicate. If they did, they would need a lot of stamina. But I would say it’s that combination of the real-sounding rhythm section with the TMBG approach that makes the song stand out just a bit. Same goes for many other songs from that album. Though that’s for another time.

#882: They Might Be Giants – Museum of Idiots

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Another gem from They Might Be Giants’ The Spine. I wrote about another track from that album earlier in this ‘M’ section. While I think I came to some sort of conclusion as to what ‘Memo to Human Resources’ was about, to this day I’m still a bit flummoxed when it comes to ‘Museum of Idiots’. I do remember an interpretation saying that it was from the point of view of a tree in a forest, but I was left even more confused after reading that than before. The track is the first on the second half of The Spine, beginning a run of tracks until the album’s end that may just be one of my favourites in the band’s whole catalogue.

In comparison to ‘Memo’, written by John Flansburgh, ‘Museum’ is another of John Linnell’s offerings – a composition in waltz time marked by moments of quiet keyboards juxtaposed with a blaring wall of horns. If there’s a guitar present here, it’s definitely buried in the mix. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s a joyous and uplifting feeling I get from those triumphant brass instruments here, like there’s this big parade going through town or something. Linnell arranged all of the horn part Though the lyrics seem to be from the perspective of someone or something that’s a bit of a dimwit. Or an idiot, if you didn’t already get that from the song’s title.

Actually, come to think of it. This song might just be another example of a sad but funny moment in They’s discography. This person holds out hope that their “Honey” will need them at some point, and they’ll be ready waiting for them whenever that happens. But the likelihood of it is very low. Maybe the museum contains all those heartbroken people who would do anything for the person who won’t reciprocate those feelings, and because they can’t get over them they’re left feeling like idiots. I don’t know, it hurts to think about these things. But I ask you to at least listen to this one before making some sort of decision for yourself.

#874: They Might Be Giants – Mr. Me

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‘Mr. Me’ from TMBG’s Lincoln is a whole ball of fun. It has quite a cartoon-ey feel about it in its delivery. I read a comment somewhere that likened it to the music you’ll hear in a Mario Kart game; just from the knowledge I’ve gained from playing Mario Kart DS, the comparison isn’t too far off. Those high whistle-like noises and trumpet sounds are very reminiscent of the sounds from those games. And in general, the track is just propelled onwards by these crazy drum-machine rhythms which give an odd, but strangely addictive bounce to everything that’s going on.

But then you see the lyrics, and it’s clear that it’s about the titular character who may just be suffering from severe depression. Mr. Me’s been feeling this way for a while, depression is the track is symbolised as a ‘misty sea’ that ‘Me’ has been lost in for some time, and the track is something like a cry or a call for someone to help ‘Me’, but to also be careful that they don’t become depressed as well. So, you know… very polarising elements of a song are present here. Have to say though, a song about a really sad man never sounded so upbeat and cheerful before. It wouldn’t be the last time the band did something to this effect too. They always seem to do it so well.

To sum up, I enjoy it. This is a track that is over in under two minutes, so there’s not much else that I can think of to say. John Linnell sings it, he does a good job, John Flansburgh provides the catchy ‘yo yo-yo’ backing vocals which are very hard to forget. Just a short sweet burst of happy/sad music. And to close out, here’s a live performance of the song from 1987.

#851: They Might Be Giants – Money for Dope

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They Might Be Giants’ album Join Us turns 10 years old this July. Those years have flown by, and yet at the same time I can nod my head and say, “Yep, it’s definitely felt like 10 years have passed”. Either way, the LP’s up there as one of my favourites by the band. Not just because I’m reminded of that day in 2011 when the album was out after months of anticipation, but because a lot of the songs are pretty great too. Some songs didn’t make it on there, and months later those tracks appeared on a cutting floor/rarities compilation titled, Album Raises New and Troubling Questions. ‘Money for Dope’ was one of those songs left off Join Us. A shame ’cause… it wouldn’t have been too out of place on there.

Now, there’s not much of a narrative thread or story in this track. What ‘Money for Dope’ is is essentially a sort of shopping list for very oddly specific things set to a rhythm and a climbing/descending melody, from both John Linnell vocal and Danny Weinkauf’s bass line. From the first second, Linnell throws items from a walking stick to rubber gloves to needle-nose pliers and much much more. What matters the most though is that money for dope for some reason. Why Linnell wrote this song isn’t really known, the same can be stated for many other They tracks. What I do know is that the phrase ‘money for dope’ was sung by John Lennon in his own track ‘Gimme Some Truth’, so I’d like to think that John Linnell was listening to that song one day, heard the phrase in it and was just inspired to write his own track revolving around it.

There’s not much else I can say about this one. The band have never played it live, I guess they don’t care about it that much. Hopefully my insight can provide some sort of entertainment while you listen to it. I can think of one or two tracks on Join Us that this one could have replaced, but that’s neither here nor there. I do like the way John Linnell sings the last ‘dope’ on the track. He elongates the word, raises his pitch and then ends on a really low note. Quite cool. At least that’s what I thought when I properly noticed it for the first time all that time ago. Now I just appreciate it as a fine way to end the track. Underappreciated one right here.

#835: They Might Be Giants – Metal Detector

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Here’s ‘Metal Detector’. Another song by They Might Be Giants, so soon after the last one. It’s found on their 1996 album Factory Showroom, their last on the Elektra label before they left and have sort of been an independent band ever since. I like Factory Showroom. I’ve always thought it was kind of a reaction to John Henry. That album’s almost an hour long and there’s a lot of horns and brass on it. I feel like Showroom put more of a focus on the band, and they dialled back the run time from 57 minutes to an easygoing 42. Only 13 songs on there too, which was peanuts compared to the number of songs They had on albums prior.

What I like most about ‘Metal Detector’ is that it’s essentially a song of choruses. There are only about two verses, even one and a half if you think about it. The rest is chorus, pre-chorus, kinda bridge over and over again. And it works, I don’t know what to tell you. The approach makes the song all the more memorable to me. It’s an easy one to sing along to, and the overall tone to its makes it seem like there’s some sort of mystery behind it. But it’s just a song about having a good time with a metal detector and going to the beach to find things under the sand. The group always have a knack for writing great songs about the most menial tasks. Or passionate hobbies, whichever way you want to look at it.

According to This Might Be a Wiki, this is quite a popular one among TMBG fans. It’s their 37th best song. The band haven’t ever played it live that much though. My guess would be that maybe the repetitive nature of the song just isn’t to the band’s liking, though that’s just a shot in the dark. Could have been a single for me. It’s nothing to think about too much.