Tag Archives: they might be giants

#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.

#833: They Might Be Giants – The Mesopotamians

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I’ve gone on about They Might Be Giants being a great band on here many a time. You don’t have to hear that again. I guess I’ll say, to stray away from the praise, that the album The Else is maybe one of my least favourites of theirs. Weren’t expecting that were you? Any TMBG fans reading who really like The Else, don’t want to grind ya gears. There are just a lot of songs on there that I don’t feel very strongly about. The ones that I do though, I have a great love for and written about. Except ‘Feign Amnesia’, I started liking that one a bit too late to make a post about it. But today’s post is dedicated to the album’s closer, ‘The Mesopotamians’.

Another song of They that only John Flansburgh and John Linnell could write. Gonna go on a limb and say that it’s mainly written by Linnell. He sings the lead vocal on here. This may be the only song in existence that even touches upon ancient Mesopotamian mythology. I did learn a bit about a Mesopotamian tale with Gilgamesh in my first year of university. But I’ve forgotten about that, and I’ll continue to pretend that Mesopotamia was led by the four characters as described in the Giants song. Within the track, Mesopotamia is described as this barren place that is ruled by the heroes of Sargon, Hammurabi, Ashiburnipal and Gilgamesh as they go around the place as a travelling band. They drive around in their van and play shows to no one, but they etch their lyrics into the ground with hope that anybody in the far-distant future stumbles upon them. There’s a reference to the whole Beatles ‘Paul Is Dead’ conspiracy theory in there too.

It’s a cheery number. It’s not a track that shouts ‘album closer’ to me. I saw the tracklist, saw it was the last song on the album, and when it ended I was still surprised that nothing came afterwards. There’s not that sense of finality to it. But that doesn’t stop the track itself from being an enjoyable one. It’s a playful take on these ancient figures from years and years ago which I assume are meant to be taken seriously. Nothing bad about that.

#827: They Might Be Giants – Memo to Human Resources

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Today’s song is taken from They Might Be Giants’ 2004 album The Spine. I’m not quite sure what the consensus take on this album is among They fans, but it’s a favourite of mine. I wouldn’t say it surpasses the group’s first four albums though I reckon it’s quite a solid collection of songs. Some very strong ones on here. It’s the first to feature drummer Marty Beller who’s been in the band ever since, so there’s that. It’s the beginning of the five-man group as we know them today.

‘Memo to Human Resources’ is the third song on there. I’ll admit it took me a while to get into it. I was 14 when I heard the whole record for the first time and wasn’t fully equipped with the attention span to keep me through a long period of listening through an album just yet. But I listened to it one day and it clicked, I can’t say much else. The track’s got a very weary feel to it. Sturdy band performance, no one really puts a foot wrong. Judging by what I’ve seen on This Might Be a Wiki, some people think it’s about a man who’s suicidal. Though I’ve had the idea that it’s about a person who’s having an intervention.

The person sits alone in the back as someone searches through the bathroom shelf, maybe for a bottle or some drugs, and they don’t want to accept the advice given to him by “the people”. We don’t know who these people are, but in this case I think it’s maybe some of his family or friends. When the intervention’s over, he thinks about what’s happened in the house and ultimately feels good about it. Still, it’s a bit of a downer from the point of someone at the bottom of the bottle. Thankfully, it doesn’t last too long. Only two minutes.

#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.