3/29/15 TMBG

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:13 am

Continuing this theme...

What is your favorite They Might Be Giants song?

Holly Furlone · Post by **Holly Furlone** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:12 am

Oh god, there are so many! "Don't Let's Start" is the first one that comes to mind. Saw them perform this one live at a 'Life is Good' festival in Canton, MA a few years ago. I was one of, maybe, 4 adults rushing the kids' stage (their post that day) through a sea of bouncing children! It was awesome.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 2:42 pm

I can respect Holly's answer; "Don't Let's Start" is a close second for me, but my winner is "Ana Ng."

Tyler Zahnke · Post by **Tyler Zahnke** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 3:55 pm

I have heard clips of many of their songs, but the one I just love (and have heard in full many times) is Particle Man. It was a staple of the Dr. Demento show, and almost a precursor to nerdcore!

iVeg · Post by **iVeg** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:20 pm

My fave kids song of theirs is Seven. My fave adult song is still Birdhouse in Your Soul

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:46 pm

SPYDER

no not really (but I do enjoy that one a lot)

I dunno There's so many good ones to choose from

funny thing is just before I saw this topic "Album Raises new and Troubling Questions" came on.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:09 am

I have to agree with Jon Eric, "Ana Ng" is my favorite TMBG song. I also greatly enjoy the Self cover of the song.

user · Post by **user** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:24 am

"Dead" (also subject to change on a whim, Flood is solid through and through and "Ana Ng" too and oh yeah, "There a House at the Top of a Tree" for the kids)

Jerkatorium · Post by **Jerkatorium** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:35 pm

Back in 1986 or 1987 I had the family VCR rolling when TMBG's "Don't Let's Start" video came on MTV's 120 minutes, and I watched that thing over and over and over. I've been a big fan ever since. The first TMBG concert I attended was for their Lincoln tour, which must have been 1989.

Difficult to choose a favorite, but I'd probably have to say "No One Knows My Plan". Obtuse, paranoid, vivid, hyper... I just love it.

irwin · Post by **irwin** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 12:43 pm

Does 'Fingertips' count as one song? If so, then that.

So hard to pick one. I guess I have to go Famous Polka.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:40 pm

"Fingertips" is 18 tracks at the end of Apollo 18, but when they play it live, they always play those same 18 songs, all in a row, in the same order. I'd count it as one song.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:08 pm

Which is funny because (according to the liner notes) they originally intended for that album to be played on shuffle (ideally in a disc changer with as many other albums as possible) so that the Fingertips tracks would get randomly inserted into whatever the hell else you were listening to.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:27 am

Birdhouse in Your Soul, Istanbul, Particle Man, The Mesopotamians.
For some reason I can't explain I love "Minimum Wage". It's just odd.
-bill

PS On a related note, I played a boardgame called Istanbul last night, and it had this song in my head all evening.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:37 am

It's funny that "Istanbul" is one of their most well-known and memorable songs, considering it's a cover. I blame Tiny Toons.

user · Post by **user** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 10:26 am

It's a cover?! This is news to me, but not unwelcome news. And yep, Tiny Toons is where I first heard it and "Particle Man" and that "Money" song. Classic episode. I have now shown my age.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:43 am

I knew it was a cover, but I hadn't heard the original, so thanks for that link. I like the cover better. A big part of doing a cover is picking the right song to cover.
-bill

Tyler Zahnke · Post by **Tyler Zahnke** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:31 am

An interesting piece of Fingertips trivia: Did you know that for the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 18 album a couple years ago, a bunch of amateur gamers/game developers got online and made eighteen short games for the eighteen Fingertips songs?

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:49 pm

HeuristicsInc wrote:I knew it was a cover, but I hadn't heard the original, so thanks for that link. I like the cover better. A big part of doing a cover is picking the right song to cover.
-bill

Yeah. I like both the original and the Flood version, but the TMBG is a bit better just because it has a lot more interesting stuff going on.

I don't like the version they did for "Album Raises New and Troubling Questions" though. It was an interesting idea but it lost a lot of what made the song so much fun.

Jerkatorium · Post by **Jerkatorium** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:45 pm

One more bit of Fingertips trivia: The band LMP recorded a song called "Mysterious Whisper" where the chorus consists of the 'Mysterious Whispers' section of Fingertips - they essentially built an entire song around that 8 bar sample. I thought it turned out great, but it's hard to find now (it isn't even listed on their website).

Chumpy · Post by **Chumpy** » Sat Jul 04, 2015 2:31 pm

I love so many of their songs. When I hear that pounding rhythm on Ana Ng is gets me so hyped. I'm amazed by the song Dirt Bike, somehow it manages to provoke an emotional response in me, even though it's about a stupid dirt bike. Genius. I love everything on the Pink Album, you never forget your first love.

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