TMBG OPO

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"Doctor Worm"

― g@bbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:48 (eighteen years ago) link

ANA NG.

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:50 (eighteen years ago) link

(because: best lyrics, wish I had written it, sums them up: achingly emotional and sincere all tarted up in bizarre and quirky til some people can't recognize it anymore.)

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:51 (eighteen years ago) link

The End Of The Tour

― everything, Monday, 23 January 2006 17:52 (eighteen years ago) link

"See the Constellation." Just because. (Okay, killer melody, and the deceptively nerdy lyrics about sky watching mask a dark subject matter - loneliness and existentialism. And I'm not making this up. Check the lyrics).

I was tempted to throw in "Fingertips," but I feared I might get a beating if I did.

(Insert inevitable "You deserve a beating for liking They Might Be Giants" joke wherever you'd like...)

― James, Monday, 23 January 2006 18:00 (eighteen years ago) link

I was tempted to throw in "Fingertips," but I feared I might get a beating if I did.

why? it's quite possible that if i were forced to do a tmbg pox, five or more of my picks would be sections of fingertips, including but not limited to "i don't understand you," "what's that blue thing doing here?" and "heart attack."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:31 (eighteen years ago) link

i love "dr. worm" too, but this has gotta be "birdhouse in your soul."

― awful bliss (awful bliss), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Don't get me wrong. I like "Fingertips." But given that it's basically a series of five to twenty second song fragments string together, I think if I had to choose one essential TMBG recording, I wouldn't choose that one. Especially if I was trying to convert someone who is not a fan. As a "one only" pick, "Fingertips" would seem either insular (only other TMBG fans would "get" it), or facile (ie., I don't take this band seriously enough to pick something more substantial).

If I were choosing a larger group of my favorite They Might Be Giants songs, though, "Fingertips" would be a contender.

― James, Monday, 23 January 2006 19:41 (eighteen years ago) link

Ana Ng seconded...such a beautiful, melancholy song.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:44 (eighteen years ago) link

she's an angel

(ana ng would be close 2nd)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:46 (eighteen years ago) link

I love "Ana Ng" and "Birdhouse", but I also love "They'll Need a Crane" so I'll vote for that.

― National Roffle Association (Paul in Santa Cruz), Monday, 23 January 2006 19:47 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll second "They'll Need a Crane", especially for the "Don't call me at work..." section.

― Sweat Loaf (Sweat Loaf), Monday, 23 January 2006 20:40 (eighteen years ago) link

"We're The Replacements"

["Hey where's Tommy, someone find Tommy..."]

― BlastsOfStatic (BlastsofStatic), Monday, 23 January 2006 20:42 (eighteen years ago) link

new york city

― tito perez, Monday, 23 January 2006 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Don't Let's Start

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 23 January 2006 21:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Doctor Worm!

― brontosaur, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 00:25 (eighteen years ago) link

O' Do Not Foresake Me

or maybe Spiralling Thing

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Dead (coincidentally also my answer to the Pixies OPO)

― albondigas! (albondigas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Ana Ng. This, however, is why OPO is HARD for me.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Another vote for The End Of The Tour.

Can you get 'John Henry' on CD anywhere nowadays? Amazon doesn't seem to have it.

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 02:56 (eighteen years ago) link

Some great great answers here. I'm going to have to go with "Nightgown of the Sullen Moon," which has that killer wham-wham-wham hook, nicely weird lyrics that don't overstate their welcome, and convey WONDERFULLY a barely-contained, asphyxiating delight in falling in love. Much as TMBG were amazing at the bitter/doomed love songs (Don't Let's Start, They'll Need A Crane, Ana Ng, etc) but it's their more soaring moments (Birdhouse, the chorus to She's An Angel) that really made it possible to love them...

Delighted to see people upping End of the Tour, though. Is Spiralling Thing something different from Spiralling Shape? The latter was pretty damn good, although I'd be interested to see the argument for it as an OPO.

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Ana Ng

― sovietpanda (sovietpanda), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:42 (eighteen years ago) link

"ana ng" -- i get real emo when this one's on.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:44 (eighteen years ago) link

also: "women and men" and "we want a rock" and "the statue got me high"

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh god I cant decide. I'll say "They'll need a crane" but other contenders would be Anna Ng, DOnt Let's Start, Til My Head Falls Off, and Sensurround. And and and...

(DONT MAKE ME CHOOOOSE, MOOOMMM!)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:51 (eighteen years ago) link

D'you know I got engaged at a TMBG gig?

(I'm not married though, so make of that what you will :/)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:51 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm tempted to go with "S-E-X-X-Y" tho I think it may be overly fond memories because my copy of Factory Showroom went missing under suspicious circumstances.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 05:54 (eighteen years ago) link

i make fun of myself for liking tmbg, but every time i come back to my favorite songs of theirs (np: "we want a rock") i remember how much there is to be impressed by.

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 06:26 (eighteen years ago) link

someone keeps moving my chair

― corey c (shock of daylight), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 08:27 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm sorry but it is, in fact, "Birdhouse in your Soul."

― The Mad Puffin, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 12:49 (eighteen years ago) link

As far as I know, John Henry is in print. I don't know what Amazon doesn't have it, but a couple of other online retail sources I checked listed it available.

― James, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:24 (eighteen years ago) link

i couldn't decide between Ana Ng, Don't let's start & Everything right is wrong again. so i downloaded all three, having not heard them for a good ten years, and realised i didn't really like any of them anymore.

Ana Ng, i suppose.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:27 (eighteen years ago) link

2nd runner up: They'll Need A Crane
1st runner up: Purple Toupet

Winner: Ana Ng

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I quit following TMBG after John Henry, but I bought all of their main albums up to that point. Since the content on these albums is pretty uneven, I did what I occasionally do: burned a compilation of my favorite tracks and traded in all the original albums. Usually when I do this, the resulting compilation resides in "Siberia" (the cabinet that holds miscellaneous CDs in order to keep my main shelves less cluttered), but my TMBG easily earns a space on the main shelves. The tracklist (my OP23):

don't let's start
put your hand in side the puppet head
angel
everything right is wrong again
ana ng
where your eyes don't go
purple toupee
i've got a match
they'll need a crane
birdhouse in your soul
letterbox
particle man
someone keeps moving my chair
dead
i palindrome i
mammal (a serious contender for my OPO)
dinner bell
which describes how you're feeling
snail shell
unrelated thing
subliminal
thermostat
no one knows my plan

― National Roffle Association (Paul in Santa Cruz), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:41 (eighteen years ago) link

ana ng
(don't let's start is high up there, but as the former song says, 'we're getting old'!)

― joan vich (joan vich), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 11:55 (eighteen years ago) link

I wish I could find their first two albums.

― youn, Thursday, 26 January 2006 00:53 (eighteen years ago) link

isn't then: the earlier years still in print?

― stockholm cindy (winter version) (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 26 January 2006 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link

Don't let's start, people.

― 'Curt' Russell (noodle vague), Thursday, 26 January 2006 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link

their death rattles

― cancer prone fat guy (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 26 January 2006 01:10 (eighteen years ago) link

So very hard.

but probably "She's An Angel"

the whole sentiment behind it is lovely.

Also, for those who stopped on TMBG, listen to No!, their children song's album. Excellent stuff.

― Viz (Viz), Thursday, 26 January 2006 01:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Surely "John Henry" is their masterpiece though?

― everything, Thursday, 26 January 2006 01:36 (eighteen years ago) link

John Henry is a decent album, but I tend to listen to Apollo 18 and Lincoln the most often.

― James, Thursday, 26 January 2006 01:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Can't stand 'em, but I am also unable to deny the magic of "They'll Need A Crane".

― Edward Bax (EdBax), Thursday, 26 January 2006 02:27 (eighteen years ago) link

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