Hope That I Get Polled Before I Die: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS 1982-2002 POLL - Voting, Campaigning, Discussing

Flans lost it after John Henry and never got it back. He's got a few good songs here and there, but nearly all the band's worst songs post-JH are his. The two Mono Puff albums don't measure up to State Songs at all.

Though "XTC vs Adam Ant" is how I learned about XTC, so I can't hate it too much

I should say the worst songs are Flans-led - they credit everything to both of them, right? I wonder how much collaboration happens

"man they totally Flansled that song"

Or, if you're an album kind of person, check out Lincoln or Flood, which I think (?) are still their consensus "best albums" and certainly indicative of what they do

I deleted the words "Flood is their most beloved album for a reason" bcz based on what I've seen of Ross' taste, he'd get a better feel for aspects of the band he could like from that compilation.

sensurround was surely also tied up in weird movie soundtrack rights deals, no?

since the version They released themselves was a re-recording, this probably wasn't a factor

maybe they had a contract that said they could release it themselves, but only as a b-side and it would have to be not as good

checks out

for example "Pet Name" (which I like) is pretty much Squeeze by the numbers, isn't it?

Sort of, but I think it's more like "a song that sounds exactly like Squeeze and proves that they can write a Squeeze song that's as good as the median actual Squeeze song, but which on closer listening have aspects that are purely and unmistakeably TMBG." I love it. (And there are a lot of the genre exercises I don't love.)

their bassist from john henry on is *graham maby!* of joe jackson fame! how the hell did i never know that?

Only for three years - from 1999 through the end of this poll, the lineup is the two Johns and the Band Of Dans

kinda feel like Mink Car was supposed to be that record - like two-thirds of the songs had been released already

two thirds? more like 94.117648%

...

it looks like They released too many songs in 2001, I keep getting poxy fuled

2001: HEYYYY, YOUR POLL'S ALRIGHT

Their first physical album in five years was overshadowed by coming out on 9/11, and was also just one part of a massive subscription program, with new & old unreleased songs (plus two live albums) issued in monthly chunks through eMusic.

The cascade of music this year included 75 new songs. Lennon/McCartney wrote 121 in a decade.


I've Got A Fang
- early version on Unlimited January 2001
- remixed by The Elegant Too for Mink Car
- live version (Ritz Theatre, Raleigh NC, 28/3/2001) on Ritz Show in December 2001

Cyclops Rock
- first recording on Unlimited January
- re-recorded (with Cerys Matthews) for Mink Car
- live version (Ritz Theatre, Raleigh NC, 28/3/2001) on Ritz Show in December

Drink!
- originally a Dial-A Song, then recorded as Drink, Drink for Unlimited January
- re-recorded as Drink! on Mink Car
- live version (Ritz Theatre, Raleigh NC, 28/3/2001) on Ritz Show, with "spin the dial" Red Red Wine intro
- live version labelled Drink - glacially slow on Almanac 2004

Bangs
- first version on Unlimited February 2001
- a different mix and vocals on Timothy McSweeney's Very Intense Heated Passionate Battle/Embrace With They Might Be Giants
- re-recorded on Mink Car

Hovering Sombrero
- early versions appeared on Malcolm In The Middle and later TMBG's Clock Radio app; re-recorded for Unlimited February 2001, then on Mink Car
- re-recorded as Hovering Sombrero '05 on the Amazon-exclusive version of Here Come The ABCs CD, then DVD/CD reissue

In The Middle, In The Middle, In The Middle [NYC PSA cover]
- released on Unlimited February 2001, later on No! 2002

Your Mom's Alright
- released on Unlimited February 2001, also on Man, It's So Loud In Here CD5

Clap Your Hands
- released on Unlimited March 2001, then No! 2002, previously an instrumental Malcolm cue
- live version (Atlanta, GA; 2004-09-25) Almanac 2004, then Free Tunes 2005, also on 2012 digital No! reissue with a swear edited out

Clowntown
- written for No! but deemed too creepy for kids, released on Unlimited March 2001
- instrumental version C-Town on McSweeney's

Monsters Of Mud
- released on Unlimited March 2001

Lazyhead And Sleepybones
- released on Unlimited March 2001, then No! 2002

Violin
- released on Unlimited March 2001, then No! 2002
- live version (Stubbs, Austin, TX July 2004) on The Spine Hits The Road 2004
- another live version (New York, NY; 2004-10-01) on Almanac 2004, also on No! digital deluxe reissue 2012
- new studio performance on DVD of Here Come The ABCs 2005

The Oblongs Theme
- TV: The Oblongs, released on Podcast 8A in 2006

What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round? [Monkees cover]
- played live occasionally since 1989, recorded & released as a TMBG.com Quickcam video in 2001

I Am a Grocery Bag
- released on Unlimited April 2001, then No! 2002

Fibber Island
- full version on Unlimited April 2001
- edited down for No!
- acoustic version 'performed' by the Puppet Johns on They Might Be Giants Friday Night Family Podcast video in 2008

Sleepwalkers
- released on Unlimited April 2001, later on No! 2002 (the music was previously What Is Everyone Staring At on Dial-A-Song, bootlegged on cassette in 90s)
- re-recorded for Here Come The ABCs 2005

No!
- released on Unlimited April 2001, then No! 2002

Tigerella
- released on Unlimited May 2001

Mink Car
- demo version on Unlimited May 2001
- studio version on Unlimited June 2001, then Mink Car in August
- live version (at Pearl St in Northampton Mass. 2001) Unlimited November 2001

All MacGyver On It
- Dial-A-Song, then released on Unlimited May 2001

Mr. Tambourine Man [cover of the Byrds' cover of Bob Dylan]
- live version as medley with Spy (Ritz Theatre, Raleigh NC, 28/3/2001) released on Ritz Show 2001

Tender Is The Mind
- TMBG.com Quickcam video, then on Unlimited June 2001

Yeh Yeh [Georgie Fame cover; music written by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick in 1963 and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man / Lyrics written shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks, recorded by Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival]
- Unlimited June 2001, then Mink Car August 2001

Museum Of Idiots
- live bootleg released on Unlimited June 2001
- studio version recorded for The Spine 2004

My Man
- Unlimited June 2001, Mink Car a month later

I'm Your Boyfriend Now
- originally a Dial-A Song, released on Unlimited June
- re-recorded for Cast Your Pod To The Wind in 2007

Save Your Life - by Bog Standard
- Battle Of The Bands September 2001

Too + 3 R One - by Too + 3
- Battle Of The Bands September 2001

Words Are Like - by The Crummer Family
- Battle Of The Bands September 2001, later collected on They Got Lost 2002 and Idlewild 2014

Chaos By Design - by Colorwheel
- Battle Of The Bands September 2001

Headless - by Naykid Eyez
- Battle Of The Bands September 2001

Something You'd Like To See - by Little Lisa Whitman
- Battle Of The Bands October 2001

Blind - by Demchuk
-Battle Of The Bands October 2001

Cut The Strings - by Demchuk
- Battle Of The Bands October 2001

Kids Are Different Now by Spool 409
- Battle Of The Bands October 2001

Disappointing Show (TMBG live 2001-09-01) - by The Disappointers
- Battle Of The Bands October 2001, collected on They Got Lost 2002, music video inexplicably made in 2013

Mr. Xcitement
- b-side on Boss Of Me CD5
- re-recorded for Mink Car August 2001

Hopeless Bleak Despair
- the only song on Mink Car not to appear in any form before the album release!

Too Cool Girls [with Velcro Horns]
- released on Unlimited November 2001, originally in a 2000 Malcolm In The Middle episode

To The Bubblecraft!
- released on Unlimited October 2001

Ultimate Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
- live recording released on Unlimited October 2001

WMOB ID
- Unlimited October 2001

Somnabulist Spy Improvisation
- live recording released on Unlimited December 2001

Dan Hickey's Actual Drums
- live recording (from Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, MI) on Unlimited December 2001

the remaining tracks from 2001 were all written for and appeared on Timothy McSweeney's Very Intense Heated Passionate Battle/Embrace With They Might Be Giants
The Ballad Of Timothy McSweeney
MOR
Lincoln, Washington, And That Jefferson Guy
Mr. And Mrs. Nuclear
Koenigstein
Slow
Softly
Oprah
People Died Today
Art Mover
Be Patient
Candy Stripers
Even My T-Shirt
Faster Better Now
Garden Of Eden
Gazing Out Toward
Girls In Their Turning
God's Sister Jessica
Grassroots Internet Revolution
The Life Of Doug
R U Together
Mona Lisa

Theme From McSweeney's Issue 6
- first on Unlimited in May, re-released as Theme To McSweeney's on They Got Lost

I Am 40: Memories of West Street and Lepke
- was first released as Robert Lowell, and slightly longer, on January Unlimited. The lyrics are all lines from different Robert Lowell poems.

Bathymetry For Two
- was first Down To The Bottom Of The Sea on Unlimited February; also released as Down… on They Got Lost CD 2002, tmbg.com 2004, & al.

Be Kind And Gentle
- was first Budnitz #1 on Unlimited February

It's Getting Late
- was first released on Unlimited February

Mosh Momken Abadan [The song is credited to composer Riad al-Sunbat and lyricist Ma'mun al-Shinawi. The TMBG version is instrumental]
- first appeared on Unlimited May 2001, collected as Mosh Momken Abadon on They Got Lost

Dollar For Dollar
- first released on May Unlimited, later collected on They Got Lost CD

The Army's Tired Now
- collected on They Got Lost CD

The Truth In Your Words
- collected on They Got Lost CD as Truth In Your Words

MIKE DOUGHTY - Frog and Banjo
- this TMBG vs McSweeneys track was recorded by John Flansburgh in his Dial-A-Song studio

the european version of Mink Car re-orders some of the tracks, removes some others (also adds Boss of Me and Your Mom's Alright) and is a better listening experience than the US version imo

euro tracklisting:

1. "Man, It's So Loud In Here" – 3:59
2. "Boss Of Me" – 2:57
3. "Cyclops Rock" – 2:38
4. "Another First Kiss" – 3:06
5. "Bangs" – 3:09
6. "My Man" – 2:57
7. "Drink!" – 1:49
8. "Your Mom's Alright" – 2:59 (with Mike Doughty) (written by John Flansburgh, John Linnell, Elegant Too, Mike Doughty)
9. "Hovering Sombrero" – 2:13
10. "Yeh Yeh" – 2:40 (written by Rodgers Grant, Jon Hendricks, Pat Patrick)
11. "I've Got A Fang" – 2:32
12. "Mink Car" – 2:09
13. "Hopeless Bleak Despair" – 3:08
14. "Older" – 1:58

I think the title track and Hopeless Bleak Despair are the two best songs on the album and having it finish with them and then Older as a coda works well. It's a better album for having Boss Of Me present, though Your Mom's Alright isn't really adding much

ok so what's the new song on Mink Car? is it Working Undercover For the Man?

the Euro tracklisting indeed looks better. I like "Your Mom's Alright". It gets stuck in my head a lot. Also I never knew that "Boss of Me" was actually a full song until recently. I think they played it live at two of the shows I was at but only the 30-second Malcolm in the Middle version

(by the way, does anyone know how much of the incidental music on that show was actually done by TMBG? I recall interviews saying that they write a lot of uncredited stuff for TV and commercials, sorta as a 'day job')

ok so what's the new song on Mink Car? is it Working Undercover For the Man?

cannot BELIEVE everyone isn't reading every single annotated word of my song posts itt

ah!!!! I see it!

(by the way, does anyone know how much of the incidental music on that show was actually done by TMBG? I recall interviews saying that they write a lot of uncredited stuff for TV and commercials, sorta as a 'day job')

they did all the incidental music for the first two seasons! cues, songs, miniatures, and some existing Giants songs. despite this, there was so much licensed pop music in the show that to this date, nothing past Season 1 has been released commercially in the US, and it took ten years after the S1 DVD for the rest to come out in Australia.

(presumably lots of their work was reused from stock in the later seasons? idk)

oops I missed some:

Instrument Tour
- a Malcolm piece later released on Podcast 5B in 2006

La Dolce Malcolm
- a Malcolm piece later released on Podcast 22A in 2007

there were also two different promos of some of their incidental pieces for the show, including

Playground Pokemon (a longer, different arrangement of what became Empty Bottle Collector / Empty Bottle Blues)
Four Track Mind (this is the one that became Clap Your Hands)
Nice Is Good, Mean Is Bad (also a Dial-A-Song)
Mysterion (later on the Flash version of dialasong.com as Mysterioso)
Stranger (also on the Flash version of dialasong.com)
European Ska
Don't Cry
Sunshine
Skatellite Transmission

another Malcolm piece:

Monster (live version from 08-19-2000 Brooklyn Show later streamed on the Clock Radio app in 2003)

from 1999 through the end of this poll, the lineup is the two Johns and the Band Of Dans

BTW, the band's lineup* has been solid for almost fifteen years now, since Marty Beller replaced Dan Hickey on drums in 2004. (& Beller had been playing with Them on occasion since 2000.)

*bar live horn sections / touring horn players

(Dan Miller joined in 1998, and also toured with Mono Puff that year and The Statesmen the year after; he brought Danny Weinkauf with him from his previous band.)

in other Mono Puff contributor trivia, I just learnt that Meredith off of The Office sang as Lady Puff on the second Mono Puff album

guys, we made it

2002: THE END OF THE TOUR

Their first children's album/CD-ROM, mostly made of songs released in some form in the last two years, launches their next "day job," as well as the new label they will license releases through from now on. A year of wrapping up, otherwise: the They Got Lost compilation gathers oddities from the 1999-2001 era, the Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants double CD is a major-label best-of covering their whole career, and the documentary Gigantic: A Tale Of Two Johns screens at festivals. They also tour every month bar January, February and September, and still find time to produce, play for and perform off-Broadway in the musical People Are Wrong!

So To Be One Of Us
- written for Peter Pan In Disney's Return To Never Land, performed by the cast

Now That You're One Of Us
- performed by the cast in Return to Never Land

Courage the Cowardly Dog
- TV: Courage the Cowardly Dog bumper on Cartoon Network, released on Podcast 4A in 2006

I Love To Sing [Bob Lind cover]
- "performed" at 2002 TMBG shows by The Deeply Felt Puppet Theatre, released as free download on tmbg.com in 2003, compiled on Four Covers From TMBG 7" in 2012

Bed Bed Bed
- original debuted on No!, sung by Linnell
- re-arranged in new version, demo sung by Flans in falsetto released on Podcast 35A in 2008
- re-recorded in new arrangement as Bed Bed Bed Bed Bed, sung by Kimya Dawson, on Bed Bed Bed book & EP 2003
- live version with horns and Linnell singing, at the Bowery Ballroom on 1/8/2007, released on Amazon-exclusive CD edition of Here Come The 123s in 2008

The House At The Top Of The Tree
- debuted on No!

Where Do They Make Balloons?
- written and sung by Danny Weinkauf, debuted on No!

At The Agway
Boomerang
Car Alarms
Dear Old Plants
Dimension Six Rock
Healer's Lament
I Know What I Saw
Ponytail
The Gravel's Coming With Us
Xanthus Saves
- from PEOPLE ARE WRONG! A 10-Song Sampler Of The Original Cast Recording. Originally developed by Flans and Goldie as a concept album, it became a stage musical by Robin Goldwasser and Julia Greenberg. JF starred and produced, JL played accordion and sax on the cast recording, Goldie starred.

Keep The Customer [Simon & Garfunkel's Keep The Customer Satisfied]
- by Robin G & Julia G on The Loser's Lounge Tribute To Simon & Garfunkel

Last Night [Simon & Garfunkel's Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream]
- by John Flansburgh on The Loser's Lounge Tribute To Simon & Garfunkel

428 songs and only fucking up the bbcode on the last two is pretty good going imo

are there any ilxors who have anecdotal evidence of how actual children responded to 'No!' or the other children's albums? (or even listened to those albums when they themselves were children, if we have anyone that young here?) I'd be particularly interested to know if kids enjoyed their 'children's music' more or less than their not-specifically-aimed-at-children music

my kids like the original version of "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas" and TMBG's "Whistling in the Dark"

that's all I got

my son absolutely loves the song "Hot Dog" but won't watch any other part of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

I remember reading a lot of reviews of the albums to the tone of "I actually don't mind listening to this every single day" which indicates that kids do in fact dig it

good mourning!

Here are straight lists of eligible songs, broken up into the largest chunks that ilxor will allow:

Alienation's For The Rich
Cowtown
I'll Remember 3rd Street / Space Suit
Cabbagetown
Penguine
Birds Fly
Swing Is A Word
Counterfeit Fake
Sally Boy Candy Bar
Hell Hotel
Weep Day
Indian Ocean
Hiya Hi
Everything Right Is Wrong / Everything Right Is Wrong Again
It's Not My Birthday
They Might Be Giants
You'll Miss Me
The Big Big Whoredom
Mainstream USA
(Put Your Hand Inside The) Puppet Head / Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
Number Three / Greek #3
The Day
When It Rains It Snows
Don't Let's Start
Nothing's Going To Change My Clothes / Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
Hope That I Get Old Before I Die / I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
Biggest One / The Biggest One
32 Footsteps
Boat Of Car
Chess Piece Face
Rabid Child
Youth Culture Killed My Dog
(She Was A) Hotel Detective
Toddler Hi-Way / Toddler Hiway
Which Describes How You're Feeling
Become A Robot
I'm Def
Kings Of The Cave [written for TMBG by The Mundanes' Jim Gillson]
Rhythm Section Want Ad
Happy
She's An Angel
Absolutely Bill's Mood
Hide Away Folk Family
Fake Out In Buenos Aires
Snowball In Hell
For Science
Somebody's Body
The Famous Polka
The World's Address
We Just Go Nuts At Christmastime
Kiss Me, Son Of God
Kitten Intro
Lie Still, Little Bottle
Mr. Klaw
We're The Replacements
Shoehorn With Teeth
FRIEDA: Disco Lover
FRIEDA: Plastic Rap

"Untitled" (answering machine excerpts)
Hello Radio
Ana Ng
Cage & Aquarium
Pencil Rain
Piece Of Dirt
Purple Toupee
Santa's Beard
They'll Need A Crane
Where Your Eyes Don't Go
I've Got A Match
Mr. Me
Nightgown Of The Sullen Moon
I'll Sink Manhattan
Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal
Road Movie To Berlin
ANNABOUBOULA - I'm Not A Little Girl
ANNABOUBOULA - Let's Go To Jail
Birdhouse In Your Soul
Hot Cha
Ant
Lucky Ball & Chain
Hearing Aid
Whistling In The Dark
Stormy Pinkness
Tiny Doctors
Particle Man
Hi Honey I'm Home
7-11
The Bloodboat
Twisting
Letterbox
Your Racist Friend
Theme From Flood
Dead
Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love
Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
We Want A Rock
Women & Men
Minimum Wage
James K. Polk
Outboard Part Of Man
SUZANNE VEGA - Tired Of Sleeping
OTIS BALL - Walk On Water
The Edison Museum
The Statue Got Me High
She's Actual Size / Larger Than Life
I Palindrome I
My Evil Twin
See The Constellation
Hall Of Heads
Hypnotist Of Ladies
If I Wasn't Shy
Turn Around
Mammal
Spider
Dig My Grave
Dinner Bell
Narrow Your Eyes
Fingertips
Siftin'
Moving To The Sun
Welcome To The Jungle
I Blame You
The Guitar
Rocket Ship
Spy
Fu Manchu (Frank Black with Linnell / live with TMBG)
Tossed (Frank Black with Linnell / live with TMBG)
Adda Lee (FB / TMBG live)
Czar (FB / TMBG live)
Every Time I Go Around Here (FB / TMBG live)
I Heard Ramona Sing (FB / TMBG live)
Los Angeles (FB / TMBG live)
Parry The Wind High, Low (FB / TMBG live)
Ten Percenter (FB / TMBG live)
Theme From One Step Beyond (FB / TMBG live)

Drinkin'
Sodium Mask
(Since You Joined) The Corporation
Town To Town
Lullaby To Nightmares
O, Do Not Forsake Me
Maine (from State Songs Hello EP)
Rock Club
King Of Wingo
A Self Called Nowhere
Why Must I Be Sad?
No One Knows My Plan
I Should Be Allowed To Think
Extra Savoir-Faire
Unrelated Thing
Subliminal
Out Of Jail
About Me
Wreck It Apart
Don't I Have The Right?
Christmas Cards
Nevada (from State Songs Hello EP)
Pennsylvania (from State Songs Hello EP)
Oregon (from State Songs Hello EP)
South Carolina (from State Songs Hello EP)
Snail Shell / Snail Dust
Ondine
She Was A Hotel Detective
Mrs Train
Subway Token To Brooklyn / Token Back To Brooklyn
The Summer Breeze
Your Own Worst Enemy
AKA Driver
Destination Moon
Dirt Bike
Sleeping In The Flowers
The End Of The Tour
Thermostat
Window
Meet James Ensor
When Tornadoes Take Over The World
So Long, Mockingbird
Nixon's The One
Operators Are Standing By
You're Watching…
Wreck It Apart
Tryptophan
Unsupervised, I Hit My Head
What Bothers The Spaceman?
Sensurround
Careless Santa

S-E-X-X-Y
Till My Head Falls Off
How Can I Sing Like A Girl?
Exquisite Dead Guy
Metal Detector
New York City [Cub cover]
XTC vs. Adam Ant
Spiraling Shape
Pet Name
I Can Hear You
The Bells Are Ringing
Rat Patrol
Certain People I Could Name
Counterfeit Faker
They Got Lost
Older
On The Drag
Reprehensible
Unforgotten
Darlin' Allison
Guitar Was The Case
Distant Antenna
To Serve Mankind
Preamble: Fernando Wood (1855-58, 1860-62) (from House Of Mayors EP)
Processional [1] (from House Of Mayors EP)
DeWitt Clinton (1803-07, 1808-10, 1811-15) (from House Of Mayors EP)
Processional [2] (from House Of Mayors EP)
John Purroy Mitchel (1914-17) (from House Of Mayors EP)
Processional [3] (from House Of Mayors EP)
Fiorello LaGuardia (1934-45) (from House Of Mayors EP)
David Dinkins (1990-93) (from House Of Mayors EP)
House Of Mayors (from House Of Mayors EP)
Mr. Hughes Says
Imaginary Friend
Dedicated
What Everybody Knows
Backstabbing Liar
Poison Flowers
Night Security
Critic Intro
Four Of Two

That's super helpful, thanks! Dumping it all into an excel sheet for my first pass...

Doctor Worm
I Am Not Your Broom
Rest Awhile
(Coca-Cola advertisement) / Always Be Giants
Olive, The Other Reindeer
LIFE IN A BLENDER - Grand Union
I'm Sick (Of This American Life)
(pre-gap Hidden Track on It's Fun To Steal)
Creepy
It's Fun To Steal
Taste The Bass
Extra Krispy
Dashiki Lover
Severe Tire Damage Theme
First Kiss / Another First Kiss
Planet Of The Apes
Return To The Planet Of The Apes
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
Beneath The Planet Of The Apes
This Ape's For You
Somebody Took My Eyeball
Dark And Metric
Finished With Lies
Theme For TheSmokingGun.com
SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY - Madden's Theme
SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY - The Happy Gangster
SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY - Harry's New Home
SIX WAYS TO SUNDAY - End Theme
THE GRAVEL PIT - Get Tangled

Dr. Evil
(She Thinks She's) Edith Head / She Thinks She's Edith Head
Brave New World Theme
Dan vs. Cog
King Weed
All Alone
Cut The Strings
Feast Of Lights
On Earth My Nina
Thunderbird
Illinois (from State Songs album)
The Songs Of The 50 States (from State Songs album)
West Virginia (from State Songs album)
Montana (from State Songs album)
Arkansas (from State Songs album)
Utah (from State Songs album)
Idaho (from State Songs album)
Iowa (from State Songs album)
Mississippi (from State Songs album)
Michigan (from State Songs album)
New Hampshire (from State Songs album)
Louisiana (a State Song b-side)
Boss Of Me
Robot Parade
Wake Up Call
Empty Bottle Collector
I Am A Human Head
Working Undercover For The Man
Hey Everybody
Santa Claus [The Sonics cover]
Unreliable Narrator (I'm The Substitute) / Kids Are Different Now
Wicked Little Critta
John Lee Supertaster
Man It's So Loud In Here
Oranges / Chopping Block Testimonial / Oranges And Graphic Design
Mas Fun
Rotary Club
Too Real
Tres Quatro
I've Got A Fang
Cyclops Rock
Drink! / Drink, Drink
Bangs
Hovering Sombrero
Your Mom's Alright
Clap Your Hands
Clowntown
Monsters Of Mud
Lazyhead And Sleepybones
Violin
La Dolce Malcolm
Instrument Tour
The Oblongs Theme
I Am a Grocery Bag
Fibber Island
Sleepwalkers
No!
Tigerella
Mink Car
All MacGyver On It
Tender Is The Mind
Museum Of Idiots
My Man
I'm Your Boyfriend Now
Save Your Life - by Bog Standard
Too + 3 R One - by Too + 3
Words Are Like - The Crummer Family
Chaos By Design - by Colorwheel
Headless - by Naykid Eyez
Something You'd Like To See - by Little Lisa Whitman
Blind - by Demchuk
Disappointing Show
Mr. Xcitement
Hopeless Bleak Despair
Too Cool Girls
To The Bubblecraft!
Ultimate Battle For The Planet Of The Apes
WMOB ID
Somnabulist Spy Improvisation
Dan Hickey's Actual Drums
The Ballad Of Timothy McSweeney
MOR
Lincoln, Washington, And That Jefferson Guy
Mr. And Mrs. Nuclear
Koenigstein
Slow
Softly
Oprah
People Died Today
Art Mover
Be Patient
Candy Stripers
Even My T-Shirt
Faster Better Now
Garden Of Eden
Gazing Out Toward
Girls In Their Turning
God's Sister Jessica
Grassroots Internet Revolution
The Life Of Doug
R U Together
Mona Lisa
Theme From McSweeney's Issue 6
I Am 40: Memories of West Street and Lepke
Bathymetry For Two
Be Kind And Gentle
It's Getting Late
Dollar For Dollar
The Army's Tired Now
The Truth In Your Words
MIKE DOUGHTY - Frog and Banjo
So To Be One Of Us
Now That You're One Of Us
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Bed Bed Bed / Bed Bed Bed Bed Bed
The House At The Top Of The Tree
Where Do They Make Balloons?
At The Agway from People Are Wrong!
Boomerang from People Are Wrong!
Car Alarms from People Are Wrong!
Dear Old Plants from People Are Wrong!
Dimension Six Rock from People Are Wrong!
Healer's Lament from People Are Wrong!
I Know What I Saw from People Are Wrong!
Ponytail from People Are Wrong!
The Gravel's Coming With Us from People Are Wrong!
Xanthus Saves from People Are Wrong!

Two of these are doubled up above because I missed them, but here are all the covers They have released or played on:

Indiana Wants Me [R. Dean Taylor cover]
I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You [after Tommy Dorsey's version]
1999 [live Prince cover]
Why Does The Sun Shine? [Space Songs cover]
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) [The Four Lads cover]
Lady Is A Tramp [Rodgers & Hart]
Maybe I Know [Lesley Gore cover]
One More Parade [Phil Ochs cover]
Concrete And Clay [Unit 4+2 cover]
Frankenstein [live Edgar Winter Group cover]
Yellow Submarine [misremembered live Beatles cover]
This Is Where I Belong [live Kinks cover by Frank Black / TMBG]
Whirlpool [Meat Puppets cover]
Jessica [The Allman Brothers Band cover]
Hello Hello [Gary Glitter cover released by both Hello The Band and Mono Puff]
O Tannenbaum [traditional]
White Sport Coat [Marty Robbins cover by The Meat Puppets with BVs by the Johns]
Dr. Kildare [cover of The Skatalites arrangement, lyrics by Flans, released by Mono Puff]
The Joker [live Steve Miller Band cover]
25 O'Clock [Dukes Of Stratosphear cover]
The Devil Went Down To Newport (Totally Rocking) [The Clamdiggers cover released by Mono Puff]
Oddball [Frank Black cover released by Mono Puff]
Don't Break The Heart [Amy Rigby cover released by Mono Puff]
Will You Love Me In December As You Do In May? [lyrics by James J. Walker, music by Ernest Ball, covered by John Linnell on House Of Mayors]
Hillbilly Drummer Girl [Young Fresh Fellows cover by Mono Puff]
Lines Upon A Tranquil Brow [Songs Of The Pogo cover]
New York City [Cub cover]
Pretty Fly [Mono Puff cover of piece from The Night Of The Hunter]
We've Got A World That Swings [Jerry Lewis & al. cover]
Dog On Fire [Bob Mould's Daily Show theme]
Daily Show Open [another arrangement of the Mould song]
Butcher's Tale [The Zombies cover]
North To Alaska [Johnny Horton cover from John Linnell's Montana 7"]
All Things Considered [Don Voegeli]
What Is A Shooting Star? [Space Songs cover]
Santa Claus [The Sonics cover]
Ram On [Paul & Linda McCartney cover]
In The Middle, In The Middle, In The Middle [NYC PSA cover]
What Am I Doing Hangin' 'Round? [Monkees cover]
Mr. Tambourine Man [Dylan/Byrds cover]
Yeh Yeh [Georgie Fame & al. cover]
Mosh Momken Abadan [Riad al-Sunbat cover]
I Love To Sing [Bob Lind cover]
Keep The Customer [Simon & Garfunkel's Keep The Customer Satisfied by Robin G./Julia G.
Last Night [Simon & Garfunkel's Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream by John Flansburgh] [/b]

aw man i used to loooove their "Jessica"

and for those who want to rank the albums / EPs / etc

1985 Wiggle Diskette flexi-disc
1985 They Might Be Giants cassette-only studio album
1986 "The Pink Album" studio album
1987 Don't Let's Start 12"
1988 (She Was A) Hotel Detective CD3 / 12"
1988 Lincoln studio album
1988 Ana Ng / They'll Need A Crane singles with 2 out of 3 b-sides replicated
1989 Don't Let's Start LP / Miscellaneous T (1991) b-sides etc. compilation replicated on bonus tracks of Then: The Earlier Years (1997)
1989 Birdhouse In Your Soul / Istanbul (Not Constantinople) singles with the b-side of BIYS also on INC
1990 Flood studio album
1992 The Statue Got Me High CD5
1992 Apollo 18 studio album
1992 I Palindrome I CD5
1992 The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) CD5
1993 Why Does The Sun Shine? EP
1993 Live Thursday June 24, 1993 10pm EST Frank Black live album
1993 Hello The Band Hello The Band EP
1993 O Tannenbaum 7"
1994 Back To Skull EP
1994 John Henry studio album
1994 Live!! New York City 10/14/94 Live Album
1994 State Songs John Linnell EP
1995 John Flansburgh's Mono Puff Mono Puff EP
1996 Factory Showroom studio album
1996 S-E-X-X-Y CD5 / 12"
1996 House Of Mayors John Linnell EP
1996 The Devil Went Down To Newport CD5
1996 Unsupervised studio album
1997 Then: The Earlier Years compilation including Dial-A-Song material
1997 The Hal Cragin Years Mono Puff EP
1997 The Steve Calhoon Years Mono Puff EP
1998 Severe Tire Damage live / studio Album
1998 It's Fun To Steal Mono Puff studio album
1999 Long Tall Weekend studio album
1999 State Songs John Linnell studio album
2000 Working Undercover For The Man EP
2001 TMBG Unlimited year-long album-a-month subscription service
2001 The Flood Show live album
2001 The Ritz Show live album
2001 Mink Car studio album
2001 Man, It's So Loud In Here CD5
2001 They Might Be Giants In Holidayland compilation EP
2001 "They Might Be Giants Vs. McSweeney's" book soundtrack project
2002 No! studio album
2002 They Got Lost oddities compilation
2002 People Are Wrong! original cast recording

oops: Devil Went Down To Newport and Unsupervised are by Mono Puff.

Here's the first time they ever played Jessica!

oops again: missed Down To The Bottom Of The Sea as the alt. / primary title for Bathymetry for Two

(BTW, if you folks think this is a lot of songs, I'm past 300 tracks in the 2003-2018 list, and haven't touched the studio albums, EPs or subscription services yet.)

i think my ballot for that one might just consist of "can't keep johnny down"

I'm about halfway through listening to all the 82-02 songs I'd never heard. here's a couple gems I'd never heard:

Welcome to the Jungle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsY31bzymkk
Mrs. Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9w6itI4HUY

this thread is bananas. in a good way, of course.

anyway: is there a more appropriate place (on ILM) to discuss / read discussion of I Like Fun? did I miss it around the release date?

I dunno if enough people listened to it; I have yet to hear I Like Fun or whatever the previous one was. maybe when we do the 2003-onwards poll

mrs train gets stuck in my head a lot

this is definitely one of those bands that seems to struggle to get their best songs on the LPs. I remember making a "best non-album songs" compilation that wound up being like 70 tracks long

otoh it's cool that their b-sides aren't just dumping grounds. but some of the 12"s are just insane. They'll Need A Crane in particular... hard to imagine someone could be an album-buying fan of this band and never hear Nightgown of the Sullen Moon or It's Not My Birthday or I'll Sink Manhattan.

I should say the worst songs are Flans-led - they credit everything to both of them, right? I wonder how much collaboration happens

Saw a recent interview with Linnell saying that they collaborate on writing more these days, but it seems to be giving each other a drum pattern or a bridge to play with, rather than sitting down in a room. One assumes (given the evidence of early versions of songs) that they do plenty of arranging together, but they've always talked of songs as being written by one or the other, despite the credit policy.

Given how much commissioned work they've done in the last 20 years, it could be that they write music and score and jingles together, and think of that differently from writing songs? I'd be interested in an interview that dug into their process.

For those who think Flans has lost it after 96 or whenever (I've never listened to Them picking out whose songs are which), it might support your theory that he's taken on WAY more additional work within the band in this century; with social media, curating and hosting the podcast, making videos on his laptop, etc.

xxxpost the new one is their best album in many years, imo

when I first got into this band at the age of 11 or so I had no idea there were actually two singers. nowadays it's pretty easy for me to tell whose song is whose, even before the lyrics kick in. the one that baffled me for years was "Puppet Head", because it's very clearly a Linnell-style song but Flansburgh sings it - apparently he turned the lyrics over to Flans because he couldn't come up with anything and that's why he wound up singing it instead.

xp to sic I went digging to see if the Johns talked about their collaboration process after I posted that, found this bit in an avclub interview:

AVC: Has the collaboration process between you and John changed much over the years?

JL: I think it’s always different. Everything we do, we try and come up with something new. John and I have come up with various ways of collaborating over the years, and it’s kind of pleasant and fun to have that possibility that we could come up with some completely new way of working together. In the past, we’ve done things where one of us cooks up a bunch of samples, or an instrumental track, or a lyrics sheet, and passes it to the other person. We’ve done a lot of different versions of that, and some of them have been successful. On Join Us, there’s some of that. There’s is a song, for example, where I had a chorus and verse, and I didn’t like the verse, so I erased the vocals on the verse and gave the whole thing to Mr. Flansburgh, and he cooked up a completely different melody and lyric for that section. That’s the one where one of us sings the chorus and the other sings the verse. That worked, I thought. That’s the song “Never Knew Love.” We’re always coming up with different ways of working together, and I was pleasantly surprised by Flansburgh’s new material. I think he’s changed in certain ways on this project. It’s this late in our lives, I can say his lyrics have opened up into a whole new interesting area that I don’t know whether I can define, exactly, except that I and other people are recognizing that this is a new way that he’s cooking up lyrics that is pretty cool.

Oh damn, I bet this is the interview you already mentioned whoops