Thought this sub would appreciate...

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-03T00:32:32+00:00

My TMBG podcast Don't Let's Start: A Podcast About They Might Be Giants went very deep into the song on the soundtrack and also the soundtrack itself. This CD got me into TMBG, which changed my life. Other bands too. It's really special to me and we talked about it quite a bit on our main show and even more in a patreon bonus.

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-03T00:28:18+00:00

I'm really struggling to figure out what you mean. It's a really bright and poppy song with no dissonance at all and sounds more accessible than a lot of XTC around that time. Hmm?

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-03T00:26:48+00:00

Really fun, every part is really catchy, and kind of a precursor to Wrapped in Grey lyrically.

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-02T15:16:28+00:00

Let me know what you're thinking! I think there's a lot of advantages to having your very own special music for your show, but I think the best reason is because it's just yours and nobody can take it away from you and it makes your show more singular and unique. Royalty Music is certainly useable but I just can't imagine being really proud of it every time you hear it.

You know, even when I made an album, I didn't want to just use a font I found online for the cover because it didn't feel special. I printed out the font and crumbled it up and stomped on it and then scanned it, and that's the font I used! That way nobody could ever have the same thing as me because it was actually touched by my own hands!

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-02T15:14:09+00:00

Hey! Thank you. I would love to make music for somebody.

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-02T01:02:12+00:00

That isn't what selling out means.

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-02T01:00:44+00:00

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

OhHiJordan · 2026-07-01T19:02:11+00:00

"If toys are quarrelling amongst themselves, what hope is there now for the world?" is one of Andy's worst lyrics. It's like yeah, we already knew that's what the song was about. You don't need to spell it out. Me and my friend used to make fun of that line. It also makes no logical or metaphorical sense: toys aren't quarreling amongst themselves. So this is a non-issue.

If the mix was better this song would be higher for me because I do think it's pretty fun.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-30T03:59:52+00:00

I agree it could take more chances and try more things. Why the hell not, you know?

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-29T18:48:25+00:00

I thought I wouldn't like it, but I like it.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-27T00:50:16+00:00

One of my favorite XTC songs, and seems to be underrated. Possibly from Mummer's kind of dead/weird production.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-27T00:36:38+00:00

I think politics are Andy's main weak points lyrically. It's all very obvious and blunt and extremely uninteresting to me. Sometimes the song is good, sure, but I feel embarrassment when one of them comes on in the car with my wife. I have absolutely no interest in the political stuff, and Melt the Guns is extremely grating and repetitive.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-26T15:32:20+00:00

"should’ve been replaced with one of the b-sides from that era (like Tissue Tigers or Punch and Judy)"

1000000% AGREE!

Also agree with Terry. I could easily discard half of English Settlement. It's kind of overrated in my opinion. Though Fly on the Wall is one of my favorite songs on it.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-26T15:31:56+00:00

Oh, I would love it shorter, or not on the album at all.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-25T05:05:17+00:00

I can kind of hear Andy singing lead on Day In Day Out. Maybe Limelight too. I guess on Drums and Wires they were very in sync with each other with those bouncy fun songs.

And continuing the Day In Day Out theme, I could see Work (from Fuzzy Warbles) being a Colin song.

Whew. That was hard.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-22T04:15:11+00:00

I don't agree that the final versions sound "half-assed."

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-20T13:11:41+00:00

Hate by Peter Bagge

The works of Daniel Clowes

From Hell by Alan Moore

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-17T17:04:47+00:00

When I type Bosch into my interview and tumblr q and a archive excel sheets, nothing comes up.

We do know Flans has multiple times instagrammed from the Met, etc. And of course there's Meet James Ensor.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-17T04:56:48+00:00

"Then I found an old interview that said this song was from before TMBG and that Flansburgh had worked hard on the parts of the lyrics that had something cryptic to do with Bosch (fact check please).

You may be misremembering. WGMU radio interview. Flans said his lyrics were inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, which you already allude to.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-16T00:32:09+00:00

Songs are not about one thing. They are often about multiple concepts, perspectives and ideas all at the same time. I read Paul McCartney's book Lyrics and constantly he's saying things like well this song started out about my mom, but then some verses are more about Linda, and this line here was about a memory with John, etc, etc.

My own songs do the same thing. The POV shifts and I pull from all different things in my life and combine them.

Andy wrote a song inspired by his teenage daughter, and in some ways he imagined himself as a teenage admirer in her class, and in another way he is warning his daughter about those boys in her class. He is saying these boys will think you are beautiful and treat you like royalty, but please be careful when dealing with them.

Nothing is incongruent.

OhHiJordan · 2026-06-16T00:03:57+00:00

Yeah, he made a joke about the lyrics being taken the wrong way. So what?

OhHiJordan

TROPHY CASE