So, the other day I posted this thing on Facebook on the 25 Songs You Can't Live Without. It was one of those memes that everyone was doing for a while but I completely missed the boat on. I came across someone else's list on a blog and liked the idea of it so I decided to post my own anyway, even though the fad was probably long past. Unfortunately, I don't think a single person read it, or if they did no one commented on it. Which is sad, because I actually put quite a bit of thought into it. But such is the story of my life, especially on Facebook.
Regardless, I thought the same concept would make a good topic for the first official AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION MONDAY entry, substituting all songs for just They Might Be Giants songs, of course. I promised one of my readers (hi Jamie!) a topic that was more accessible to those fans who haven't been to many (or any) live shows and this seems to fit the bill.
So here follows my list of 25 TMBG Songs I Can't Live Without. The list is more or less a list of my 25 favorite songs but not necessarily in that same order because I really tried to rank them based on the degree to which I could live without them rather than how much I like them, if that makes any sense. For example, my favorite song is actually number 2 on the list. It's weird, I know. Don't try to follow my bizarre logic. Just read the list.
25. A Self Called Nowhere
24. Seven
23. Mammal
22. Alphabet of Nations (but it HAS to be a live version)
21. The Bells Are Ringing
20. Destination Moon
19. Women and Men
18. Ana Ng
17. Meet the Elements
16. The End of the Tour
15. Am I Awake?
14. See the Constellation
13. I Am A Paleontologist
12. Till My Head Falls Off
11. The Mesopotamians
10. Where Do They Make Balloons?
9. Nine Bowls of Soup
8. Damn Good Times
7. Don't Let's Start
6. Withered Hope
5. Museum of Idiots
4. Subliminal
3. Doctor Worm
2. Man, It's So Loud in Here
1. Birdhouse in Your Soul
There it is, for today anyway. It's rather a fluid list and there are another 25 just above it that I really wouldn't want to part with either. Fortunately, I don't see any diabolical nemeses in my future forcing me to give up the entire rest of the catalog . Thank god. I look forward to seeing your lists.
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I haven't got Facebook, but I'd like a go!
ReplyDelete25. Withered Hope
24. Subliminal
23. Damn Good Times
22. Now is Strange
21. Sensurround
20. Stormy Pinkness
19. Birdhouse in Your Soul
18. The Famous Polka
17. Careful What You Pack
16. Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
15. Now That I Have Everything
14. New York City [I don't really know the original, so it's TMBG as far as I'm concerned]
13. Spiralling Shape
12. Meet the Elements
11. Metal Detector
10. Man, It's So Loud in Here
9. Twisting
8. Destination Moon [all of the following are the songs that tend to play in my head when I'm doing other things]
7. They'll Need a Crane
6. See the Constellation
5. Women & Men
4. It's Not My Birthday
3. Ana Ng
2. The End of the Tour [these last two are really pretty songs, only I listen to them slightly less often compared to...]
1. Rhythm Section Want Ad [Not my favourite TMBG song (just very close) but not long after hearing it for the first time it became my default "cheering-up" music. Even if the lyrics aren't unambiguously happy - although I think they're pretty uplifting, personally - it's so much fun to unashamedly sing along to!]
:D
Superb list, blitzente! There are quite a few songs on your 25 that didn't make it onto mine but would make in into my next set up the list if I kept ranking to 50. Here's hoping they play a whole bunch of them for you on Saturday :-)
ReplyDeleteI made this in the wee hours of the morning and then Blogger deleted it. WOE. Let's try again.
ReplyDelete25. Narrow Your Eyes
24. Meet The Elements
23. Thunderbird
22. Twisting
21. Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
20. Till My Head Falls Off
19. AKA Driver
18. Snail Shell
17. They Might Be Giants
16. We Live In A Dump
15. Ondine
14. Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
13. The Mesopotamians
12. Damn Good Times
11. No One Knows My Plan
10. The Guitar
9. They'll Need A Crane
8. Museum Of Idiots
7. Withered Hope
6. Rhythm Section Want Ad
5. She's An Angel
4. Ana Ng
3. Pet Name
2. Memo To Human Resources
1. Birdhouse In Your Soul
Birdhouse isn't my favorite song (I vacillate between Memo and Pet Name) but it's had the most effect on me and I have part of it tattooed on my body, so it has to be #1.
blitzente, have an awesome time at the London show!
I find it interesting that thus far, no one's number one is actually their favorite song. Also it's cool to see how many songs have shown up on all the lists. I wonder how much that number will dwindle as more people post?
ReplyDeleteblitzente, have an awesome time at the London show!
ReplyDeleteThank you! ♥ I'm missing the Doctor Who finale for TMBG, but it's so going to be worth it.
Also it's cool to see how many songs have shown up on all the lists.
Maybe because your readership contains enormous geeks who have listened to most of the library? ;P (Speaking for myself there, though...)
blitzente, I think I can pretty safely say you speak for ALL of us on that last comment :-) Geeks are the best sort of people and we are obviously in a group of geeks with very good taste.
ReplyDeleteHaha, yay! I'm mentioned in your blog! X}
ReplyDeleteI love AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION MONDAY! And I really want to try to understand your bizarre logic. I can very much relate to having bizarre logic, even if it's not exactly the same as yours. So I'm curious as to what you meant. :]
Anyway, here's my list. I could live without them, of course. But I'd rather live with them. As you know, it's insanely difficult for me to pick favorites. I cheated and listed fifty. And most of them are from the four albums I own. I still haven't heard a pretty big chunk of TMBG songs or have only heard them online once or twice. There are LOTS I'd still like to get. Just take that into consideration. They are in absolutely no particular order except the order in which they occurred to me. The numbers mean nothing except something by which to label the songs.
(Sorry for rambling on and on as usual.)
1. Birdhouse In Your Soul
2. Dead
3. We Want A Rock
4. Letterbox
5. Snail Shell
6. No One Knows My Plan
7. Destination Moon
8. Thermostat
9. The End Of The Tour
10. Don’t Let’s Start
11. She’s An Angel
12. Ana Ng
13. Doctor Worm
14. They’ll Need A Crane
15. Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head
16. Dinner Bell
17. Which Describes How You’re Feeling
18. See The Constellation
19. Fingertips
20. Stalk Of Wheat
21. Particle Man
22. AKA Driver
23. Why Must I Be Sad?
24. Window
25. Purple Toupee
26. Hovering Sombrero
27. My Evil Twin
28. The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
29. Cowtown
30. A Self Called Nowhere
31. QU
32. Alphabet Of Nations
33. Women And Men
34. Subliminal
35. Sensurround
36. Spiraling Shape
37. Thunderbird
38. Mr. Me
39. Memo To Human Resources
40. Experimental Film
41. Whistling In The Dark
42. Rocket Ship
43. Flying V
44. Alphabet Lost And Found
45. Fake Believe
46. Pictures Of Pandas Painting
47. Where Your Eyes Don’t Go
48. Spine
49. Older
50. LMNO
You know, Jaime, I realized when I read your list that I forgot about Letterbox and it really probably should be on my list.
ReplyDeleteAs for the bizarre logic, for example, I went round and round on the order of Subliminal, Museum of Idiots and Withered Hope. In the end Subliminal ended up first because I love both the recorded and the live version and it makes me ridiculously happy to hear it. Museum went next because even though I like the recorded version better than the live version it has sentimental value that pulled it higher. And Withered went next because though I adore the music, the lyrics don't have as much meaning to me as Museum of Idiots. So stuff like that.
Out of curiosity, which four albums do you have? I know you have the User's Guide and I am guessing Flood and John Henry from your list and ABCs maybe? Or Lincoln? I can't tell.
:) I love Letterbox. It's quintessentially lovely in every way, in my opinion. "Lovely" may seem an odd descriptor for it...but I find it to be just that.
ReplyDeleteYour bizarre logic is completely understandable! If I had attempted to put the songs in a certain order, I would have used similar logic on each one and thus taken several hours -- or maybe even days -- to complete my list. Which would have been a bit insane. So I chose to list them in no particular order. Less stressful. As ridiculous as that sounds.
I have The User's Guide, Apollo 18, Flood, and John Henry. I also have the Direct From Brooklyn video compilation DVD. I bought my nieces and nephew the Here Come The ABCs DVD and watched it dozens of times before giving it to them. :} haha.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure I've never heard Museum Of Idiots or Withered Hope.
ReplyDeleteDitto on Pet Name, Rhythm Section Want Ad, Ondine, Now That I Have Everything, Careful What You Pack, The Famous Polka, and maybe a couple of the others mentioned.
I'm not absolutely positive...I may have heard them once, long ago. But I'm definitely going to have to check them out now. :]
And by "long ago", I mean...like a year ago. :P
ReplyDeleteP.S.
Sorry to make you think you have lots of interesting new comments when the last three are really just one long bit of uninteresting rambliness from me. Thanks for this audience participation bit that I could finally participate in, though! :D
A little late to the party, but I thought I'd take a crack at it. :)
ReplyDelete25. The Mesopotamians
24. Don't Let's Start
23. Turn Around
22. Subliminal
21. No One Knows My Plan
20. They'll Need a Crane
19. Reprehensible
18. Drink!
17. Hovering Sombrero
16. Experimental Film
15. Dr. Worm
14. Road Movie to Berlin
13. We Want a Rock
12. Ana Ng
11. We Live in a Dump
10. Brain Problem Situation
9. Climbing the Walls
8. Metal Detector
7. Damn Good Times
6. Museum of Idiots
5. Fingertips
4. A Self Called Nowhere
3. With the Dark
2. Spiraling Shape
1. Birdhouse in Your Soul
Some of these shift over time, of course, but this is what I've come up with for now.
It is never too late! And I am excited to see someone else with Road Movie to Berlin on their list. I have just recently fallen in love with that song after several years of indifference about it. And several other points of overlap as well :-)
ReplyDelete